YouTube Workouts on Vacation

by Jenni in

This week is a bit hectic for the hubs and I. We will be staying with family at the lakehouse for a few days before we make the five-day trek back home. And did I mention we will have his/his parent's Jack Russell with us? We will. I love these trips, but the time before we go can be a bit crazy and fitting in a workout between unpacking, packing, visiting family, and sight-seeing can be difficult. These are the times that I turn to quick YouTube workouts the most.  

YouTube is a great place to go for free and up-to-date workouts. Anyone who has been reading this blog for more than a week knows that I love my YouTube, especially my YouTube workouts. This week is no different. I have been living off ten minute routines that can be fit in through out the day. Sure, a ten minute workout will not change my life, but a few quick workouts spread throughout the day is a whole lot better than nothing at all.

I have been going through a complete ab renovation starting last week, so it is no wonder that ten minute ab routines have become my healthy equivalent to bread and butter. This Cassey Ho Intense Ab Workout is two years old, ten minutes long, and fantastic. The workout is simple, quick, and can be done at home or while vacationing. All of these moves are things most people have done before and they will work all the different muscle groups of the torso. I would completely recommend doing this one before your dinner since it will help kick your metabolism up, but will not leave you as a pile of sweat who needs to re-beautify!

If you want to tone your whole body and help increase muscle definition, working opposing muscle groups is vital. For me, my ab crazed life must have some toning for the back. For that reason, I have fallen in love with Cassey Ho's Back On Fire Workout. The "On Fire" series is less than a month old, so there are plenty of fun, different workouts mixed into all of them. This workout could be done directly after the Ab workout, or another time throughout the day/week. Besides, who does not want a toned back that could rival the gorgeous Maggie Q's?

If you are ever stressed about your day and do not know how a workout, let alone life, will fit in, I would highly suggest completing a 10-minute morning yoga flow. Ten minutes is not much time to give up, but this time can do wonders for clearing your head and getting your day started on the right foot. I am always amazed how much better I feel and how much more time I seem to have after a quick morning yoga flow. This flow is great to do when you wake-up or before you go-to bed, depending on the time you find you get stressed the most. If you are really feeling super-human or super-stressed, try doing this upon waking and before sleeping. A relaxing yoga flow could completing change your day and your sleep!

This Tara Stiles flow is less than 6-minutes long and will help get your body ready for the day ahead!  

Ten Minute Bum Routine

by Jenni in

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A great ten minute bum workout is something that can be tacked to the end of your pre-existing workout, or done one to two times as a workout of it's very own. This bum workout targets the inner thighs, outer thighs, all three gluteus muscles, and the hips abductor muscles. To complete this workout, do each exercise for one minute.

If you really want to get a bum that defy's gravity, reduce the amount of simple sugars and starches eaten in a day and replace them with complex carbs like spinach, beets, and asparagus. Increasing your lean protein intake will do wonders as well.  

Side Leg Taps with Straight Leg

My ballet instructor taught me how to do these as part of her floor barr series. Floor barr is one of the greatest forms of exercise I have ever experienced and this exercise is right up their as one of my floor barr favorites! 

Lay on your left side with your left leg bent and your torso lifted off the ground. Anything between the shoulder blade and the hip should be off the floor.  Lift the right leg off the ground and rotate the leg inward. Point and curl your right foot so the big toe is towards the ground. Begin by taping the right toe on the ground infront of you, then lifting the foot up at least one foot and taping in the center. Continue this taping in a front, center, back, center pattern for one minute.

Move on to the side leg taps with bent leg. Complete the two different forms of side leg taps for one minute each, then switch to the left side for one minute per exercise. 

Side Leg Taps with Bent Leg

The bent leg version will work all those tiny little muscles in the inner thigh and hip flexor region. Both of these exercises will also increase your core strength to boot!  

Lay on the ground in the same position as the straight leg side taps, being sure that hips are aligned and the torso is not touching the ground. Lift the right leg off the ground and rotate it outward. Bend the leg and flex the foot. Continue the taping pattern, but tap the heel to the ground instead of the toe. Continue the front, center, back, center taping pattern for one minute, then switch sides and complete both exercises on the left.

Your buns will be screaming! Mine are every time I do these, no matter how often.  

Bridge Pose

I love me some bridge pose! These will work the upper and lower bum, helping those muscles retain a nice rounded shape and reducing cellulite.  

Lay on your back with arms at your side, legs bent, and feet on the floor. Tuck your shoulders under and lift your hips and torso off the ground. Hold this position for thirty seconds, then slowly lower the bum so it is almost touching the ground, then rise back up. Continue this for another thirty seconds. Be sure that your hips stay even and you are lifting as high as possible during the entire exercise. You should feel beet after this.

Stay in bridge pose, there is more to come... 

Extended Leg Bridge Pose

I promise, I would not put these on here in such high quantities unless they did miracles for our butts! Since you are still in bridge pose, all you will need to do is lift the right leg straight into the air. Be sure to keep hips even and as high as possible. Toes can be pointed or flexed, it is up to you.

You can either hold this position (intermediate) or, to really get buns of steal, slowly lower your hips so they are almost touching the ground, hold, then rise back up. Continue this for one minute then alternate to the left leg being straight in the air.  

Plank Toe Taps

These will work your hip flexors, inner thighs, outer thighs, and abs. Get into lowered plank position with the elbows directly under the shoulders. Lift the right leg into the air about 45 degrees and extend it out to behind you, then to the left. Tap your toe on the ground, then return to starting. Continue for one minute, then alternate to the left side.

Curtsey Lunges

Curtsey Lunges are great for the upper and outer bum along with the outer thighs. Start with hands raised and feet hip width apart. Bring the right leg back and to the outside of the left foot, then complete a lunge in this position. Be sure that your front knee does not extend past your front toe and the back knee does not rest on the ground. Continue alternating legs for one minute.  

Health and Fitness Vocabulary Words

by Jenni in ,

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There are a lot, and I mean a lot of vocab words in the health and fitness dictionary. If your head, like mine, has been spinning with things like Paleo, gluten, tabata, and the like- worry no more, below is a complete list of health and fitness vocab words along with their definition. So, let's take a walk down memory lane together and feel completely reminiscent of our grade school Language Arts Classes. The only difference: now we actually want to learn these.... 

Paleo Diet  

Paleo is short for Paleolithic. This type of diet focuses on whole foods similar to what would have been eaten during the Paleolithic era that ended about 10,000 years ago. This diet is also known as the caveman diet or hunter-gatherer diet.

Foods that are on the "eat" list include organic, locally indigenous meats, legumes, berries, whole wheats, roots, fermented cod liver oil (yum!), raw and grass fed dairy (no processing or pasteurization here), and fruits and vegetables that are locally grown. Refined sugars or processed foods will definitely not fit the bill in a Paleo Diet.

Tabata

A type of workout created in Japan that uses high intensity interval training. Like Bikram, Tabata was created by one man and so, named after him. An entire Tabata session lasts 4-minutes with 8 rounds of 20-seconds of intense training and 10-seconds of rest. Tabata researchers found that this sequence increased both aerobic (by 14%) and anaerobic (by 28%) results. Usually, the workouts completed change during intervals.

An example workout would be: 

  • Sprinting for intervals 1, 3
  • Medicine Ball Slams for intervals 2 , 4
  • Squats for intervals 5, 7
  • Side Lateral Raise for intervals 6, 8

HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training

HIIT lasts anywhere from 4-minutes (Tabata) to 30-minutes and include a warm-up time, followed by 3-10 reps of high intensity exercise, then mid-range intensity exercises, and a cool down. The High intensity rep should be a 100% effort, followed by 50% effort of the same activity. This high/mid intensity switch continues for all reps. Time for high verse mid intensity workouts should be a 2:1 ratio with the high intensity lasting twice as long as the mid.

An example workout would be: 

  • Quick Warm-Up
  • 30-seconds of sprinting followed by 15-seconds of walking. Repeat this ten times.  
  • Cool Down and stretches

Another Example would be to complete these exercises for 30-seconds with 10-seconds of rest. Complete 8 reps, total.

  • Jumping jacks
  • Wall Sits
  • Push-Ups
  • Crunches
  • Chair Squats
  • Plank

Pescetarian

I am quite familiar with this term since I have been one for about five years. A Pescetarian diet is a form of a vegetarian diet where you do not eat meat or poultry but do consume fish. Pescetarians do not need to be quite as careful with where they get Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids or proteins compared to vegetarians or vegans. Since most fish have high contents of protein and healthy fats, the only main concern is fish availability, population and fishing control, and- of course- contaminants in food.

Everyone should be careful of what fish they buy, where they buy it, and how much they eat- especially pescetarians. Eating high quantities of predator fish could result in high levels of blood toxicity levels due to bioaccumulation. Read this to learn more about what you need to know when buying fish.

Gluten

Gluten is a protein composite used to thicken certain foods. There are many types of foods that have gluten in them, from breads that use it to increase moistness and that iconic springy texture, to gravy's that use it as a thickening agent. The protein composite, gluten, is formed during the processing of certain wheat plants including barley and rye. Foods do not naturally have gluten.

Some people (about 1% of the US population) either have a gluten sensitivity or Celiac disease. Gluten sensitivity has been on the rise over the past decade. This could be from an increase in knowledge with gluten-free being a trending diet, or because more foods are processed than were ten years ago. Those with gluten sensitivity are unable to eat it since ingesting it could lead to various reactions including upset stomach, bloating, vomiting, and more super fun things everyone wishes to have. Not.