Sheri’s Workouts: The Power of Six 3 – Butt and Small Parts

When weight lifting, the first 2-3 sets are really just about blood distribution.  When you’re a beginner (in your first couple years of lifting) then this is good – you’ll build muscle at this level, you’ll regenerate tissue, and you’ll recover fast enough to keep you enjoying what you’re doing.  Increased blood circulation is really at the ‘heart’ of all things healthy when it comes to the body.  In this stage, it’s good to do a lot of different types of exercises because you are, really, waking things up and teaching your body to move as a cohesive unit.  This works great for fat loss as well – you’re giving your body a strong message that you need every single little muscle you’ve dredged up from the depths of wherever you have been with yourself.  You strengthen your core and restore some balance and generally wake things up.

Now, when you’re more experienced and you understand what a premium health item that muscle IS, as well as the value of muscle when it comes to lookin’ GOOD – then you want to move on from there.  There are many ways to do that!

The Science:  because the first couple-few sets are just about getting blood to the muscle, it’s the sets that come AFTER that that will really challenge your body and promote growth.  I pick four exercises – 2 primary sets for the body part I’m working, and I super-set with 2 easier sets for another body part (the ‘rest’ stage of the workout).  In this workout, we’re training the large muscles of the behind, along with smaller body parts:

POWER OF SIX:   BUTT and SMALL PARTS (the BUTT muscles are the primary work, here)

Set 1: (do six times with short 60 sec rests between supersets if needed)

WALKING LUNGES, WEIGHTED (medium to heavy dumbbells, 30 steps or 15 each leg – lunge SLOWLY and stay aligned!)

BICEP CURL TO OVERHEAD PRESS ( medium dumbells in each hand, 12 – 15 reps.  Do this standing in alignment, and keep your core tight.)

Set 2: (do six times with short 60 sec rests between supersets and yes, you’ll need it now)

LOW SQUATS (use medium to heavy dumbbells on each shoulder, OR a barbell, OR a smith machine;  15 reps each set.  In this careful movement use a medium stance, complete alignment and bring your butt BELOW your knees to just 6 inches or so from the ground.  These are otherwise known in bodybuilding as ‘ass to the grass’ squats)

TRICEP DIPS between 2 benches (hands on one bench, feet on the other.  if you’re feeling perky, have someone lay a weight plate in your lap around 20-25 lbs and go to town.)  15 reps or to failure, each set.