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Researchers at Tufts University found that even a 1% to 2% dip in hydration, the point at which you feel thirsty, can make you sluggish. Your cells rely on water to make and use energy. It is recommended to drink at least half a cup every hour, or 8 cups throughout the day.
If you want to literally carve an inch (or more!) off of each side of your waist, the Woodchop move will be your new best friend. The Woodchop, as demonstrated in the video below, targets all of your abdominal muscles. With slow, controlled movement, the woodchop is one of the most effective abdominal moves of all time. Not only does the Woodchop target abdominal muscles, but it also works the glutes, hamstrings, calves, arms, shoulders, and tops it off with a good cardio burn. In short, it’s a total body move that burns fat, sculpts muscles, and turns you into the brick house you’ve always wanted to be.
If you have access to sand, kick off your shoes and go walking in it. Walking in sand is a great way to exfoliate the skin on your feet, making them baby soft (use a great moisturizer afterwards). Walking in sand also helps strengthen your ankles and calves, making you super-sexy from the knees down. What’s not to love about that?
Did you know that simple old-school hand-stands like these are super-beneficial for you?
Hand-stands are fantastic to strengthen your arms, shoulders, and wrists. Once you get comfortable with hand-stands, you can go further into the move by bending your elbows and attempting to lower your forehead to the floor.
It also helps stretch the abdomen and improves one’s concentration, coordination and balance.
Through focused effort, it helps calm down the brain thereby helping relieve stress and tension and mild depression through the meditative effort involved.
When you feel like you have midday “fuzzy-brain”, where you’ve been over-stimulated and cannot focus, try doing a hand-stand to alleviate stress and get blood flowing to your brain again. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a gymnast to attempt a hand-stand. Use a wall to put your feet against in the beginning. As time goes on, you can inch away from the wall. And as you do, you’ll be building your abdominal muscles (try it now…you’ll feel it instantly.)
When I’m feeling unfocused and overloaded with stress, I simply do a hand-stand for a minute or two to regroup and get my mind flowing again. The stretch in the shoulders, back and arms feels so good. And talk about instant results…you feel it immediately.
Stretching is to exercise as dessert is to dinner. It’s the icing on the cake. It’s the feel-good part of both exercise and dinner. After a great workout, be sure you are stretching every muscle that you worked. This is one of the best stretches for the tricpes, the back part of your upper arm. Place arm up and behind your head, as shown below, and slightly push the elbow back with your other hand. Stretch and breathe into the movement. Take your time. Hold the stretch from 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. When you feel like you can’t go any further, take a deep breath and stretch just an inch more. Toned tricpes look gorgeous in a cute summer dress or bikini. Lose the giggle and get your arms looking hot.
Want Jennifer Aniston’s body? Because you can have it. Did you know that? Okay, you can’t specifically have Jenn’s body, but you can have one that looks just like hers. Jennifer’s celeb fitness trainer, Mandy Ingber, dishes on how she trains Jennifer.
Tips from Mandy:
For more exercises, get Mandy’s DVD (and Jennifer Aniston’s workout), Yogalosophy.
I just ordered the new Body By Bethenny yoga DVD on Amazon. I was all prepared to wait the standard week to receive it by mail, but fortunately, Amazon let me view it for free (after purchase) immediately…and then stores the video in my Video Library on Amazon’s site. They also give you the option to send it to TIVO or download it to your computer.
Kudos to Amazon for not making a girl wait 7-10 business days to start getting a better body. Cool feature!
Check out the trailer here:
Professional yogis don’t use yoga mats just to keep their feet on a soft surface during yoga postures, they use yoga mats because they are incredibly beneficial to help you stretch further. Yoga mats, sometimes called sticky mats, are thick rubber-like surfaces, about 4 feet wide, designed to be under foot while you are doing yoga or Pilates workouts.
When you place your hands and feet on a yoga mat, they almost stick (and sink) into the soft mat, keeping your hands and feet securely firm, with no worry of slipping out of your posture. They are also fabulous for doing stretches, enabling you to stretch deep into your stretches with your feet and/or hands essentially glued to the mat. It truly makes a difference in your workouts.
Also great to stimulate the spine. How to: Lay on your back, hold your bent legs to your chest, wrapping your arms around your bent legs, and rock in a boat pose from head to feet. The thickness of the yoga mat keeps it comfortable for your spine. It will feel like a back massage!
Kiss the carpet goodbye, and try using a yoga mat during your next yoga/Pilates/stretching session. It increases your flexibility by 25% to even 50%. (Those aren’t scientific percentages…it’s just what I can feel in my own workouts.)
Go ahead and prepare yourself to be envious and/or inspired. Want to see what it takes to have a rockin’ body? Check out my girl, Zuzana, and her grueling workout. That’s what it takes. Arms and abs like Zuzana’s doesn’t come for free. But, if you look at it in a different perspective, it’s a relatively small price to pay to feel and look so amazing. I love Zuzana’s workouts! Check out her site at www.BodyRock.tv
