"Pursue your goals, but never lose sight of the reality of things." -Amy Suto
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Day 6: Youtube 30 Day Workout
Hey guys! I created a fancy-shmancy 30 Day Youtube Calendar — you can download it for free here! I’m doing the 30 days with you guys, and sharing my tips and tricks along the way. You can see all of my posts about the Youtube Workout here. Good luck!
Day 6: Little Black Dress Bootcamp
For some reason the link on my youtube calendar isn’t working for this video, but I’ll fix that! You can also just click on the link above.
This is the last video of week one, so do your best!
What You’ll Need: Tennis shoes or workout mat
Time Required: 9 minutes
Tips:
- Today’s bonus challenge is to do this video three times so you can do three sets of each exercise.
- Watch your form on the lunges, squats and pushups!
- Add weights to the squats if you need a tougher intensity!
After Your Workout:
Congrats! You’ve completed Week 1!
Tomorrow’s your rest day, but if you don’t feel like resting, feel free to redo your favorite workout from this week:
- Day One: HIIT Fat Loss
- Day Two: Drive By Inner Thighs
- Day Three: Jump Rope Training Circuit
- Day Four: Strength Training for Fat Loss
- Day Five: Weight Loss Yoga with Tara Stiles
See you in Week 2!
Day 5: Youtube 30 Day Workout
Hey guys! I created a fancy-shmancy 30 Day Youtube Calendar — you can download it for free here! I’m doing the 30 days with you guys, and sharing my tips and tricks along the way. You can see all of my posts about the Youtube Workout here. Good luck!
Day 5: Weight Loss Yoga with Tara Stiles
You’ve been working hard this week, so stay strong! Today’s workout is a little easier, but still a challenge nevertheless. Prepare for chair poses!
Tara Stiles has a ton of great routines, and I picked the beginner weight loss yoga video because it’s a great intro to how yoga can improve both flexibility and muscle tone.
What You’ll Need: A yoga mat or towel
Time Required: 8 minutes
Tips:
- Get low. Really dig into those chair poses!
- Focus on your breath. Yoga is all about linking breath with movement, so focus on keeping your breathing smooth throughout this whole routine.
After Your Workout:
If you’re looking for a good, protein-filled snack, try my Angelic Eggs — a healthy twist on the traditional deviled eggs dish!
BONUS CHALLENGE! Select a flexibility workout from my list of harder youtube workouts. I recommend Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown Level 1 if you’re up for the challenge!
See you tomorrow!
Day 4: Youtube 30 Day Workout
Hey guys! I created a fancy-shmancy 30 Day Youtube Calendar — you can download it for free here! I’m doing the 30 days with you guys, and sharing my tips and tricks along the way. You can see all of my posts about the Youtube Workout here. Good luck!
Day 4: Fitness Blender Strength Training for Fat Loss
Hey guys! Today’s workout is a tough fat burner, and it’s going to sculpt your upper body!
What You’ll Need: dumbbells, yoga mat (optional). I used 8lb weights for this one, and don’t go too heavy but make sure you’re challenging yourself!
Time Required: 26 minutes
Tips:
- Play Pump Up Music. Fitness Blender workouts don’t have a soundtrack, so turn on some tunes to keep you working hard and inspired!
- Focus on your form. Keep your back straight with the deadlifts to protect your spine. Good form is key!
- Customize the intensity. Don’t go too heavy, because that could cause injury. Don’t go too light, because then it won’t be an effective workout! Anywhere between 5-12lbs is a good range — if the later reps aren’t feeling really tough, you need to increase your weight, and if your form is suffering, choose lighter weights.
After your workout:
Stretch, eat some delicious Greek yogurt, drink water and sleep well in order to make sure your muscles recuperate!
I don’t know about you guys, but my muscles are quite sore from yesterday’s jump roping. Do some yoga if your muscles feel tight!
See you beautiful people tomorrow! :)
LINK TO: Day 5
Eat clean and train mean to burn fat!
From Livestrong:
Protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats should all be balanced to enable you to maintain energy levels, rebuild and recuperate, and avoid illness. Finding ways to include protein, carbs and fats in your diet in the proper forms and amounts is the key to optimum health.
Day 3: Youtube 30 Day Workout
Hey guys! I created a fancy-shmancy 30 Day Youtube Calendar — you can download it for free here! I’m doing the 30 days with you guys, and sharing my tips and tricks along the way. You can see all of my posts about the Youtube Workout here. Good luck!
Day 3: Jump Rope Training Circuit
The actual workout starts at the 1:45 mark, so you can skip to that point in the video if you are so inclined!
Today’s your first day of circuit training, which is a type of HIIT that involves strength moves mixed with cardio. (Most HIIT is usually just cardio done at different speed intervals.)
If you find today’s workout too easy and want more of a challenge, select an additional workout from this list. If this workout is too difficult, or if you don’t have a jump rope or dumbbells, you can also find an alternative on that same list. I recommend the Yoga Cardio Blend from the “easy” column if you don’t have any equipment, since it’s a comparable workout in terms of integrating both strength and cardio.
Here we go!
What you’ll need: A jump rope, dumbbells, a chair, and good shoes! Jump ropes are the perfect fitness tool. They’re cheap (usually less than $5!) and make for a great fat burning workout!
Time Required: 12 minutes
Tips:
- I picked this workout because it’s a challenging, total body workout! You WILL see results from circuit training because it’s the best of both fitness worlds, cardio and strength.
- This workout may be overwhelming for some — she talks a lot about technique of jumping rope. Honestly? Just jump rope. Fast. That’s all you need to do to get a good workout. Trust me, you can worry about all the jump rope techniques later.
After Your Workout: Today’s workout was tough, so make sure you drink plenty of water and eat something with lots of protein! Protein shakes, peanut butter — all good options! See you tomorrow :)
Day 2: Youtube 30 Day Workout
Hey guys! I created a fancy-shmancy 30 Day Youtube Calendar — you can download it for free here! I’m doing the 30 days with you guys, and sharing my tips and tricks along the way. You can see all of my posts about the Youtube Workout here. Good luck!
Day 2: Blogilates Drive By Inner Thighs
I don’t know about you, but I can still feel those mountain climbers from yesterday!
Today’s workout is only 4 minutes long. You know what that means? It’s going to be INTENSE and you’re gonna need to bring it like a beat poet at a rap battle.
If you find today’s workout too easy and want more of a challenge, select an additional workout from this list.
Time Required: 4 minutes.
Tips:
- Engage your core!
- When you’re making small circles, try and make them smaller and faster
- Keep your legs straight and point your toes
After Your Workout:
**BONUS CHALLENGE! Do the Call Me Maybe Squats Challenge by Blogilates if you’re up for it! The plie squats also work your inner thighs, so it’s in line with today’s workout. I have strong legs, so I also added ten pound weights to my squats and was dying by the end. But it’s worth it!
Remember, you need to eat protein after your workout — especially when you’re doing strength workouts. Here are 8 great post-workout snacks!
Don’t forget to use the hashtag #YoutubeWorkout to share your progress/healthy eating on Instagram!
Tomorrow we’re doing a full-body jump rope workout circuit! Sleep well, drink some ice cold water, and get plenty of rest!
Thank you so much!!
My hope is that the Youtube Challenge will make fitness more accessible. Not everyone can afford gym memberships or have safe places to run. And there are some really fun and challenging workouts on Youtube, so this project aims to show you what’s out there while you’re improving your body and health :)
Thanks again!!
Awesome, Alexis! I know how tough AP tests are this time of year (I know my brother is feeling the pressure) and sometimes it feels like studying can take over your life and eclipse everything else. Not to mention all the other stuff you guys have to do to get ready for college apps and finish up the year! I wouldn’t want to do all that again.
Stay strong and awesome :)
Day 1 Checkup: The Youtube Workout
Leave a comment or send me an ask:
How’d your workout go today for day one?
What kind of thoughts are running through your head about fitness, committing to working out, and staying motivated?
Day 1: Youtube 30 Day Workout
Hey guys! I created the fancy shmancy 30 Day Youtube Calendar — you can download it for free here! I’m doing the 30 days with you guys, and sharing my tips and tricks along the way. You can see all of my posts about the Youtube Workout here. Good luck!
Day 1: Interval — HIIT Fat Loss with Fitness Blender
Welcome to the first day of the program! Come in, sit down, let me grab you some green tea and brief you on the awesome fitness journey you’re going to embark on!
Today’s workout isn’t too challenging — it’s about on the same par as the first day of the 30 day shred, if not a bit easier. Just do your best. If you need to take an additional ten second rest break here and there, go ahead, but try and push through!
What you’ll need: tennis shoes! There’s some plyometric moves in today’s workout, so you’ll want some padding. These plyo moves are great for building strength and torching fat, but you need good shoes — or at the very least a yoga mat — to protect your feet.
Time Required: 21 minutes
Tips:
- This is a great introduction to High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT is great for fat loss and boosting your metabolism, and it’s much better than steady state cardio for weight loss.
- For those of who who are more advanced, make the moves more challenging by either adding weights, going faster, or going deeper into the lunges.
- Turn on some music as well in order to improve your endurance by 20%! Moves Like Jagger got me through the hellish last set of mountain climbers :)
After your workout:
When you’re done, eat some almonds or peanut butter and chill out!
- Was this workout too easy for you? Check out my list of more advanced workouts, and do it in addition to today’s workout!
- Was this workout too hard? Were you unable to complete more than half of the workout? Instead, try a workout from my list of easier options.
Drink lots of water, sleep well, and I’ll see you guys tomorrow :)
LINK TO: DAY 2
Thank you so much! This means the world to me, it really does :)
And yes I do run the Reality of You website, and I created it to be a place where there would be more permanent sources of fitness and health info (posts on Tumblr often get buried and forgotten and lonesome) and where I could use a fancy shmancy template from Wordpress.
You guys keep amazing me every day, I know you’ll reach your goals in no time!
High intensity interval training is the way to go! The research speaks for itself:
The most recent study, out of Australia, reported that a group of females who followed a 20-minute HIIT program consisting of eight-second sprints followed by 12 seconds of rest lost an amazing six times more bodyfat than a group that followed a 40-minute cardio program performed at a constant intensity of 60% MHR. Source
Tomorrow, the 30 Day Youtube Challenge begins! HIIT is a huge part of the Challenge in order to burn fat like nobody’s business. It’s also a buffet table of all the great workouts youtube has to offer. And it’s free! No gym membership required :)
photo by lululemon athletica via Flickr Creative Commons
Monday, May 13th we start the challenge!
What are you doing to prepare? Take over the hashtag #youtubeworkout so I’m not the only one posting dorky photos of almonds and workout hairstyle fails.
Jump into summer fitness!
I’ll be starting the 30 Day Youtube Workout Calendar I created on Monday, May 13th— you should too!
Benefits of the program:
1. It’s totally free!
You can work out in your own home for free. No gym membership required!
2. Effective workouts in less time
This workout calendar uses several different types of workouts proven to speed up your metabolism and turn on your fat burning capacities. Here they are:
- Circuit and high intensity interval training 3x/week. If you want to lose fat, interval and circuit training are the way to go. Both circuit and interval training keep burning calories even after the initial workout is over, and they’re the best fat burners.
- Strength training twice a week. Read my article about why strength training is critical not just for fitness but also for weight loss.
- Flexibility training once a week. Get long, lean muscles, and protect yourself from injury. Near the end of the program, these flexibility workouts will add in a strength component to help you tone up.
3. Increase in intensity
If you don’t train hard, you won’t see results. That’s why I designed this program to increase the intensity of the workouts as the weeks went on.
4. Moral support
You guys, I’ll be doing this with you. I’ll be sweating and pushing myself and working through each day alongside you like the Jiminy Cricket of personal trainers but on Tumblr. I’ll be sharing recipes and swapping lame metaphors and awkward jokes with you as we work through this program together.
I also have an additional list of easier and more difficult workouts so you guys can customize the intensity of the program.
Even if you miss the start date, you can always visit this tag on my blog or the start page to see all the posts and you can join me whenever you have the chance :)
START DATE: Monday, May 13th
Let’s get working!!
Hey there!
It’s very very unlikely that you lost a pound — a real, quantifiable pound of fat — in a day. You have to burn roughly 3500 calories in order to lose a pound, and generally it’s not a good idea to lose more than 2lbs per week.
With that said, you shouldn’t be weighing yourself every day because the scale lies! Your body weight can fluctuate anywhere from 2-10lbs based on what you ate, the amount of sodium in your body, and other basic body chemistry reasons.
So just check your weight once per week max at the same time in the morning right after you wake up and use the restroom.
Even better — don’t check the scale! Instead, just use measurements and body fat calculators and focus on improving your body composition (aka the amount of body fat compared to lean muscle mass) to get a better idea of your progress.
Eat right, exercise, and you’ll see your body begin to change — really change.
