"Pursue your goals, but never lose sight of the reality of things." -Amy Suto
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
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!
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 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
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
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!!
About the Abercrombie Boycott and Body Positivity
The Abercrombie CEO’s words make me sad and frustrated.
I have friends who are absolutely gorgeous with lovely fashion senses, but don’t fit into Abercrombie clothes. Who is anyone to tell them that because they don’t fit into a very narrow definition of beauty characterized by measurements and “thinness” that they can’t be beautiful?
Not only this, but Abercrombie burns its new, unsold clothes instead of giving it to charity, despite requests from nonprofit organizations.
If you like Abercrombie’s clothes, that’s fine. If you want to continue to shop there, go ahead. I’m not here to dictate your shopping habits, or to shame you into a boycott.
But I encourage everyone to at the very least make an effort to realize that defining beauty through clothing sizes is damaging for the self-esteem of women and girls all over the world.
Being body positive means accepting all body types as beautiful, instead of discriminating with inches and waist sizes.
If you decide to participate in the boycott, here are some other cool clothing companies that also have plus sizes that you can go to that are similar to/better than Abercrombie and Fitch:
- H&M
- American Eagle
- Modcloth (get $15 off your first purchase of $50 by signing up with this link!)
Modcloth not only has plus sizes, but they also feature plus size models in a lot of their promotional materials! The bathing suit advertisement I received today had two women side-by-side: a woman of average weight, and a plus-sized woman. Both are equally gorgeous, and quite a refreshing change from other brands that only highlight waifish models and neglect other body types.
Modcloth’s Advertisement in Question:
Gorgeous!
3 Things I Learned from My Yoga Class:
- Take time to treat your body right. Recognize how much it allows for you to do each day, and treat it accordingly!
- Slow down. Savasana, or the final pose, is meant to take a moment and relax as if it’s the only thing your body knows how to do. It’s one of the highlights of my yoga practice because it reminds me that life isn’t just about business and productivity and noise.
- Acknowledge the world around you. We are held up by the earth, and those around us set intentions for their yoga practices as well. We’re asked to be aware of those around us, and that life wouldn’t be possible without them. We are not the center of the universe.
Also, balancing poses are for badasses who (unlike me) can somehow twist in awkward positions and then do these freaking impossible handstands like it’s nobody’s business.
And I’m all like, “yay child’s pose time!’ because I’m advanced like that.
photo by lululemon athletica via Flickr Creative Commons
“Skipping breakfast is often a big no-no if you are trying to lose or maintain weight because it leads to high-calorie cravings later.”
Source: Web MD.
I know that eating breakfast isn’t always on the top of our priority list when you’re running late or not feeling hungry, but it’s important! Eating a good, healthy breakfast improves your mood and energy levels.
Prepare a parfait or smoothie makings in the fridge before you go to bed! That way, you’ll have no excuse.
photo by adactio via Flickr Creative Commons
Your shoes lose cushioning, shock absorption, and stability over time. Prevent injuries and know when you need to replace your running shoes!
Loss of cushioning in the midsole usually leads to an increase in joint pain and shin splints. The midsole is responsible for cushioning and stability, and it breaks down before the treads of the sneakers.
If you run several times a week but don’t count miles, try and replace them around every six months.
5 Steps from Couch Potato to Runner
photo by puuikibeach via Flicker Creative Commons
3 Rules to Staying Fit and Happy in Your Busy Life
photo by lululemon athletica
There are days where I’m up at 6am to type a paper, then off to eat at 7am, and then class from 8-4pm, followed by yoga class and grocery store errands and then homework until I collapse into bed at ten or eleven.
Yet somehow I’m still keeping up with my studies and making the Dean’s List, carving out time to ironically attend the Birdemic 2 world premiere with my awesome boyfriend, and do yoga three times a week, ballroom dancing three times a week, strength training twice a week, and running twice a week. Oh, and then I somehow also update four blogs and do graphic design work on the side, while also writing scripts and novels year round and still managing to get eight or nine hours of sleep most nights.
I know a thing a two about time management. And getting tickets to dorky premieres. (Did you know Birdemic 2 not only has killer birds, but — gasp — zombies??)
Anyways, I’m here to help you navigate your crazy schedule and still find ways to be fit and healthy year-round! Here they are:
Other articles:
6 Ways to Sleep Better
4 Reasons to Do Yoga
4 Ways to Kickstart Your Fitness Life
Losing weight won’t make you happy.
But you know what will? Discovering that one of your true passions in life is dancing. Realizing that all that stress you carried around with you day after day dissolved that one afternoon you stepped into a yoga class and decided to start practicing. Running a five mile mountain trail as the sun dips behind the horizon, dusting you in gold as the endorphins surge through your body. Eating fresh watermelons and drinking ice cold water. Learning how to cook good, nutritious foods that you love and that give you energy and replenish you day after day.
Losing weight won’t make you happy.
Being healthy will.
Amy, fitness blogger at realityofhealthy.tumblr.com and realityofyou.com
It’s final exam season for those of us in college!
I know you may be stressed and feel like you’re too tired or busy to exercise, but as it turns out exercising is the perfect cure for fatigue and mental exhaustion. Exercise lowers stress levels, boosts brain power, and improves energy better than stimulants such as coffee.
From WebMD:
Not only does exercise improve your body, it helps your mental function, says certified trainer David Atkinson.
“Exercise increases energy levels and increases serotonin in the brain, which leads to improved mental clarity,” says Atkinson, director of program development for Cooper Ventures, a division of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas.
All that makes for a more productive day.
“It is clear that those who are active and who exercise are much more productive at work,” says Todd A. Astorino, assistant professor of kinesiology at California State University-San Marcos.
Go hit the gym!
photo by lululemon athletica via flickr creative commons
I love my coffee drinks. As a writer, there is nothing more awesome than taking my notebook and laptop and hanging out in Starbucks drinking espresso while Stan Getz plays in the background.
The health world is conflicted about whether or not coffee is good for you and in what amounts, but one thing is for sure: regular exercise is a better at improving your energy than stimulants such as caffeine. (Source)
Yep. Here’s an excerpt from that article:
“More than 90% of the studies showed the same thing: Sedentary people who completed a regular exercise program reported improved fatigue compared to groups that did not exercise,” says O’Connor. “It’s a very consistent effect.”
The results show that regular exercise increases energy and reduces fatigue.
The average effect was greater than the improvement from using stimulant medications, including ones used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy.
So even though my coffee habit isn’t going to dwindle anytime soon, it’s good to know that not even Starbucks can replace the natural energy boost that comes from going to the gym.
photo by epSos.de via Flickr creative commons
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.
photo by lululemon athletica
