Shape Magazine Workout Review: Your Beach Body

The May edition of Shape Magazine is on the stands and I am so excited. This issue is bubbling with fantastic workouts, one being a new Jillian Michaels 90-day plan. To kick-off Michaels' new Hardbody workout DVD, she has done a beach body workout for Shape Magazine- and just in time! ​

The workout is part of a three month plan that I can only assume will be continued in the next two issues of Shape Magazine. There is also a complete diet to go along with the workout and it seems pretty simple. Although I am not doing the diet plan, it seems pretty great with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a few snacks. I was pretty surprised that the diet is not low on calories either! But, back to the workout... The whole workout is comprised of six exercises done in a circuit three times. Jillian Michaels recommends doing this workout three times a week with two days of cardio mixed in. 

The Review

​The workout was fantastic! The entire workout took about twenty minutes including a one minute warm-up and cool down. This is a circuit workout, but the directions did not say anything about a break between circuits. Jillian does not do too many breaks between circuits when the workout is so short, and I love it. The circuits feel more intense and if the entire exercise is so much more entertaining without breaking every six minutes.

I would completely recommend doing this workout. In fact, I enjoyed the workout so much that I will be purchasing the Hard Body DVD. The only downside I can see to this workout is the weights. I do not have weights at home and know very few people that do. Because of this, I tried using a resistance band for the exercises that called for weights. It did not work. The weights are definitely needed to get everything you can out of the workout. ​

My bum, lower legs, and abs were quite sore the next day and I burnt a total of 138 calories. Although I do not see myself doing this workout twice a week for the next four weeks, I did enjoy it and will be trying it again! ​

Must-Do Workout Routines

There are a few workout routines that I have been dying to do or cannot get enough of. It feels like every magazine, YouTube workout channel, and blog has been going crazy with workout videos since Bikini season is upon us. And of course, I have been going a bit crazy with the workouts I have been doing for that same reason. My 10K training is doing wonders for my torso (woohoo flat abs!), but these workout how-to's have been helping with everything else. Do not fret though, I have added in a must-do ab routine if abs are your trouble spot! 

​The Ultimate Arms and Abs Workout

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Shape.com has put together an awesome workout for arms and abs. This routine is somewhere in between intense and not, and can suit most anyone's fitness goals. Fitness trainer, Jessica Smith, created this fast paced upper body workout, recommending that it be done two to three non-consecutive days a week. She also has some great tips for people who experience wrist pain while doing arm workouts- thank goodness!

This workout uses circuits in a fun way that I have never done before. Instead of doing every exercise and repeating that set, you have mini circuits with two exercises done twice. There are four circuits, eight moves total. ​

Alphabet Abs

I will first say that I hate, hate, hate abs routines that only work the upper abs. Apparently Cassey Ho is not a big fan of them either because this workout works both the upper and lower abs. The workout uses the letters of the alphabet to tone the abs, it is super fun and a bit educational! The workout is technically only two moves, ​but your draw out each letter of the alphabet in each move... It is intense!

​Full Body Fat Incinerator

This is the only must-do workout on the list that will work the whole body. The entire workout only takes about ten minutes, so I would recommend doing this as a warm up before going on to another workout in the must-do series. ​

Amanda Russell created this quick, fat burning workout to be a quick cardio session that mixes fast-paced moves with holding poses. This workout, like all Amanda Russell workouts, it intense. Thank goodness Amanda believes in quick workouts as much as she does intense ones! This workout will be over quickly, but your body will be feeling it for a while! 

Brazilian Booty

This booty workout is part of the 30 day butt challenge over on BeFit's YouTube Channel. The Brazilian Booty workout has tons of fun moves mixed with kick-boxing for a workout that will not be boring. I would totally recommend doing this workout, even if you are not doing the BeFit challenge with me. This guy will work your arms, back, and legs right along with your bum!

The Brazilian Booty workout would be a great follow-up for the Amanda Russell fat burner. Both will work your whole body (with some slight emphasis on the hind) and both will get that heart rate going! ​

Calories Burned at Disney World- EPCOT

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I have been dying to do a calorie count for Disney World for so, so long, and was just able to get there with my FitBit this last week. The Fitbit is an awesome little tool that shows you steps taken in a day, stairs climbed, calories burned, miles traveled and a daily activity level. Everything is kept nice and pretty online for archiving and looking back.

We were at Disney World Epcot for about eight hours and managed to walk the World's Showcase, stand in a 45 minute line for the new Test Track ride, walk on to Finding Nemo, and watch some stellar dancing. For us, it was an average day at EPCOT with a bit more sitting in between. ​

By the time we got to Disney I had logged about 600 steps for the day and 0.2 miles... I tried to wear my FitbIt as little as possible before park time. We parked at Magic Kingdom first for our Sorcerers tickets, then took the tram over to EPCOT. While at EPCOT I walked about 15,000 steps and almost 7.00 miles. But, the thing that surprised me most was that I climbed 8 flights of stairs without even realizing it. That Disney incline is no joke. ​My calorie burn was a bit less than I was really really wishing for, but 1900 calories by walking around for a few hours is really not so bad.

The average daily calorie burn is a good thing to note about our seven hour Disney trip. Like most people, I rationalize eating a Disney treat or two because of all the extra walking/exercise I am getting in a day. Good to know that my extra exercise is really non-existent. Hopefully, this will curve my cravings for those delicious latte floats and Nutella sandwiches! ​

EPCOT Exercise Summary

• 15,385 steps
  
• 6.80 miles
• 1313 calories burned at EPCOT
• 8 flights of stairs

Women's Health Review: Keri Russell's Workout

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Keri Russell is the cover girl for the May issue of Women's Health Magazine. She is so, so super fit in this article and it is shocking that she is 37 years old. Seriously, I would be happy to have her body, and I am in my mid-twenties. Oh, and did I mention she has a one-year-old and a three-year-old? Well, she does. Thank goodness, she gave lots of her personal health and fitness rules in her interview and was very open about training for her role as a spy in the FX show, The Americans. ​Although she does not actually do the workout in this article (the article itself is a bit sparse, really), she does give a run-down of her usual workout routine.

Honestly, the first time I read the routine I was a bit let down. It was quite confusing and I did not know if I would be able to do it in general, let alone review it for you. So, I gave it a few days, then went back for one more look. The how-to for the actual workout is still a bit confusing, but the moves themselves were more clear after the second go around. Maybe it is just me. 

Keri's trainer, Avital Zeisler, is a hand-to-hand combat instructor and uses a great deal of her combat training during this workout. ​The instructions say to do three sets of twelve reps for each exercise. I am still unsure if this means do everything once, then two more times like a circuit, or if you do three set of one before moving on to the next exercise. Because it does not say anything about taking breaks or circuits, I opted for the three sets in a row track. Something different.

The Review

Oh goodness, I so wanted to love this workout. Too bad, it was one of my least favorite routines in a long while. The workout was much more confusing than I originally thought, and a quick how-to was just not enough. Maybe if there were pictures describing the exercises or if I had a trainer showing me how it would have been better. ​But, I do not think pictures would have have saved me from thinking this workout was extremely boring. I actually considered stopping half way through and making that my review of the workout.

Once I got to the push-ups with rolls and kicks, I was lost. Any way I tried it, this move hurt my spine and left me flopping on the ground like a fish out of water. Needless to say, I opted for plain old push-ups instead. With my flopping and minor changes, the workout took me about seventeen minutes and burnt 116 calories. The calorie burn was great, but the workout was just too boring for me to consider doing it again.

If you already know how to do these moves or are working with a trainer in self defense, it could be fun and completely worth a try. Otherwise, I would say to pass. There are tons of great workouts in the May issue of Women's Health Magazine, but I would consider this one a fail. Too bad.