Workouts for Fall Leggings

Isn't it funny that the time of year when we start to bundle up is also the time of year the we show our legs [sometimes] the most? Fall is here and so are those leggings. Leather, jean, ultra skinny, you name and they have it! These two Blogilates are here just in time to get our legs ready for fall's super skinny, ultimate wardrobe necessity. 

This skinny leg workout is all about working those legs for massive results in very little time. There are very few exercises in this workout, but all of the will give those gams a run for their money. It will also work the outer bum and really engage those thigh muscles. I would recommend completing this workout before the bum workout or after your usual cardio session. It is 15-minutes, total, so this will add a bit of time if done along with your usual, but it will be worth it!

Next up is all about the bum with the aid of a handy little piece of equipment called the power ring. The power ring is a great way to work hard to get to muscles and will use resistance to tone those glutes. If you do not have a power ring, do not fret. This workout can be done with an exercise ball for similar results.

This is a great workout to complete after the Skinny Legs Workout, or before some yoga. This workout will help get your blood flower and muscles loosening before your yoga flow, and a nice stretching flow after this will be like gold for your bum! 

Shape Magazine Workouts Review: Kelly Rowland's Arms and Abs

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If you were a child of the 80's or 90's, there is a pretty high chance that you not only know who Kelly Rowland is, but sang along to a handful of her songs. Rowland was one of the key members of Destiny's Child along with another mildly popular singer, Beyonce. Ringing a bell? Personally, I am a little mystified by Kelly Rowland and would seriously like to know how she has managed to simultaneously look so go and be in better shape than she was in her twenties. Seriously, have you seen those arms?! Thankfully, she works hard for her physique and we can all respect her rather than secretly wishing to feed her Krispy Kremes by the truck load. Not that I would ever think of doing that.

I am personally super excited to try this Kelly Rowland workout since there are very few women in Hollywood whose work ethic and healthstyle I respect more than Rowland's. What makes me even more excited about this workout is that is targets the arms and abs. Even though these are not my trouble spots, they could always use a change up and if a workout is good enough for Kelly Rowland's crazy fit arms and abs, it should be good enough for me.

There are some pretty interesting moves in this workout that is comprised of five exercises, three circuits, and jumping jack in between. Goodness, no wonder she is super fit; this 15-minute(ish) workout looks like it will certainly get us sweating!  

The Workout

This workout was fantastic! The entire thing took me about 20-minutes and left my triceps feeling it but not dead by the end. I am not sure how much ab work this got me, but the arms and bum workout make it well worth a try. In fact, I think the second exercise might be my new favorite total body exercise!

By the end of the 20-minutes I had burned about 180 calories and kept an average heart rate of 150 BPM, with my highest being 175 BPM. The workout is not killer on the calorie burn, but it is very obviously meant for toning more than a super intense cardio with massive torching of calories.  

Pretty much anyone can handle this workout. I opted for 5-pound weights (yes, there are two exercises where weights are needed), but if you are not sure, use 3-pounders instead. Almost every exercise can be altered depending on the desired difficulty level and results. If you do this workout, which I recommend, be sure to read the interview with Kelly. It is nice, uplifting, and light; all the right things to focus on pre-workout!

Ballet Beautiful Total Body Tone

I talked about how excited I was to try the Ballet Beautiful Workout DVD in a blog posted about two weeks ago. Well, since then I have tried it and wanted to share my review of the workout with you! Yep, we are really going to get some writting mileage out of this workout.

After reading a lot of the reviews on Amazon, I had a feeling that I was going to enjoy this workout. All the reviews that talked about Mary Helen Bowers' soft voice that was kindly encouraging were not lying. She is a great instructor who does not bully or yell at all. Pretty much the opposite of your P90X and Jillian Michaels workouts while still giving similar results.

The workout has four 15-minute segments that, if needed, could be done separately to pin-point an area or save some time. The segments are legs, abs, outer thighs, and arms. Almost the entire workout is comprised of mat exercises that do not require ballet shoes at all. Most of the exercises are things ballet dancers would do to condition, in fact, you may even see a few familiar exercises in the bridge and outer thigh series. Anyone remember the 10-Minute Bum Routine?

Bowers recommends completing the entire workout at once 2-3 times per week. The entire workout burned just over 200 calories. What it did not burn in calories, it made up for in massive muscle toning with exercises that will encourage long, lean muscle growth.

If you have a spare $14.99 laying around your house and want to spend it in one fowl swoop, this would not be a bad purchase or something you will soon regret; especially when we consider that the average workout class runs between $15-$30 per one workout. Almost every woman and quite a few men will simply love this workout and all of our wallets will be proud!

3 Great YouTube Cardio Workouts

Things have been moving pretty fast this week and the gym has not been happening as much as it should be. These busy times when the extra few minutes make all the difference to my day are the times when YouTube and it's workouts become my bread and butter. There is no reason that a workout need be 90-minutes long, in fact, most fitness advisers recommend only working out between 15-45 minutes per day. The key is to put everything you have into those minutes. This high intensity form of working out will burn more calories, more fat, and tone muscles faster than low intensity workouts that are twice as long.

Jillian Michaels' workouts (of course) is a great example of a high intensity , short, workout plan. Most of her online videos are under 30-minutes long but will do a great deal more than one would expect of a 30-minute workout. This vintage Jillian Michaels Kickboxing Workout is a great example of a high intensity workout that is under 30-minutes long. The entire workout will take about 25-minutes and should leave a puddle of sweat on the floor around us. I would recommend trying this workout if you enjoy kickboxing, need something different to get excited about working out again, or want to be sore tomorrow.

Gwyneth Paltrow is currently on a media tour for her new movie where she struts her stuff in some revealzies lingerie. This is all important to say because she gives all credit of her amazing 40+ bod to her trainer, Tracy Anderson. Tracy Anderson is a trainer located in New York and California who works the bodies of most the Hollywood A-list. That is what I call a glowing resume.  Her main and most well known workout video is Tracey Anderson's Metamorphosis. It is an intense workout that will give you results. Although the movements in Metamorphosis are not too difficult, Tracey moves through things fast enough that keeping up can be a challenge. If you have done Zumba before, you should be fine in the keeping-up department. If not, give it a time or two before you judge. 

This last YouTube cardio workout is by none other than Tony Horton, the creator of some of the most intense workouts I know including P90X and Insanity. This workout is about 35-minutes long and was a live workout video he did this last year. If you wish to get straight to the workout, jump forward to about the 2:30 minute mark and begin! This is an intense workout that I highly recommend doing if you want a good cardio workout and some massive muscle building!