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How I Lost Weight After a Half Marathon

April 8, 2013 in Abs, Intervals and Circuit Training, Jillian Michaels, upper and lower body, Workout DVD, workout in the winter, workouts with 2 Comments

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As most of you know, I ran my first half marathon February 24th. The training was so intense at times that I would run for 2 hours straight! You think to yourself: she must have been the skinniest she’s ever been. Think again!

Since finishing my half-marathon training, I have gotten back in touch with my favorite fitness guru: Jillian Michaels. I’ve actually LOST WEIGHT since running a half marathon.
The beautiful part? I don’t have to do any 2 hour workouts during the week!

HOW DID I LOSE WEIGHT?

1. Jillian Michaels DVDS

Jillian is a fat blasting master. I love her workouts.
You want to see results? Cardio alone won’t do it. You HAVE to build muscle through weight training and circuit training, and Jillian is your girl!

Here are my FAVORITE Jillian DVD’s right now. I cycle them throughout the week.

YOGA MELTDOWN
2 levels of fat blasting yoga, all while relaxing your mind and body after a long day. Each level is about 30 minutes long.

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6 WEEK 6 PACK
2 levels of intense core and ab work. This may just be my favorite DVD of hers. Each level is 35 minutes long. Occasionally I’ll do half of a level and then go for a run.

6 week 6 pack

KILLER BUNS AND THIGHS
This was a Christmas present from my wonderful husband. Three crazy levels, each one about 40 minutes long. This workout has serious muscle consequences, but it hurts so good.

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2. I got really strict with my eating again.
During my half marathon training, I still ate extremely healthy, but I allowed one or two extra splurge meals.

Now that life is back to normal, my week is much stricter now with the food I eat. I have cut out as much unnecessary bread as possible, I eat many veggie based dinners, and have fallen in love with kettle corn as my “dessert” rather than splurging on ice cream. To lose weight, I have to consume less than 2000 calories a day, with intense workouts included.

 

All this to say, I’m confident you can lose the weight you want and feel great. Eat strictly and go buy Jillian Michaels DVDs. I promise you will be so sore. I also promise you will look so good!

 

Why You Can’t See Your Abs Yet

July 26, 2012 in Abs, Intervals and Circuit Training, Running, Uncategorized, upper and lower body, workouts with 0 Comments

So often when I would work out in years past, I would think to myself, why can I not see the muscles I’m toning!?

Here’s a secret: you can’t zone in on your fat burning.

In simple terms, only doing crunches will not burn the fat on your stomach. And only doing pushups does not guarantee your arm flab will vanish into thin air.

How Do You Reveal the Muscle You Want to See Most?

YOU HAVE TO COMBINE CARDIO WITH STRENGTH TRAINING!
You can’t only do ab exercises to get a six pack. You must do intense cardio in between strength exercises to burn the fat off of the muscles you so desperately want to see.

You cannot zone the fat burning to one specific muscle group. Every person’s body burns fat differently. You may notice that you lose fat in your waist quickly, but your butt and hips are the last place it disappears. Honestly, the only way to beat this problem is to keep pushing through and switching up your workouts until your body starts to burn fat in that area.

On the plus side–if you keep doing strength and toning exercises, as the fat burns, the muscles you have been toning will shine right through.

When I was losing weight, I lost about 20 pounds before my pants size changed. I could not get out of my jeans even though my arms, face, legs, and waist were trimming quickly. After 20 pounds, my pants size dropped quickly- I just had to reach the stage of fat burning that targeted my butt and hips.

 

Keep on, keepin’ on, my friends. The fat will come off eventually. Stay constant.

 

The Best Ab Move for a Flat Stomach

May 10, 2012 in Abs, workouts with 1 Comment

Here goes: the best ab move for a flat stomach. No, it’s not crunches.

It’s the plank pose.

A plank can be done in a variety of forms where the individual rests on arms or hands in some form and the body is suspended in the air with feet resting on the toes. Planks are the best ab move because they engage your entire core. The top of your abs, the bottom, your sides. Not to mention your arms and shoulders being engaged the entire time as well. This is better than a basic crunch because that move only engages one or two muscle groups where a plank pose requires your entire body cooperating to accomplish it.

Here are a couple ways this can look:

1. The Basic Plank
The basic move is great to do for extended periods of time. Go for a minute or two and start to feel your muscles shaking. I promise they will feel it. Want to make it harder? Try raising one foot a time and holding the pose to engage your rear and legs.

 

2. The Extended Plank
This move is just slightly different than the first one, where this requires your arms to be fully extended in front of you.
A great variation of this pose is side twists- keep your arms fully extended but bring your legs in one at at time across your body to the opposite arm pit and repeat for 15 reps on each side. This completely engages your core from the extended plank but adds more arm tone, leg tone, and the best part- your sides carrying love handles.

 

3. The Side Plank
As Jillian Michaels says “This one is mean, but it gets results.” Fully extending one arm you lift your entire body weight off of the ground and hold the pose. Legs are fully extended with feet stacked or one right in front of the other.
Two rockin’ variations of this pose:
1. Rotating side planks: To add cardio fat burning to your ab move- rotate your side planks by starting on the right arm fully extended, rotating to the left arm fully extended so you are alternating the sides your are facing and engaging your body.
2. Side plank with inner thigh raise: Here you hold the side plank pose and bring the bottom leg up toward the air, twist, and set it back down without bringing the knee to the ground. So your bottom leg of the plank pose is twisting the muscles on your side and working your inner thigh muscles.

Your Homework:
Give planks a try. It’s almost swimsuit season, and your body will thank you.