Hi Gang,

Here we are on the edge of a long weekend up in Canada – Victoria Day, I think the actual purpose was to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday, but like most holidays the original tradition has evolved shall we say.  The weekend is now know as the ‘May 2-4′ weekend and for most Canucks under the age of thirty it means two things:

1. Gonna have to drive to the beer store for a 2-4
2. Gonna have to drink that 2-4 whilst camping somewhere that it is freezing cold and pouring rain.

For those of us over 30 years of age it means this:

1. Better get the garden in.
2. Think I’ll sit on the porch and have a beer if it is not cold or raining.

Being in the over 30 group, you know what I will be doing.  Most of the country gets Monday off, unless of course you train at Revolution Conditioning!  The hockey players are back, so I am training them for sure.  Afterall, we only have four months to get them into top shape – can’t be wasting time with stat holidays and such! 

Now to business.  I put together this video of some dumbbell complexes that I like to use for my hybrid training.  I call hybrid training a workout where I am using weights to build strength, but also get my heart rate up and get a cardio effect. 

You see your body does not know if you are running, biking or lifting weights – it only interprets the demand for energy and responds by pumping more nutrients through your body to meet your energy demands.  Check some of these out – if you want to work more on strength, then go with only 4-8 reps.  If you are going to do more of a hybrid circuit try doing the complex for 20-30 seconds followed by a core exercise such as a plank or ball roll out for 20-30 seconds.  Repeat for 5-minutes and you will see what I mean about the cardio effect.

Cheers,
Maria