Rio De janerio Workout

The world is full of beautiful cities, but Rio is hard to beat, particularly during the lead up to and during Carnival. The whole city is happy, extravagant and in the mood to party 24/7, Cariocas (local residents of Rio) famously take their parties very seriously and i think we can all learn from that mentality!

Rio serves as an inspiration for three reasons today. Firstly and most importantly, I want you to have fun and enjoy today’s workout.  Moving is fun and exercise is a way of communicating and expressing yourself. During training today, imagine you are on top of a Samba float with crowds cheering you You’re wearing something ludicrously revealing, but you don’t give a damn. Let the music and the moves take over and see today’s workout as party.

Secondly; If you want to get Bikini Confident, there is no better place than hanging out on Rio’s beaches because people of all ages and body shapes show a lot of skin over there. When you are surrounded by real bodies, you remember that we are all different and all beautiful. While MX is written to directly help you get a certain aesthetic, I don’t think it’s this results that will make you feel body confident. It’s the process of getting fit, of seeing yourself as a badass athlete and being grateful for all the ways you can move, which is what will make you feel truly happy about your body. The lean and tomed figure is just a bonus.

Thirdly; When I moved away from training pro athletes and started training women to look and feel good I moved to Rio. When I was living there back in 2007/2008, I was looking after models preparing for Victoria Secret shows and helping the local models get ready for the European circuit. Methodology X™ would not have been written if my career hadn’t taken me to sunny Brazil.

Put the music on loud, smile, be grateful for your body and go for it. Maybe do with a friend, create a different playlist of your fave songs, cuddle a fluffy rabbit, just do whatever you need to do to get you in a positive state as it will help set the party tone! Have fun today.

LETS GET STARTED!

Warm Up

Follow Sophie. This is light general warm up , use it to get into ‘training mode’ , and scan for anything tight or sore. If something feels tight, such as neck or shoulders, then stop video and and spend a few minutes lightly stretching into the pain, before continuing on with the warm up.

THE RIO PLAYLIST

Hot Feet

Standard:  1 set of 150 reps

Advanced: 2 sets of 150 reps | 45 rbs

Athletic Benefits

  • Improves cardiovascular system.
  • Develops power and speed in lower body.
  • Strengthens the core.

Beauty Benefits

  • Reduce overall body fat.
  • Tones your glutes and abs.

Starting Position:

  • Start in standing position. Stand tall and bend knees slightly, weight on balls of feet and arms at right angles (a.k.a sprint position).

Technique

  • Jog in the spot, within a few seconds have knees as high as possible, while maintaining control over your body.
  • Drive off the floor using balls of feet and swing arms like a sprinter to help with momentum.
  • Keep your upper body upright at all times.
  • Land softly.

Easier: Slow down the movement to 50% of the normal speed, so your marching rather than running on the spot

Harder:  Every 4th rep do either a tuck jump or a deep squat. Mix it up.. if you want a massive challenge, then you asked for it! haha

REST 30 SECONDS

Cape Town Spins

Standard: 3 sets of 12 reps | 60 rbs

Advanced: 3 sets of 20 reps | 60 rbs

Athletic Benefits

  • Assuming you have done MX Urban or joined of the live classes (that are popping up globally), you will know that I love this move. It is one of our Signature moves, with focus on grace and mindful movement.
  • Your coordination, proprioception and kinesthetic awareness will improve.
  • Shoulders, lower back and core will strengthen.
  • Fluidity of movement, and grace will be tested and will thus develop.

Beauty Benefits

  • Fat burning
  • Shoulders, and back will become more defined
  • Glutes and abs will get a bit firmer.

Starting Position

  • Start on our fours with hands and feet on floor. With your chesr facing the floor.

 

Technique

  • Lift your left hand off, roll your hips over, so yoit left foot goe sover the right foot and then drop hips low to floor
  • Thrust hips and left arm up to the sky in unison
  • One spin =  1 rep.
  • Repeat on other side. Keep on sweapping sides until the end of the set.
  • Move with grace and fluidity. Start slow, then speed up.

Easier: Do at half the speed.

Harder: Add in a Sao Paulo Kick after each rep, and still aim for maximal fluidity.

Bikini Shaper

Standard: 4 sets of 10 reps | 15s rbs (rest between sets)

Advanced: 4 sets of 20 reps | 30 rbs

Athletic Benefits

  • Builds glute medius muscle
  • Strengthens core and obliques

Beauty Benefits

  • Gives shape to glutes
  • Firms obliques (helps give you a ‘V line’)

Starting Position

  • Lie on you side, and rest your head on outstretched arm

Technique

  • Assuming you have completed MX Urban, you will know this move well!
  • Raise both legs up, the higher the bottom leg goes, the better it is for external oblique activation.
  • Slowly float & sink your top leg to work the glute medius.
  • The bigger the range of movement the better.
  • Swap sides after each set.

Easier: Keep the bottom leg lower, even on the floor if needs be.

Harder:  Have feet up on a platform, such as weight bench or sofa.

REST 15 SECONDS

Muay Thai Knee Strikes

Standard:  2 sets of 50 reps  | 45s rbs

Advanced: 1 set of 120 reps

Athletic Benefits

  • Develops lower body power and cardiovascular health.
  • Strengthens core, ab and glutes.
  • Improves coordination.
  • Teaches real fighting skill (Aim for thighs, groin or ribs in self-defense situation).

Beauty Benefits

  • Lowers overall body fat.
  • Tones glutes.

Starting Position

  • Stand upright with left leg forward and hands up in fighting stance.

Technique

  • Jump up and swap feet so left foot is now backwards.
  • Drive hips & knee up and forward into an imaginary target.
  • As you do this through upper body backwards and…
  • Drive arms diagonally down in unison (this replicates grabbing an opponents head/neck in the martial art of Muay Thai)
  • After striking, bring foot back to starting position.
  • Jump, and repeat on other side.. and then repeat.

Easier: Step between strikes rather than jump.

Harder: Add in one deep body squat after ever strike. This is so hard!, but great for building endurance.

REST 15 SECONDS

Broad Jumps

Standard:  3 sets of 12 reps  | 45s rbs

Advanced: 4 set of 15 reps | 15s rbs

Athletic Benefits

  • Develops lower body power and foot speed.
  • Builds muscular endurance in legs.

Beauty Benefits

  • Burns fat.
  • Tones legs.

Starting Position

  • Stand upright with feet shoulder width apart, with your weight on the balls of your shoulders.

Technique

  • Swing your arms back, bend your knees and Jump
  • Aim for 90% of your maximum power (always leave a bit back so you have control upon landing. FYI, when I train professional athletes we still stick to 90%).
  • Just as you land, bend your knees so to cushion the impact.
  • Quickly jog backwards to start position. Do very small quick steps only.
  • Repeat. Don’t rest between sets.

Easier: Walk back slowly between reps

Harder: Jump off leg and land on two. Alternate legs after each rep.

NO REST!

Rotating Squat Jumps

Standard:  2 sets of 15 reps | 30 rbs

Advanced: 2 sets of 30 reps | 30 rbs

Athletic Benefits

  • Strengthens glutes and quads.
  • Strengthens core, obliques and abs.
  • Develops power, coordination and balance.

Beauty Benefits

  • Tones and firms glutes.
  • Burns fat.

Starting Position

  • Start in a standing position, with knees little bent and hands down by your sides.

Technique

  • Drop into a deep squat.
  • As you do this breathe in and lift hands to grasp in front of your chest.
  • Throw hands down as you jump upwards and spin 180 degrees.
  • Breathe out as you jump and land softly by bending knees.
  • Repeat! – Don’t rest at all.
  • Try to keep core engaged and breathing regular throughout drill.

Easier: Pause 3 seconds after each jump, and if you’re bit nervous, aim for 90-120 degrees for your first set.

Harder: Jump 360 degrees.

REST 45 SECONDS

Pause Press Ups

Standard: 4 sets of 5 reps | 15s rbs

Advanced: 4 sets of 10 reps | 20s rbs

Athletic Benefits

  • Builds strength in Triceps, Anterior Deltoids, Pecs, Abs and Core
  • Numerous athletic transfer benefits, including punching harder and throwing a ball further.
  • Builds lactic acid tolerance.

Beauty Benefits

  • More definition in arms and shoulders.
  • Slightly firms up abs.

Starting Position

  • Get into a press up position (obviously!) Make sure your body is flat. so if I was to rest stick along your body, it would touch your head, shoulders and glutes.
  • Engage core, by sightly tensing up the abs.
  • Make sure your neck isn’t strained.

Technique

  • Lower yourself, stopping twice for 1 seconds at time
  • Push up, again stopping at twice for 1 second each time
  • This is classed as one full rep.
  • Breathe normally throughout. Be careful not to hold breathe
  • Ideally, stop at random places. The lower you go before you hold the harder it is.

Easier: On the way up, drop knees to floor (use a mat/pillow) but only do this on way up, as Pause Push ups are supposed to be hard!

Harder:  Lengthen the pauses from 1 second to 3 seconds.

REST 15 SECONDS

Yoga Stretch

Standard:  1 set of 15 reps

Advanced: 1 set of 20 reps

Athletic Benefits

  • Improves balance.
  • Stretches Hamstrings.
  • Mobilises your spine.

Beauty Benefits

  • Nothing worth noting here.

Starting Position

  • Perch on the balls of your feet with both hands of the floor and body upright.

Technique

  • Lift one arm of and rotate body so it stretches out as high as possible
  • Do the other side
  • Now, open arms wide to stretch our pectorals (chest) – be careful not to fall!
  • Finally, place hands on floor and lengthen legs to get a stretch on back of your legs for a few seconds (and potentially your calves and lower back if your particularly tight there).
  • Bend knees and repeat each full ‘flow’ is classed as one rep.

Easier: Place feet flat on floor so you don’t have to worry about balancing!

Harder: Have your eyes shut throughout all the reps.

WELL DONE

“Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.” 

Hans Christian Andersen