2019-07-01_Shape

JULY/AUGUST 2019 54 SHAPE.COM

Chris Fanning. W

iderstrom: Cody Sorenson

bestrong+well

PERFECT

MOVE

Jen Widerstrom is the creator

of the WiderStrong method

and training tribe and Shape’s

consulting fitness director.

As you drive

through your

legs to jump up

out of a crouch,

you’re doing a

plyo dead lift,

really working

from glutes

to calves.

“This is a true

power move,

and that’s why

it demands a

heavier dumb-

bell. Look at it

as a chance

to strengthen

weaknesses.”

At shape.com/oneperfectmove,

you can see Widerstrom demo

this signature exercise. “I love

getting creative on movements

that I struggle with, like burpees, and

making them more interesting mentally,”

she says. Tune in to slay a set with her.

1

A BOOT CAMP BASIC GOES BIG Celeb trainer Jen

Widerstrom created this rotating iron burpee just for

Shape, and it’s the total package: a strength exercise

with heart-pumping plyo and heavy lifting built in.

“It’s brain training too, with level changes and rota-

tion coordination,” she says. Widerstrom has taken the

crouch-plank-jump of the classic burpee and raised

the stakes by adding a 90-degree midair twist and

a dumbbell—a heavy one. “You’ll want to go for 20 pounds

or heavier because body changing happens only with

enough stimulus,” she says. “But you can start with a

12-pounder to get your form down.” To nail that form, pic-

ture doing a dead lift from the crouch—dumbbell close to

the leg as it travels up—rather than just a jump. Now, about

that quarter turn: “It’s an opportunity to work your lower

half with a diff erent propulsion,” she says. “Even doing an

eighth of a turn will get you where I want you to go.”

Now watch it in action

“I like the

way that

having an

uneven plank

base chal-

lenges how

your core

is working.”