Great Health and Fitness Tools

by Jenni in

Everyone needs a resource or two when it comes to health and fitness. Whether it is an app, a great book, or some super cute running shoes; tools are important for the health and fitness trade. Here are a few great ways to learn about how to stay fit through books, the internet, or YouTube. ​

​Blogilates

I must admit, for a while I was not doing Pilates at all, but, Cassey Ho over at Blogilates has changed that. Her workouts are incredible and she is super sweet to boot! These workouts are usually 15 to 20 minutes, but focus on certain body areas and become very effective. The best part is how quick that time flies. Cassey is great at keeping your mind off what your are doing. She always has popular songs playing in the background and manages to keep everything light... Even when the workout, really, is not.

I would totally recommend her Victoria's Secret Series for some great workouts for arms, the bum, tummy, and legs. The arm workout is intense!

Foodist by Darya Pino

I loove Darya Pino's website, summertomato.com. ​It is filled with some great food knowledge from a PhD who enjoys eating healthy, well rounded meals. Darya and I both believe that healthy should taste great. Darya is able to use her neuroscience background to give some interesting and amazingly informative takes on food. 

I am soo excited for her first book to be released May 7th. ​Foodist: Loosing Real Food and Real Science to Loose Weight Without Dieting has been years in the making and looks to be just as good as her site!

Yoga Journal

Yoga Journal is ​a great webs resource for all things yoga. One of my favorite parts of this site is in the Poses section. Yoga Journal has every yoga pose cataloged for quick pose instruction, health info, benefits, and similar poses. This is fantastic if you are wanting to build a sequence relating to a certain body part, or need a bit more information on how something is done.  One of my favorite uses for this is building sequences. Every pose has a list of other poses that should come before or after, making sequence building super easy and the yoga flow super efficient. ​

If you are not so into building your own sequences, do not fret. Yoga Journal has incredible instructors and yoga videos. My favorite YJ flow has always been the Twist and Detox, but this one is pretty high up there as well. Check out the Video section of their site for video sequences that are separated depending on experience level. ​

Favorite Yoga Podcasts

by Jenni in ,

One of the best things that I have ever incorporated into my fitness routine is yoga. The go to yoga that I generally prefer is hot yoga... Yoga in about 100 degrees for ninety minutes. This type of yoga helps improve flexibility, strength, and mental stamina (mental stamina is an opinion, it has not been proven). Even though I love hot yoga, I only go about 2-4 times per month since it can be a bit pricey and intense. For those days when yoga is on the mind but hot yoga is not a real option, I turn to a podcast called Yogamazing by Chaz. His classes and directions are great, plus, he says funny things... I always like a little laugh with my yoga! My personal favorite is one done way back in 2008 called Warrior Flow. It totally works your bum and arms, it is awesome and I am still in love with it after four years.

Another one of my favorites is a podcast called Yogajournal. The instructors here are rotated so you can mix it up or pick a favorite and stick with them. The Move and Sweat and Twist and Detox are great when done together, you will definitely be feeling it in your core after these!

Two great things about these podcasts is that both are video and they are available as subscriptions on YouTube and iTunes. No need to be a yoga pro, they show and tell all the positions!