I brought an exercise book with me to the gym today...

...and I felt a little nerdy doing that, but it was a great experience! So great that I am blogging about it.

I brought The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises with me and found it very helpful as I was able to go through many of the exercises with the exercise equipment right at my fingertips. And I could easily up the weight if needed, something I can't do with the limited dumbbell selection I have in my home.

Today I went through a lot of the Quads, Glutes & Hams and Core section. Here are some favorite new exercises I learned today that I will incorporate in my routine:


Braced squat (hold weight plate in front of chest with both hands)
Dumbell squat (hold dumbbell at arm's length next to sides, palms facing each other)
Goblet squat (hold dumbbell vertically next to chest w both hands)
Wide stance goblet squat (wider stance and toes point out)
Sumo squat (hold dumbbell in front of you, arms down)
Dumbbell jump squat
Dumbbell split jump (starting off in split squat position, jump and switch up the legs)

Swiss-ball hip raise and leg curl (variations of pointing foot straight, in, and outward)
Single-leg swiss-ball hip raise and leg curl
Swiss-ball reverse hip raise (hands on floor, tummy on ball, lift legs up and squeeze booty! variation is to start with bended knees and straighten out legs)
Single arm deadlift (AKA suitcase deadlift)
Rotational dumbbell straight leg deadlift (hold dumbbell w right hand, stand on left foot, bend right knee. bend down touching dummbell to left foot, come back up.)
Single-arm dumbell swing (can be done a kettlebell too)

Weighted Russian Twist (I used a small medicine ball)
Elevated feet Russian Twist (works on stability)
Swiss-ball hip cross over (hold swiss ball btwn lower legs and backs of thighs, arms out, rotate side to side)
Medicine ball side throw and medicine ball slam (luckily there weren't many people so my noise wasn't too disturbing)
Weighted swiss ball crunch
inverse reverse crunch (add a dumbbell between feet for challenge. I'm not there yet)
Swiss ball pike (by this time I was a little dead so this proved to be a challenge for me. In general, it's a pretty challenging exercises. great for core)
Medicine ball leg drops (hold medicine ball between feet. lower to floor without touching, come back up)

I can't believe I've been missing out on all these great squat variations. And these are mostly with dumbbells. I have yet to touch the barbell. I have plenty to add to my ab routine. There is so much more to try in the book including Quads, Glutes & Hams and Core as I didn't complete them all. I am excited to bring my book to the gym again to try out even more exercises!