A Gym Routine for Healthy Skin

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All of us want that glowing, perfect, clear and beautiful skin. But, did you know that you gym routine can make or break that dream? I am so super guilty of this. Up until a little while ago I would go to the gym with that day's make-up on, or even worse, whatever was left from the day before. Yikes!

To avoid my skin mistakes, follow this simple 1,2,3 on how to take care of your skin before and after your workout. It may seem a bit intense if you are like me, but it will help. Promise. ​

Cleanse Your Face

We have already talked about sweating out toxins while at the gym last week, so it is no wonder that our face sweats toxins out too. Make-up is a natural blanket to the skin, by wearing make-up to the gym, we are stopping toxins from being released and welcoming an onslaught of clogged pores. ​Best to wash your face before working out to get it clean and healthy.

If you are going to the gym between work and everything else, just bring some make-up removing clothes in your gym bag. They may not do as great a job as cleanser, but it's better than nothing. ​

Tone

You can kinda think of this as toning your skin before toning your body! Using a toner after cleansing is always important, especially before hitting the gym or after using a cleansing cloth. Toner will help reduce pore size, calm skin, and take off any remaining make-up that could clog pores. This is super important since you will have more blood going through capillaries and your pores will be enlarged. ​No need for remnant make-up to get your face into trouble, especially wen you are going through all the extra effort to keep it clean.

A nice perk of toning is that toners usually have calming qualities so your skin will be less red post-workout! ​

Moisturize

Moisturizing your skin is extremely important for keeping it young and healthy. If you are 18 or older, there is no reason to not use some form of anti-aging moisturizer on your skin. Just think of it more as keeping skin youthful rather than fighting age that may or may not be seen yet.

Apply moisturizer to the neck and face , making sure to keep it out of the eye area. If you use an eye cream- which I totally recommend- be sure to use the eye cream before using the facial moisturizer. The pores around our eyes are much smaller than the pores on our face. Eye cream has smaller molecules so it can be absorbed around the eye area. By putting eye cream on after face cream, you could be limiting it's efficacy without even knowing it.

Protect

Protecting the skin from harmful ​free radicals and sun damage is especially important if you are working out outside. Most face lotions have sunscreen in them, but if yours does not, opt for some 15 spf that was made for the face. Our faces our much more sensitive to chemicals than the rest of our bodies, using a sunscreen that is meant for the body could cause burning or breakouts for skin on the face.

If you are outside a lot during your sweat sessions, a vitamin C cream may be a good addition to your skincare routine. Be sure to do your research on vitamin C creams before buying, not all are created equal. After being mixed with creams, vitamin C has a shelf life of one month. If your vitamin C product is a liquid base that was not mixed at the purchase, it's results may be less than desired or non-existent.

Put Hair Up

Pulling your hair back into a somewhat loose bun or ponytail will help keep oils from your hair off your skin. This will help if you find yourself breaking out a lot or have more oily hair than you would prefer. ​Be sure not to pull too tight though, tight skin around the hairline can create more oil and cause weakening of the connective tissue in your facial skin.

Post Workout

After your workout is complete, start this whole facial routine up again. It is important to get all the impurities that you have just sweat out off your face and out of your pores. This is especially true if you plan on wearing make-up later that day.  ​

If your skin gets red or irritated after a gym session, try bringing some iced green tea in a spray bottle and spritzing it on after you have cleansed your face. The form of antioxidants that abound in green tea have strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Full Body Tone in 20 Minutes

This full body tone works the arms, torso, legs, and back with plyometrics, yoga, resistance, and some of the more traditional. To get a full workout from this, along with some great stretching action, complete each exercise slowly and focus more on getting the right form than getting a certain number of reps done. The first circuit focuses more on plyometrics, while the second circuit is more about balance. This will give a full body tone and work some of those harder to reach muscles as well! 

​​Begin with a two minute warm-up, then complete each exercise for two minutes. Rest for one minute between circuits and complete two circuits, total.

Warm-Up

Start with 30 seconds of jumping jacks, then 30 seconds of kick-backs. Complete this twice. ​

Circuit One

Fly- Backs

This will work the back, upper arms, and legs like madness! Start with feet hip width apart and legs bent at a 45 degree angle with resistance band under the feet and held in each hand. Bend ​body forward with a straight back and slowly lift arms outward until they are level to the ground. Hold, then lower arms and bring torso back up. Continue for two minutes, making sure that legs stay bent the entire time. Feel that burn!

Hand Touches

The will work the abs, shoulders, back and arms. Start in push-up position with feet hip width apart and hands under shoulders. Bring the left hand on top of the right, then back to starting. Alternate between the left and right hand for two minutes. Be sure not to move the body while the hand is lifted, this extra balancing will help tone! ​

Bicycle Crunches

Oh boy do these work all of your abs! Start in sit-up position with legs lifted off the ground and knees at a 90 degree angle. Begin by straightening the left leg and bringing the left elbow to the right knee. Slowly alternate between sides. Be sure to keep eyes on the ceiling, strain off the neck, and shoulder blades off the floor. Continue for two minutes! ​

Shoulder Press Leg Raise

This will work your arms, legs, and back quite a lot. There are two variations to this exercise. If you are feeling more advanced, get into push-up position with your feet resting on a chair. Lift the right leg up and begin doing push-ups. Continue doing push-ups for one minute with the leg raised, then alternate to the other side. ​

For the more intermediate, lift leg off the chair, and hold this position for one minute before alternating to the other leg. If you would like, you can do two sets of 15 seconds of holding and 15 seconds of push-ups per side. ​

Circuit Two

Chair Pose

This will work the arms, upper thighs, and torso. Keep feet hip width apart and bend legs as far as possible while keeping back straight up, This should look similar to sitting in a chair.

Arms should be overhead and eyes gazing up. Hold this position for 30 seconds, then rotate to the right for 30 seconds, the left for 30 seconds, and back to chair for 30 seconds. ​

Warrior Flow

This will work all those small muscles of your upper thighs along with your arms. Start in Warrior Two position  on the left side with hips even and body straight. Be sure not to bring the left knee beyond the  foot. Hold this position for 30 seconds, then rotate to warrior one and pop up into warrior three for 30 seconds. Alternate to the right side for the next minute.

Three Way Plank

Get into lowered plank position with forearms resting on the ground. Hold this position for 20 seconds, then rotate so your left arm is in the air and your right arm is supporting the body. Hold this position for 20 seconds, then rotate to the left side. Complete two sets of these rotations, holding each for 20 seconds. ​

Extended Leg Bridge Pose

This one will work your legs, bum and back! Lay on the floor with your legs bent and feet on the ground. Raise your body up so your shoulders and feet are the only parts touching and tuck your shoulder blades in. For the more advanced version, raise your right leg straight up and ​begin lowering down so you are about one inch off the ground, then rising back up. Continue this for one minute, then switch to the left leg.

For the intermediate approach, raise the leg like you would in advanced, but do not dip down. Hold the leg straight up while keeping the hips even for one minute. Then, do the same with the left leg. ​

Fly-Back

Part I

Fly-Back

Part II

Hand Touches

Bicycle Crunches

Shoulder Press Leg Raise

Advanced

Chair Pose

Twisting Chair Pose

Warrior Two

Warrior Three

Three Way Plank

Center

Three Way Plank

Side

Extended Leg Bridge Pose

Part I

Extended Leg Bridge Pose

Part II

The Pros and Cons of Hot Yoga

Hot yoga is a derivation of Bikram yoga, created by Bikram Choudhury. In Bikram yoga, the class is kept at 105 degrees and you flow through 26 poses in ninety minutes. Hot yoga came about after Bikram and uses similar poses in either slightly warmer or cooler temperatures.

There has been a lot of controversy over Bikram and hot yoga since there creation over 20 years ago. I was just talking to a friend last week about whether or not we should do hot yoga. We thought of perks and downsides, and what makes it so interesting to fitness and yoga enthusiasts. This got me thinking about why some say "no" and others say "yes". ​

Pros

Yoga in heat is good for the obvious reasons of loosening ligaments and muscles so we can stretch farther and not worry about injury. But, there are some other equally fantastic pros behind it. ​

Hot yoga has a series of poses that will help with heart health and cardiovascular strength. These poses, done in higher heat, cause our hearts to work harder and our vascular system to get stronger. This is much like jogging or any other cardio activity, but the stretching and shunting of blood can help a bit extra for the organs and veins. The shunting of blood helps detoxify the body while the massive sweat session gets rid of loads of impurities. Most impurities leave our bodies through a few different methods, one of the greatest is through our sweat. The mix of a massive sweat and the detoxifying poses help to give our bodies a fantastic cleansing session.

The heat also does wonders for our muscles. Sure, heat warms them up and gets us nice and limber, but it also makes our muscles tone that much faster. The super-toning is because the heat and poses work all of our muscles, ligaments, and joints as one. The yoga positions in both Bikram and hot yoga are intense and require coordination and tension of almost every muscle and ligament in our body. This combination of balancing, muscle engaging, and heat help ​strengthen and tone even the smallest muscles. Beyond that, the heat also increases our helper T-cell count. T-cells aid in fighting off diseases and the increase can make hot yoga helpful among those with HIV/AIDS.

One of my favorite reasons to do hot yoga is the stress relieving benefits. All yoga has stress relief, but hot yoga has a mind-over-matter benefit that causes you to stop thinking and focus on the present. This effect can be great for those going through a stressful time or for day-to-day life. The positions will push you outside of what you think your body is capable of and increase your mental stamina as well! ​

Cons

For the most part, hot yoga is safe. But, there are a few exceptions to the rule that people need to watch out for. The first is who should or should not do hot yoga. Children, the elderly, and women who are pregnant should avoid hot yoga like the plague. This is because all of them react much quicker to heat and the effects can be bad. Children and those over 60 can have heat strokes much easier than others and the heat can also do damage to organs. Likewise, women who are pregnant are much more susceptible to heat- not for them, but for the baby. Your internal temperature can get too great and cause health issues or hypothermia. ​

People who are sensitive to heat, ​have cardiovascular disease, are obese, or have respiratory problems should talk to their doctor before doing yoga.

For those who are healthy[ish], the right age, and not pregnant, the health issues and cons become far fewer. Dehydration is one of the greatest health concerns for hot yoga since your body is sweating a mass amount of hydration away and drinking too much water can make poses difficult and cause cramping. To avoid this, try to drink about 16 ounces of water one to two hours before your class. Then, bring two bottles of water with you to class, one for during and one for the ride home. ​

Other complication with hot yoga have to do with over-zealous yogis that push their bodies further than what it can handle. Hot yoga makes you focus on your body much more than most other forms. If we do not focus on what is too far for our body, we can push ourselves further than we should since the heat makes things easier. This can lead to overstretched muscles and ligaments that do not go back to the normal size. Overstretching can also do a great deal of damage to our joints since the ligaments have been greatly weakened. Listen to your body, if something is painful, stop. Yoga of any kind should never hurt.

Be sure not to only listen to your body during the class, health complications can arise in the hours after the class is over as well. If you have ever had tingly limbs shortly after a yoga session, it is most likely from the heat or the poses that take blood away from certain parts of the body. This can feel a little funny but is not any reason to be concerned. If the numbness does not go away after twenty minutes, contact your doctor. Numbness can be a sign of stroke or spinal, nervous, or arm injuries. 

Although these concerns are only in extremely rare cases, it is best to know the upsides and pitfalls of any activity. If you have never tried hot yoga, start slow. There is no reason not to try it once, but even less of a reason to go in guns blazing as a beginner yogi. If you ever feel light headed or nauseous, lay down for a pose or two. This is very common in the beginning since your body is getting use to a whole new level of working in heat. ​

5 Must-Try Spring Activities to Burn Calories

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Spring is in the air, everywhere I go... ​

The weather is getting gorgeous with sunny days and cool temperatures and all I want to do is go outside! There are a great many activities that welcome the spring and get us moving at the same time. Activities like swimming, surfing, hiking, and biking are great ways to get out and see nature while taking some of those unneeded calories off our hands- or thighs, if we wish to be literal. 

Here are a few activities that will get you outdoors and keep those Girl Scout cookies at bay! ​

Walk The Beach

​This is a must do any time I go to the beach. Walking the beach is sooo relaxing, but it is also great for our shape.

To kick up a calorie burn, try walking in the water. Walking in water up to your thighs can burn up to 600 calories in an hour! This is due to the 14x resistance in water compared to air. Your legs will get a great workout and your arms will get some extra sun- win win!

Go on a Hike

If you live in an area that has beautiful hills or mountain sides, you are probably already a hiking champ. Hiking is great for our legs and core, and also lets us get out and enjoy that beautiful nature. Best of all, hiking in a hilly area could burn upwards of 650 calories per hour! That is a pretty good workout addition or replacement, especially when you include the relaxation benefits! ​

Try taking your pooch out for a walk during the day or after work, you will both love the extra time outside and the low-impact movement can be great for everyone's joints! Don't have a puppy? Do not fret, there are plenty of friends who would love to put there's on loan, or animal shelters that encourage people to take their canine pals out as well. ​

Surfing

If you have never tried surfing, I highly recommend it. ​Surfing with a long board is easy to get the hang of, and it is super fun to be pushed along by a wave. Start out simple with a long board, some small waves, and a friend that can give you an extra push- you will be Kelly Slater in no time! Perk, surfing small waves intermittently for 1 hour can burn 450+ calories and give you literal washboard abs... Not to mention the extra leg power from balancing and the massive arm workout your will get from paddling...

If you are landlocked and this idea is making you a bit upset, there are some great options for you as well! Indoor surfing has become pretty popular over the last few years. Check your area to see if any of these are available. No, it is not the real deal, but it will just make you that much more prepared when the real thing comes your way! ​

Kayaking

​I put kayaking on this list with a heavy heart. After my first (and last) kayaking experience, the hubs has banned me from kayaking for good. To be honest, I cannot completely blame him. My kayaking skills are reminiscent of a fish out of water that is now trying to steer a boat. Awful.

But, for all those super coordinated (or those who have some form of balance), kayaking can be a great way to get out ​on the water while being completely eco friendly. Whether you are kayaking around a lake, down a pretty river, or on the open ocean in search of your own private island, kayaking can be a great way to relax and see some lesser known areas of nature.

Kayaking will also work your core like P90X and get those arms ready for your local gun show, for reals. Depending on how rigorous your kayaking experience is, it will also burn somewhere between 250 and 500 calories per hour. Yes, please!​

Ride a Bike

Bike riding is a great way to get the wind in your hair and enjoy some of that sunny, crisp spring weather. ​With bikes becoming more popular, there are tons of new trails popping up in almost every city in the US. If you live anywhere near train tacks, there is a large chance you are right on top of a fantastic and new biking trail.

There are a great many unused train tracks that have now been converted to biking trails. These are fantastic ways of getting out of the city while still being in town. Many trails have beautiful scenery that you may not even know existed so close to home! Best of all, biking will help your legs and bum get ready for those summer short shorts, and the relaxing hour on your bike can burn between 300 and 600 calories!