Quick Tip Tuesday!

Today's quick tip has more to do with listening to your body than a specific move to add into your day.

It's really important to not over do it when you're working out. Whether you're new to working out or an old pro, it's always important to know your body and listen to what it's telling you!

If you're doing an exercise video or working out with someone at the gym, it can feel like you need to keep up with everyone. It's extremely important for you to not get injured trying to push yourself to the limit. Injuries can happen easily when you're moving too fast for your fitness level and not doing the exercises properly. So take your time, learn the moves and then progress to doing it faster when your body is comfortable with the moves.

Another reason that listening to your body is so important is so that your don't over do it and decide it's too hard. This is why many beginners quit; they workout one day extremely hard and push themselves to what they feel like they should be able to do and then the next day they are too sore to do anything and fall back into lazy habits. You need to know the difference between what you think you should be able to do and what you can do right now. What you think you should be able to do should be your goal and you should progress slowly towards it so that you don't kill yourself. Killing yourself in a workout only makes you hate working out. Taking your time and progressing at your own pace helps to alleviate some of the workout soreness and pain you'll get so that you can keep going.

Now, this is not to say that you should be really easy on yourself and have lazy workouts every day because that will only accomplish the same result of falling back into lazy habits because you don't see changes in your body. It takes time to know your limits so be patient and feel what your body is telling you. If you get sharp pains in your knees or ankles, take it easy on them and do your leg moves slowly to get your muscles warmed up and then you can work into doing it faster once you've built up those muscles. If you feel your abs on fire, keep going! Don't stop when your muscles are sore, stop when you're in real physical pain or when you feel your body giving out. There is no shame is taking it slow at first but make sure you're not just feeling lazy!

Multiple Muscle Monday!

Today's move: Squat with twist!

Try this little move to get your legs, buns and obliques working overtime!

Here is a video of how-to if you're unfamiliar with this move:

Enjoy your Monday!

Trainer Thursday!

Today I wanted to share my favorite beginner yoga instructor!

Sara Ivanhoe is the instructor for the DVD "Crunch: Candlelight Yoga"

She has such a clam and relaxing voice and demeanor that is so easy to listen to that you can relax and take it easy in this DVD. She doesn't push you into poses you can't do so it's great for a beginner to use for a refreshing and relaxing session.

Since she doesn't push you to do things and is so easy and relaxing, it's not really a great work out. It is wonderful for stretching out and getting better balance!

Yoga is my favorite way to relax and get refreshed because the stretches do your body so much good! So try out this DVD if you're a beginner and I can guarantee you won't regret it :)

Work it Out Wednesday!

Today's the day! We're stronger and ready to go harder than before today!

It's halfway through the work week for most of us and that means there's no excuse to not push yourself today and feel strong and powerful!

This week we're going to look at another awesome Fitsugar video!

This is a great quick work out to help you gear up for Spring break! That is if you get a spring break.... If not, then you can use this to get out your vacationless frustrations ;)

Quick Tip Tuesday!

Sorry I keep posting these on Wednesday! But hey, now you get two fun posts in one day!

Today's quick tip is about how many times to exercise per week. Every trainer has a different opinion- Jillian Michaels says 5x a week while Tracy Anderson says 5-6 days a week.

4-5x a week is a perfect amount of weekly exercise if you are doing more intense workouts that really are hard work for you.

If you're doing a less strenuous workout, you can move up to 5-6x a week for good results.

Remember: Only do what you can! And the faster you want results, the harder you need to push (without getting hurt!) and the more days per week you will need to exercise.

Last but not least! Don't forget to have at least one rest day per week! This lets your muscles relax and refresh so that you can start the next day fresh and strong! You'll also probably notice that you look thinner the day after your rest day because your muscles have had a chance to relax.

Multiple Muscle Monday!

I bet you had a wonderful, relaxing and refreshing weekend right?

Probably not. Most women these days don't get to sit around and lounge all day during the weekends. You were probably working, cleaning, running errands or taking care of you family right? So you probably don't feel like working out today and you feel like you've earned a break since you did so much all weekend! Well, that's not what this is about. You didn't earn anything, you worked hard for everyone else and now it's time to work hard for you. If you don't start this week off strong, you probably won't continue through the week. Life is full of excuses so you're going to have to put those out of your mind and just do it! Even if you only have a few minutes, take the time for you and you'll be thankful later!

Now, on to the real point of today's post! Getting all those muscles burning with every move!
 
You know I'm obsessed with Jillian Michaels and therefore am obsessed with getting multiple muscle groups with every exercise! If you only like doing one exercise at a time and getting one set of muscles with each move, then you may want to consider how much energy and time you're wasting. Getting as many muscle as possible with one move burns so many more calories than simply targeting one muscle group with one move. If you want to show off your muscles, you need to burn off the fat first and you can do that by burning a ton of calories in your workout.

Health Magazines Article "5 Best Strength training Moves for Weight Loss" shows some great moves for a full body and fat torching workout! This workout shows off a few of my favorites- squat & press, dolphin plank and superman!

So get moving and get the most out of your hard work with multiple muscle moves! Happy Monday!

Fun Fitness Friday!!

It's finally the end of the work week and time to have some fun! So let's start the weekend with a fun workout to get you pumped up and feeling great!

This first video is hard but fun because you get to try something new and push yourself to feel really powerful!

This Capoeira workout is intense and difficult so only do what you can!


This next video is still hard but fun and powerful with some boxing moves and training

Again, this can be really hard so push yourself when you can but know your body and make sure to not get injured doing all of this!

If those were a little too intense for you, try just adding in some fun boxing moves to your routine to get your heart rate up and make you feel strong and powerful!

Here's a video to give you some inspiration for moves to add to your workout today!