Tag: beachbody

Hip and Thigh exercises

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Contrary to popular belief, you actually can’t spot train! All of these exercises will work the hip and thigh area, but they also work other areas in your legs as well. If you do any of these, or even many of the exercises in the “butt exercises” note, they will work these areas. One thing I’ve learned throughout my own journey is that you just have to do leg exercises in general, and the weight will come off wherever it feels like coming off lol. I still have fat on my hips and thighs that I would like to get rid of, but doing only these exercises wouldn’t make that happen any faster. It would actually be counter-productive because this area natually takes longer for us as women to lose, so you might as well work all the other areas while you’re at it so that you see progress everywhere else while you wait! The key is that you’ll be building muscle, and the muscle is what is going to burn off the fat.

-Squat with leg lift (Do a regular squat with feet shoulder width apart, then when you are standing up lift one leg out to the side. Be careful not to lean to the other side, and focus on standing straight just lifting the leg up and out to the side. You can alternate legs if you want, or you can do one leg then the other)

-Standing hip opener (Stand straight and bring one knee up so that the top part of your leg is parallel to the floor, then bring the leg out directly to the side but keeping it at the same angle, and then lower the leg back to the ground. Again, try to remember to stand up straight and not to bend into the turn. This will work your legs as well as your core and your abs from balancing and using that core strength to stand straight)

-Bowling lunge (Get into a lunge stance with most of your weight on the forward leg, and then inch the other leg behind you and to the side. You should be able to lift your back toe off the ground and balance on the front leg for a few seconds. It will feel like you’re about to throw a bowling ball. Once in position, lunge down, then come back up slowly. Repeat as many times as you can)

-Sumo squats (Get into a wide foot stance with toes facing outward. Squat down and then come up slowly. Again, repeat as many times as you can)

-Pulsing sumo squats (Same as regular sumo squats only this time instead of coming all the way up when you finish the first one, you only come halfway up. Do that pulse three times, then on the fourth you can come all the way up. This counts as one rep)

-Hip raises (Lie on your side on your mat and hold yourself up with your arm resting on the mat and your foot closest to the ground on the mat on its side with the other foot resting on top of it. Slowly lift your hips off the ground so that the space between your body and the mat forms half of a triangle. You can do this with your knee on the mat instead of your feet if you don’t have the strength to get up, but try it with the toes first)

-Leg lifts (Get in the same position as the hip raises only this time you will lift the top leg up into the air as high as you can)

-Wall sit (Get into squat position with your back against the wall. Your legs should be at a 90 degree angle, with the top part of your leg parallel to the floor. If it starts to burn too much just come up for 10 seconds and then inch back down. If your legs start shaking too much, you’re done)

-Step ups (If you have a stepper or a small stool this would come in handy. Otherwise just use something about the same height or even just a regular stair if you have to, but ideally it will be a bit higher than a typical stair. You just step up with one leg, step back, and then lunge back with the other leg. This is one rep, and do as many as you can on one side before switching to the other)

-Toe touches/deadlifts (If you have weights you can use them to make this a deadlift, otherwise you can use cans of soup or something to make it at least a little more difficult. Stand up straight and then bend down but keep your back straight as you come down and try to bring your hands or the weights as low as you can)

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Butt toning exercises

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Here are some moves you can do to tone your butt. You can add weight to a lot of these to make it harder and work better, but it isn’t necessary.

-Regular squats (feet shoulder width apart)

-Sumo squats (feet further apart with toes pointed outward)

-Pulsing squats (Squat down, then only come halfway up 3 times, then come all the way up on the fourth pulse. That is considered one rep)

-Squat and hold (Squat down and hold position for 10 seconds, then come up)

-Wall sits (Put your back against the wall and squat down so that your knees are at a 90 degree angle. When it starts to burn just come up a bit to give your legs a break, then get back down into it. If your legs start shaking, you’re done)

-Lunges (You can do these as walking lunges where you do one on each side, or if you don’t have much space you can do them standing still in one place doing a full set on one leg and switching)

-Screamers (Get in a lunge stance with most of your weight on the forward leg, then you bring the back leg off the ground with your knee coming up. Pull your hands in as you bring the knee up, it will almost feel like you’re pulling someone down to knee them in the gut or something. Do this repeatedly as fast as you can. You will know why they are called screamers within like 5 seconds lol)

-Leg extensions (Get on your knees on a mat and raise one leg up into the air as high as you can repeatedly, then the other leg. This can also be done standing up, but you have to be careful of your posture and that you aren’t cheating by leaning forward)

-Leg pulses (Get in the same position as above on your mat and raise one leg up as high as you can, then only bring it back down halfway and keep pulsing up)

-Bridge (Lie down on the mat with your feet planted down below your butt, then lift your body up into a straight line)

-Hip thrusts (Rest your shoulders on a bench with your feet planted on the ground and lif your body up into a straight line so that your legs are at a 90 degree angle. I usually do this with a barbell and some plates by resting the bar across my hips)

-Back kicks, aka donkey kicks (You literally just kick straight behind you. You will have to bend forward to do this one, and you probably shouldn’t try this at the gym or you may get some strange looks lol)

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Don’t Hesitate

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So many people say “I’ll start Monday”, or “I’ll start after New Years”, or “I’ll start after I eat all of the bad food in the house so that it won’t be there to tempt me”. and things of that nature. Yet, that day never actually comes. The more you put it off, the less likely it is to actually happen.

If you have the motivation to get started and you WANT to get started, don’t let yourself put it off. If you do, chances are you’ll never get started. If you do get started and you ate all of the junk food in the house so that it wouldn’t be there to tempt you, chances are you will have put on some extra weight. Now you not only will have wasted time you could have been making progress, but you’ll have put on more weight that you will have to work off!

Why not get started early and build the good daily habits that will keep you going during and after the bad days to come? There will be days when you will give in to temptation, and what I want you to remember is that one bad day is not going to wreck your progress. However, by the same token, one good day is not going to give you progress.

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Food VS Body

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Lol I totally agree, and I bet I am not alone in this! The cravings subside most of the time, but every now and then I do crave stuff like pizza, chocolate, ice cream, or my kryptonite, ROOTBEER!

Just because you have those cravings, doesn’t mean you have to indulge all the time.You should never completely restrict yourself from having things like this long term because it can actually be counter-productive. If you try too hard to NOT eat something, eventually you are going to get caught on a rough day and you are going to go on a binge.

Make the choice to treat yourself once a week, and try to pick cheat meals that are still relatively healthy. You can do this by make meals that mimic the foods that you love. For example, with Shakeology I mimic my love of ice cream by making it neapolitan flavored! My personal favorite cheat meals are homemade nachos and homemade pizza. We use organic nacho chips, we measure out the salsa and the tex mex cheese, and we throw it in the microwave. For the pizza, we use a healthier brand of thin crust and measure out some sauce, pineapple, pepperoni slices, and cheese. These meals are delicious, and I am able to eat them completely guilt free!

Click Here to make a free account on Team Beachbody so that you can gain access to some healthy recipes.

Survey Says!

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Have you ever heard of Shakeology? If not, check out the results from a survey that was done with people who have tried it. The vast majority of these listings are all super high numbers!

Now I am aware that they are a HUGE amount of drinks and shakes out there that claim they will help with weight loss. This deters many people from trying Shakeology because they think it is just another one of those fads. Coming from a person who actually HAD this line of thinking, I can honestly tell you that Shakeology is not like the other drinks or shakes you may have tried.

I refused to try it myself for a while because I was skeptical of anything that claimed to help you lose weight after having wasted hundreds of dollars on products that failed to work. After a while though, my coach sent me some sample packets in the mail. Upon trying the regular chocolate Shakeology, I finally decided to give it a try. I have been drinking shakeology daily ever since!

I love the way that Shakeology makes me feel, and I love what it does for my body. Even better than that though, I love the taste! I mix my Shakeology with a scoop of whey protein, some frozen strawberries, almond milk, and ice. To me this honestly tastes like a chocolate covered strawberry milkshake. Come to think of it, when I went to a Wedding Trade Show with my Beachbody business I gave out samples using this recipe. I had multiple people tell me that it tasted just like ice cream!

Shakeology has so many health benefits, and it is great for anyone who has a sweet tooth. Simply mix up a blend that mimics some tasty treat, and drink it to curb your craving!

Click Here if you would like to learn more. You can find videos, information, as well as recipes on my website.

Is your food medicine or poison?

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So many people are getting sick these day, and you hear all the time of people having heart attacks at a pretty young age. Sometimes these health issues has a lot to do with what the people were eating. If you’re one of those people that can eat just about anything all day and night and never gain any weight, that does NOT give you a free pass to eat nothing but junk! You can be unhealthy and still be small, and then some day all of that junk food will catch up to you.

Just because you are not getting “fat” on the outside, does not mean that your body isn’t changing and getting fat on the inside. If your arteries get clogged up from all the junk that you eat, and blood stops flowing to your heart, you can potentially be the next person to have a heart attack in your 20’s or 30’s.

People need to realize how important it is that you take care of yourself. You need to choose to put good and nutritious food into your body! More important than that, you need to choose to provide good and nutritious food to your children. It is your responsibility to teach your children how to be healthy, and they will learn from you. If you are constantly eating junk food and allowing them to eat junk food, they will grow up eating junk food.

When my little sister was a toddler, we didn’t allow her to have pop until she was older. By the time she actually tried pop, she didn’t even like it. She hadn’t been introduced to it because she was always told that it was yucky and not for her, so she didn’t get it in her head that it was okay to have at that super young age when they are developing their habits. Kids need to develop healthy eating habits so that they don’t end up being unhealthy as they grow up.

Parents tend to forget that their habits can impact their children in a big way. If a child loses their parent because they had a heart attack younger than they should have from their poor eating habits, it will most-likely devastate them. We all need to be more health conscious not just for ourselves, but for those around us that care about us and don’t want to lose us to something trivial that could have been prevented!

Click Here if you are ready to finally change your eating habits and create a healthier life for yourself and your family.

Courage doesn’t always ROAR…

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This is such a great quote!

Chances are you’ll struggle in the beginning, and it will be trial and error until you figure things out. What you need to remember though, is that the struggle is totally normal. You just need to stick with it and you will surprise yourself with the progress you make!

So many people get down on themselves because they can’t do certain moves, or they aren’t seeing progress on the scale, or they aren’t able to go running. Whatever the case may be, none of that matters. What matters is what you CAN do, and that you do it. Over time, you will get stronger and be able to do more.

You should always focus on simply being better than you were yesterday, not by trying to kill yourself doing too much too fast. Have you ever done that? If you have been the person that called it quits instead of sticking it out, are you ready to be courageous and try again?

Click Here if you’re ready to take that leap.

Cycle of chest hair

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I actually would like to add an image to this cycle for the fitness guys! The next step brings the guy back to the beginning with a bare chest.

Since I started going down this path with Beachbody to get fit and healthy, I have come into contact with a lot of people who have success stories already. Many of them are men, and I have noticed a pattern when looking at before and after pictures: they almost always seem to have bare chests once they have reached their goals.

Now I wonder, is this because of a girlfriend, or just personal preference? Anyone wanna put in their two cents on this? I am genuinely curious! haha

Do fit people discourage you?

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I have actually had people message me on my page tell me that I shouldn’t be posting pictures of all of these people with super fit bodies on my business page because it is “fat-shaming” and makes people feel bad about themselves. My response is always this. I do NOT, nor will I ever, post something on business page for the purpose of shaming someone or making them feel bad. I post those photos to inspire, and to show people that those kinds of results ARE possible.

Sometimes I have people say things like “well those aren’t real/normal people”, or “yeah but they never struggled with weight in the first place”. My answer is always this. How do YOU know what that person has been through, and what makes YOU the judge of who is real and/or normal in this world? You cannot look at a fit person and say definitively that they have never struggled with weight issues. A lot of people look at me and say that they wouldn’t believe I had ever been classified by a doctor as obese, but I was.

When you see success stories, I don’t want you to think of it as shaming. I want you to let that be motivation for you to achieve your own success story! Try not to let those pictures of progress discourage you by thinking that they are so far ahead of you, because chances are, they started way before you and worked hard for months or even years to get the results that they have achieved.

I want you to focus on what you want to look like. I want you to imagine yourself fitting back into your old favorite pair of jeans. For me, the proverbial pair of jeans was my high school grad ring. I got it early and by the middle of my graduating year, it would no longer fit on my finger. When I started this fitness journey, I promised myself that one day I WOULD get back into that ring. I tried the ring on pretty much every week during my journey until I finally slipped it on, and it felt SO GOOD when I finally hit that goal.

I want you to feel as good as I felt getting my high school grad ring back on my finger. Click Here if you are ready to embark on your own journey.

Don’t strive to be SKINNY

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Sometimes I get responses to my invitations saying “No thanks, I’m already skinny”.

Well, let me tell you, it’s not always about getting skinny! I don’t want to be “skinny”, I want to be FIT and HEALTHY. You should never strive to JUST be skinny. There are even “skinny” people who have fat on their bodies and cellulite, and all of that unwanted stuff.

In addition, I have talked with countless “skinny” people who also have body image issues. People that are naturally super thin have these issues with their bodies just like those who are overweight, they just have issues with different things. For example, I can think of a couple of people right off the bat who have admitted that they can’t stand the fact that their butt is so flat that it doesn’t fill out their jeans. There is also that “thigh gap” goal circulating, but I know multiple people who HAVE that gap naturally and they can’t stand it.

My point is this: Strive to get fit, strive to be healthy, and strive to be toned. You can do it, and I can help you!

Click Here if you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone to change your life for the better.