ViPR in my group-ex class

I brought my lighter ViPRs to my Friday morning hi/lo aerobics class.  I'm sort of known for springing crazy exercises on them and they like the variety, so they were enthused about trying something hip and new.  In January, I'll be launching this on my Friday morning schedule as a new class (ViPR) right after my hi/lo class.

Planning / patterning / teaching information is below.



In planning the exercise that I would bring to class (their first time), I wanted to give them something that was fun, challenging, and that was totally different from what we do with traditional weights or with body-weight functional training.  I picked the lateral tilt with frontal plane shuffle, but for brevity I call it the "ViPR side shuffle" or "ViPR slide" in class because it's quicker to say and still descriptive.

Before handing out ViPRs, we pre-patterned the movements we were going to do.  I taught frontal plane shuffles, cuing posture, feet, core, and heads up.  We practiced two types of shuffles, one that was more of a "basketball" shuffle where they had to decelerate, stop, and accelerate in the other direction quickly, and one that was more of a deep lunge to the side (same arm same leg) wth slower deceleration and more of a flexibility component.

Next, we patterned the one-leg balanced lunge with several options - both legs on floor, one leg with small lunge, and progressively larger lunges with reach to floor, shoulder blades depressed and retracted, hearts up, long spine, core engaged.

Then, we got into pairs.  We did 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off, 2 sets of ViPR shuffles and 2 sets of balance lunges - one set each leg. 4 minutes total work, 2-3 minutes preparation, made for a good higher-intensity interval component in a hi/lo class.

ViPR partner exercise - plank push/roll

April and Jen show off the partner plank exercise with the ViPR from my small-group class Saturday morning.  You go, girls!  One set of partners does the plank roll exercise while another set of partners does bent-over rows using a high step, then they trade.

Circuit class with ViPR, Lebert Equalizers, step and floor

One of my favorite fitness class formats to teach is a rotational circuit.  It's a great way to introduce equipment and variety into a class without having to have enough of each item for each member.  Today's resistance training circuit was a 5-station circuit using the ViPR, Lebert Equalizers, high steps, and the floor. We did one of each type of exercise for 45 seconds on, 15 seconds rest/rotate.  Push, pull, core, legs, anaerobic interval.  3 different circuits, each one done twice, total = 30 minutes of work (plus warm-up, cooldown, stretch).



Circuit 1 (shown on video), PUSH - planks with ViPR lateral drags, PULL - Lebert Equalizer pul-ups, CORE - seated ViPR rotations, LEGS - front squats, INTERVAL - box jumps or basics with member's choice of movement and step height.

Circuit 2 (not shown), PUSH - push-ups using equalizers, PULL - bent-over ViPR rows using high step as bench (one side only), CORE - pilates roll-ups, holding ViPR optional, LEGS - forwared traveling lunges stepping to 2:00 / 10:00, INTERVAL - lateral hops over the step (2-3 risers) or lateral hops on floor.

Circuit 3 (not shown), PUSH - triceps using equalizers, PULL - bent-over ViPR rows on other side, CORE - side planks with abduction, LEGS - one-legged squats or staggered squats, INTERVAL - ViPR flip.

ViPR Dynamic Balance

We all know that balance is an important part of fitness.  It doesn't matter how much you can bench press when you're getting out of your car on an icy morning and need to balance to keep from spilling to the ground!

Dynamic balance is balancing while moving - the kind of balance we use in our daily lives.  Since we're not flamingoes that stand still with one leg in the air for long periods, I prefer to train my classes using dynamic balance movements.  But if a flamingo ever shows up in my class, all bets are off!



Here, my bootcamp partner-in-crime, Kim, shows off a dynamic balance move for the hip and shoulder while holding a 6kg ViPR.  For those not ready to do moving balance while holding weights, simply omit the ViPR and do a smaller range of motion (i.e. don't lean forward).  For those who have mastered the movement with a 6kg ViPR and good range of motion - especially the semi-circle of the hip - the moving leg can be extended higher throughout the semi-circle...or close your eyes...or raise on toe at the beginning and end of the movement... or close your eyes and perform the entire movement while on-toe.  If that's still too easy, try the move in my livingroom while encouraging my eight-year-old to finish his homework and my three-year-old that she really wants to go potty; breathe slowly and keep your heart-rate and voice low.  :-)

My Tabata-inspired Interval Class with ViPR

My Tabata-inspired Interval Class with ViPR


A standard Tabata protocoal is a series alternating between 20 seconds of maximum-intensity work, and 10 seconds of rest, for 8 cycles to make one round. 4 minutes of interval torture. Usually I follow this protocol, with a minute of rest between rounds, to make up a full-length group-exercise class. Warm-up, 7-8 cycles, cooldown and stretch = 1 hour. The class I’ve just uploaded, because it uses equipment that takes a few seconds to transition to and from, I’ve set for 40 seconds work, 20 seconds rest, times four rounds to make one cycle. When we have 24 attendees or less, I break them into 3 groups of 8 or less and for the 4th interval we all do the “floor” move at the same time. When I have more than 24, I break them into 4 groups of so there’s always a group on floor; squished but we just make our movements more vertical and less lateral.



Here’s the class:



Station 1



ViPR – Side-lunges

Lebert Equalizers – Pull-ups

Step – basics or box jumps right

Floor – squat jumps



Station 2



ViPR – Side-lunges with cross-overs

Lebert Equalizers – push-ups (hold bars for easier angle on wrists)

Step – basics or box jumps left

Floor – quick feet



Station 3



ViPR – ViPR flips (horizontal travel)

Lebert Equalizers – 5 jacks, 5 triceps dips, 5 jacks, 5 dips…

Step – squat-lifts or squat lateral raises right

Floor – squat jumps with ½ turn in air



Station 4



ViPR – ViPR flips

Lebert Equalizers – pull-ups

Step – squat-lifts or squat lateral raises left

Floor - Burpees



Station 5



ViPR – 2:00/10:00 lunges with front reach (no rotation)

Lebert Equalizers – push-ups

Step – lunges off the step or jump-lunges on floor

Floor – side-lunges with shuffles



Station 6



ViPR – 2:00/10:00 lunges with front reach and spinal rotation

Lebert Equalizers – hop around them, 4 jumps around

Step – lateral hop-overs (step is optional)

Floor – kick-box front kicks right



Station 7



ViPR – rear lunge overhead reach

Lebert Equalizers hop around other direction

Step – member’s choice

Floor – kick-box front kicks left

Lebert Equalizer + TRX

Always trying to keep my TRX advanced class on their toes!  This exercise combines a pull-up using the Lebert Equalizer with one of the all-time hamstring killers, TRX hamstring curls.