While climate change may be upending our weather patterns, the seasons remain predictable and aligned: Spring brings the promise of summer, summer fades into fall, and fall gives way to the cold of winter. Are your workouts just as predictable?
Now is the perfect opportunity to shake things up and pursue a new goal. For each of these four rut busters, you’ll take a short fitness test to establish your baseline, then will have 12 weeks to better your score. At the end of three months, do a retest and you’ll see just how far you’ve come. Talk about motivation!
Goal: Power Up Your Upper Body
Women can lag behind men in terms of upper-body strength by as much as 40 percent, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Fortunately, strength isn’t exclusively dictated by physiology — it’s also developed through sweat equity. According to Whitney Jones, NASM-CPT, the 2018 Fitness International and Fitness Olympia champion, boosting upper-body strength begins with mastering two bodyweight basics: pull-ups and push-ups.