Matthew Banks

“4 New Exercises You Should Be Doing This Year” http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/4-new-exercises-you-should-be-doing-this-year.html By Ryan Barnhart
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The article by Ryan Barnhart looks at four 4 New Exercises you should be doing this year. The first excise Barnhart talks about is the 52-pickup. The idea behind this is to assign a specific exercise to each suit. The example Barnhart uses is “hearts are pushups, clubs are squats, spades are bicycle crunches, and diamonds are mountain climbers”. The number on the card is the amount of reps you have to do, face cards count as 10 reps and aces count as 11. The second excise Barnhart talks about is the lunge and twist. The lunge and twist focuses on the legs (hamstrings, quad, glutes), but when you add the twist it helps develop core strength, proprioception, and balance.
The lunge and twist starts by holding a dumbbell the long-ways between both at about chest high and close to the body. After you are in position you perform the lunge, “If you lunge forward with your right leg, at the apex of your lunge, rotate your torso to the right side. Hold for one to three seconds. Return to the original position and then repeat with the left leg”. Barnhart has two ways that he recommends to do the lunge and twist, the first way is to add three to four sets to the lunge and twist , performing 12 to 15 reps with a low weight dumbbell (5 to 20 pounds maximum). The second way is to perform as many lunge twists as you can in a 30 to 45 second interval, then rest and repeat one to two more times. The third excise Barnhart talks about is push up jacks. The pushup jacks are designed to build stamina and endurance in the upper body as well as the lower body. The pushup jacks are started by beginning in standard push up position and do a regular push up. When you return to the original position, splay your legs as if you were performing jumping jack, and bring your legs back together, repeat the push-up then the push- up jack. Barnhart says “you can make this more challenging by beginning standing, dropping to the push-up position, performing the exercise, and raising back up. Perform three to four sets of 12 to 15, or intervals of 30 to 45 seconds. Complete one to two additional intervals”. The fourth and last exercise is called flutter kicks they are a great exercise to build core strength, stamina, and endurance. The idea of flutter kicks is lay on your back, “preferably on a mat of some sort (a yoga mat works best)”. Have your arms at your side and your legs extended; lift the upper part of your torso and your legs off the ground. Simultaneously, you will alternately lift each leg up, in a "flutter kick" while not letting the legs or upper torso hit the ground. Barnhart has two ways of doing flutter kicks the first way is add in three to four sets of this exercise, performing 12 to 15 reps and the second way is to perform as many flutter kicks as you can in a 30 to 45 second interval.