Sleek and toned.

I talk about this all the time, you need to mix up your workout if you want to amp up your results. Classes are a great way to do this, but if you’re like me you’re not that big of a fan. Admittedly this comes from the virgo / control freak side of my personality. Plus, having been exercising and interested in all forms of the practice starting at a young age, I have developed a fairly good arsenal of workouts I do on a regular basis.

If you don’t have this, classes and trainers are surely beneficial. But you can also go on-line and view lots of different cardio and strength training routines that will help you as well. For example, I love spin but I don’t care for an hour-long class. I don’t want to spend all my time on a bike. I want to get my cardio in along with strength training almost every time I go to the gym. This is the only way you will get that sleek, toned physique you are looking for, by combining cardio and strength.

Back to my original story, so I love spin, don’t want to spend an hour doing it so I do a routine that I found on YouTube that I love. It’s a 25 minute interval training class and perfect for what I’m looking for. It gets me sweating and my heart rate up, I really feel like I worked hard at the end. Then I can squeeze in 10-20 minutes of toning. That’s all it takes!! Don’t get discouraged when I tell you to combine both, now you will be in the gym for almost an hour (if not more) but it flies by when you are combining different workouts and always mixing things up. Having a diverse routine is not only better for your attention span and keeping you interested, but makes a tremendous difference in how many physical “gains” you make as a result of your workouts.

I’ll post the spin class I did on my Facebook page later today.

What’s your favorite form of interval training?

xo,

Hil

“I forgot my sneakers!”

You know the feeling. After treading your heels all morning you finally manage to pack yourself and your kids up to go to the gym only to realize you forgot an important piece of equipment. Your sneakers!

This is what happened to me on Saturday. It’s snowy here in New England so snow boots are the uniform right now. In an attempt to remember everything I need for my kids, I forgot my sneakers. I even went back in my house specifically to get my gym shoes and water bottle. I remembered the water bottle.

As frustrated as this scenario is, there is a solution.

Yoga. You don’t need sneakers, you don’t even need socks, to do a cardio boosting yoga flow. Here’s the routine I do to get my cardio in and strength training exercises to round it out. Sun Salutations are the back bone of this cardio boosting routine, if you do not know how to perform them here is a great instructional video.

1. Stretch and warm up.
2. Perform 3 sun salutations.
3. Leg Workout.
   1. 20 squats.
   2. 10 front lunges.
   3. 10 side lunges, right and left.
   4. 10 back lunges.
4. Perform 6 sun salutations.
5. Ab workout.
   1. 20 basic crunches.
   2. 20 side crunches, right then left.
   3. 20 leg lifts.
   4. 30 second planks, regular and side.
6. Perform 9 sun salutations.
7. Arm workout.
   1. 10 push ups, 10 tricep dips (repeat twice)
8. Perform 12 Sun Salutations .

Rest and stretch.

Any questions?

Thanks for reading!

Xo,

Hilary