FitSugar

Get Lifted: Dumbbell Crunch

FitSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0800

If you have tired of regular abdominal crunches, you might want to up the ante by adding some weight to the move. The Dumbbell Crunch variation makes a basic crunch more challenging and saves you time - you need to do less in order to achieve the same results.

Grab a set of dumbbells and read more.

Lie on your back with a set of dumbbells nearby. Bend your knees and place your heels a few inches from your bum. Place a dumbbell in each hand.
Now bend your elbows and hold the dumbbells vertically, so the bottoms are on either side of your head. Engage your abs by drawing your navel toward your spine, and press your lower back into the floor.
When you're ready, keeping your belly pulled in, lift your upper body off the floor, so your shoulder blades are floating above the ground. Slowly lower back down, but don't let your shoulders or head touch down.
Do a total of 20 to 25 crunches, take a break, and do another set.

Get Lifted: Reverse Dumbbell Crunch

FitSugar — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:00:00 -0800

Crunches are a standard ab exercise that many of us try to avoid. Some just dislike crunches immensely and some are bored by the endless repetition. To keep your abs strong and your mind engaged while you engage you abs, you need to mix it up and do variations like this Dumbbell Crunch. The hand weights provide an extra challenge, and this move will tone your shoulders as well as your low abs.

For instructions on how to do this exercise read more.

Lie on your back with a set of dumbbells nearby. Bend your knees and place your heels a few inches from your bum. Place a dumbbell in each hand.
Straighten your arms overhead and lift your feet off the floor so your knees are over your belly button. This is the start position.
As you exhale, use your abs to lift your bum off the ground, squeezing your knees into your chest. Inhale back to the start position. Keep the dumbbells lifted the entire time.
Do a total of 20 to 25 crunches, take a break, and repeat the exercise but reverse the breathing inhaling on the reverse crunch and exhaling as you control your bum back to starting position.

How Octomom Slimmed Down to 125 Pounds

FitSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:00:37 -0700

Whatever your opinion of Nadya Suleman's decision to carry eight babies at once, most can agree that her quick slim-down is rather astonishing. When her octuplets were born nine months ago, Nadya weighed 270 pounds. In the latest issue of Us Weekly, she admitted she packed on the pounds by "eating everything in sight." Now this five-foot-seven single mom of 14 has lost 145 pounds and 39 inches off her waist and weighs 125 pounds.

How did she do it? To find out, read more.

With her previous pregnancies, the Octomom admitted she had no problems getting back to her pre-pregnancy size 1 or 2, thanks to her skinny genes. This last time around, simply delivering the eight babies in January helped Nadya lose 40 pounds instantly. Losing the rest of the weight, however, wasn't a walk in the park. This mama joined the local gym and sweats it out three times a week at midnight! Yep, after her children go to sleep, a nanny stays with them while she exercises late-night for 90 minutes. Since Nadya gets her cardio from chasing after the kids, her gym workouts are devoted to strength training. She does top-secret crunches (which she hopes to reveal in her own fitness video), tricep kickbacks, bicep curls, shoulder presses, and lunges. Her dumbbell of choice? A set of 12-pound weights. I don't know how she does it, but Nadya claims she gets by on only three hours of sleep a night. She can't possibly keep that up for too long.

A healthy diet also helped Suleman lose her baby weight. Her day is filled with five protein-based meals or snacks, including turkey, sushi, eggs, and lowfat cheese. She also includes whole grains such as oatmeal, and veggies by eating salads and stews. Her favorite snacks include Pinkberry frozen yogurt and cottage cheese with fruit.

Although Nadya needed help to get pregnant and deliver her babies, she boasts that she's slimmed down with diet and exercise alone, and didn't need any surgical help.

DVD Review: Valerie Bertinelli - Losing It and Keeping Fit

FitSugar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:47:59 -0700

Valerie Bertinelli dramatically transformed her body over the last couple of years, and to help others find success, she made a new fitness video, Valerie Bertinelli - Losing It and Keeping Fit ($15). It's led by her personal trainer Christopher Ross Lane, who has also trained Jillian Michaels.

This video includes two workouts: 20-minute Body Basics and 40-minute Keeping Fit. The first video, aimed at beginners, reviews basic strength-training moves as well as proper form. It's also a good workout if you're short on time, and let me tell you, the word "basic" doesn't mean easy. These challenging moves effectively target your glutes, quads, hamstrings, abs, upper back, and arms. You feel like you're joining Valerie in a private session with her trainer. The workout includes a lot of mat work like push-ups, Superman lifts, and reverse crunches, along with familiar moves like squats and lunges.

To hear about what I didn't like, read more.

The 40-minute routine contains both cardio and sculpting moves with and without dumbbells. Valerie puts in her two cents throughout the video, making comments like, "Oh I knew you were going to make this more challenging," and "Do we have to do the other side?" or "I'm going faster so I can get it over with," which I found this a little annoying. It gives the impression that she's lazy - not exactly a great way to motivate DVD watchers to work out. I do love Christopher's down-to-earth attitude though, and the way he gently pushes you to keep going, saying it feels good and will only make you stronger. Cranking up your own workout playlist would drown out Valerie's complaints, remedying the situation since the moves are easy to follow. I definitely felt worked from head to toe, a major plus, and I know Valerie was just trying to be funny, but I'd rather not hear her sarcastic remarks as I lunge, squat, and sweat.

Increase the Challenge: Crunches on Exercise Ball

FitSugar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:50:32 -0700

If the basic crunches on the fitness ball in my all abs workout are starting to feel less than challenging, don't ditch the exercise altogether - alter the move to make it harder. Here are some simple tweaks to tax your abs more while doing crunches on an exercise ball.

Bring your legs together. The closer together your legs are, the harder it is to keep balance on the ball, forcing your abs to work harder.
Slow it down. Curl up and lower on a slow count of three. This takes momentum out of the picture, so the work is all in your belly.

Learn three more variations.

Late-Night Exercise Ideas

FitSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:00:00 -0700

You missed your morning workout because you overslept. You couldn't make it to the gym on your lunch break because you had a doctor's appointment, and after work, you had to stay late for a meeting. You were starving by the time you got out, so a workout at that time was not going to happen. Now it's after 9 p.m., and heading to the gym is the last thing you want to do. Here are some late-evening workout ideas you can do at home.

Strength train with dumbbells. The exercise called Half Boat With Bicep Curl will work your upper body and your abs. Dumbbell Squats will target your quads and glutes. Or do Bent Over Lateral Raises to tone your upper back.
Strength train with no equipment. Do some Push-ups, work your core with Scissor Abs, or tone your bum with Lying Butt Lifts.

What else can you do at home? To find out read more.

Strength train with a yoga ball. Lie on your belly and do Superman Booty Lifts to tone the back of your body. Bicycle crunches are great at working your core, but if you do them with a ball, they're much more challenging. Or strengthen your upper body by doing Balancing Push-ups.
Pop in an exercise DVD - here are some that I have reviewed. Choose a fast-paced video if you feel like getting your heart rate up, or choose a mellow one if you want to do something relaxing before bed.
Stretch or do yoga. Flexibility training is an essential part of fitness that is quiet and easy to do. Plus, it is a great way to calm down after a busy day, and prepare you for a restful night of sleep

Getty

Put a Twist on Your Fitness Routine

FitSugar — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:30:41 -0700

The range of motion of the human body is amazing, but common strength training exercises often skip twisting motion. For instance squats and lunges only move in two planes, but you can add rotations into your strength training routine. I highly recommend doing so, for twisting is part of staying functionally fit - we twist in everyday life so we should train with twists too. First warm up your spine with some simple twisting motion like with this Pilates move aptly named the Twist, or something a little more complicated like Lying T Dancer. Then add spinal rotations to some basic weight training exercises. To learn how, read more.

Lunges: You can easily add twisting motion to your lunges - both forward and side. Once you have lunged forward, keep your pelvis stable and square and rotate your ribs to both the left and the right and then return to the starting position. Or lunge out to the right, then reach your left hand to your right foot. Return to upright and repeat on the other side.
Ab work: Working your abs with rotation is great for your obliques and your spinal health. If you have an exercise ball, doing abs with a twist is a perfect way to work your obliques. Don't forget the bicycle crunch to work your twist. Or try the seated Russian Twist since it incorporates spinal rotation and you can safely add weight to this exercise using a dumbbell or a medicine ball.
Push-ups: One of my favorite all body exercises, push-ups are perfect for twisting. Try the grasshopper push-up or the push-up with a T.
Planks: You can even add a twist to your planks. Try the elbow plank with rotated knee. The side plank with a twist is another variation to try.

What is your favorite exercise with a twist?

Weekend Workout: Upper, Middle, and Lower Body on the Mat

FitSugar — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:30:00 -0700

Since you don't always have time to fit in a long workout, here are three quick moves that will target your upper, middle, and lower body. You'll need a mat, a resistance band, and a set of dumbbells. If you need more details about how to do each move, just click on the name of the exercise. Repeat all three exercises for a total of three rounds.

Push-Up With
Resistance Band

Dumbbell Crunch

Propped Up
Pretzel Lift

Eva Longoria's Wedding Workout

FitSugar — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:30:00 -0700

We all saw Eva Longoria walking around to get toned up for her big wedding extravaganza, but that girl was doing way more than just walking to get the body of her dreams for the day of her dreams.

According to her trainer, Patrick Murphy, Eva wanted to look strong, she wanted really nice posture and she wanted her arms to look great.

Source

To learn her workout, which is pretty darn impressive by the way, just read more

Murphy gave Access Hollywood the scoop on her exercise routine. Keep in mind all the below exercises are 15-20 reps and there is no rest between exercises in the superset (exercise 1 & 2) :
Warm-Up:
5-10 minute warm-up @ 65-75% of maximum heart rate on elliptical machine.
Dynamic Stretching and Active stretching:
If needed.
Full Body:
1. Squats on Bosu dome with a shoulder press using the 5lb dumbbells
2. Jump squats with 8lb medicine ball
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
1. Walking Lunges with a 12lb bar overhead
2. Alternating lunges in one place with 8lb dumbbells
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Shoulders, Chest and Core
1. Balance ball chest presses using 10lb dumbbells
2. Pike pushup combo with balance ball (body weight)
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Legs, Back and Core
1. Squats with cable low rows
2. Standing bent over rows with 10lb dumbbells.
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Glutes and Stabilizers
1. Side steps with rubber band resistance
2. Lateral ice skater jumps
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Triceps, Core and Stabilizers
1. Balance ball skull crushers with 15lb medicine ball
2. Standing tricep extension on cables
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Biceps, Core, and Stabilizers
1. Standing on Bosu dome, 8lb dumbbell hammer curls
2. Kneeling on Bosu dome, traditional dumbbell bicep curls
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Abs/Core
1. Balance ball crunches with 5lb medicine ball throw
2. Bicycles
-- 30-45 sec. rest--
Core
1. Cable rotations
2. 8lb medicine ball wood chops
-- 30-45 sec. rest --
Postural Muscles
1. Balance ball cobras
2. Superman

DVD Review: Skinny B*tch Fitness - Boot Camp

FitSugar — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0800

First came the book, Skinny B*itch - a saucy self-help book to help ladies change their relationship with food and take control of their lives. Then coauthors and BFFs Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin wrote a cookbook, Skinny B*itch in the Kitch. Now these ladies want to get you moving, so they created some fitness DVDs. The other night I tried their Boot Camp ($10) workout.

After defending the name and the graphics of the DVD to my husband, I worked it in my living room with Rory and Kim. The 45-minute basic workout alternates between dumbbell strength training segments and light to medium cardio. The workout is fun, and Rory and Kim chat, complain, and encourage you throughout the DVD, all the while offering variations for less fit and less flexible folks. These ladies are entertaining and I giggled through bicep curls and squat thrusts. I appreciated their humor and camaraderie, even if it made me roll my eyes occasionally. Eye rolling surely burns extra calories, right? The workout ends with ab work, including crunches and planks. The gals have also dreamed up five five-minute workouts for the severely time-crunched fitness enthusiast.

I enjoyed this boot camp workout. I love mixing strength training into my cardio. This workout will not get your heart pounding hard for long periods of time, but my heart rate stayed solidly in my fat burning zone for most of the workout with occasional upward spikes during squat thrusts.

This is a great DVD to work out with on a rainy day. It gets you moving and makes you smile. You can buy it directly from Warner Brothers.

Do you have any questions you are dying to ask these skinny b*itches? I am going to interview Rory and Kim soon, and if there is something you are dying to know about their advice, books, or DVDs, leave your question in the comments section below and I will try to work it into the conversation.