“I don’t have enough time to exercise!” When was the last time you said that or heard it on the lips of someone else. We all know that it is an easy excuse to use when we don’t want to do something (or commit to something).

You have heard this saying: “You get out of it what you put into it.” This is certainly true when it comes to the health benefits received from regular exercise (you actually get more than you put into it). These are some benefits of just 30 minutes of daily exercise activity like walking, jogging, biking, dancing or swimming:

1. Lost Weight
2. Reduced Body Fat
3. Lower LDL Levels (bad cholesterol)
4. Lower Blood Pressure
5. Improved Heart Function
6. Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease
7. Improved Appearance and Boost of Self-Esteem
8. Increased Energy
9. Reduced Healthcare Costs

Do you have a spare 30 minutes in your day? Of course you do. Go ahead and get started! Walk around the neighborhood for 30 minutes every day and before you know it you will progress to running and lifting weights too.

What Influences a Woman’s Ideas about Her Weight?

A woman’s weight is influenced by many things. According to a survey taken by Fitness Magazine, a woman’s attitude about her weight is most influenced by “the fit of her clothes.” And, coming in second—”whether she feels good physically.” She wants to look and feel good!

Don’t be a weigh scale junkie” by jumping on the weight scales 10 times a day! Measure your fitness success by fat loss, inches lost, muscle mass gain and weight loss….speed up your metabolism (by increasing muscle mass) and keep the weight off for good. This takes time. Change your eating habits. Make the lifetime commitment to health and fitness.

Regular weight training (including bodyweight exercises) and interval cardio training will give you the sculpted body you want—FOR GOOD.

Take Advantage of Your Time

Make the most of your precious time by multi-tasking. Such as working out while watching television. One 30-minute television program equals one workout.

Here’s a good workout that takes just 30 minutes:

1. Plank, 10 repetitions, 5 second hold

2. Prisoner Squats, 15 repetitions, moderate pace

3. Pushups, 12 repetitions, moderate pace

4. Bentover Dumbbell Rows, 12 repetitions, moderate pace

5. Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 10 repetitions, moderate pace

6. Tricep Dips on Chair, 10 repetitions, moderate pace

7. Squat Jumps, 10 repetitions, fast

Repeat circuit 3 times. Try not to rest between exercises. Rest 2-3 minutes between circuits.

Don’t put it off……start today!

Be sure and download my FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program and torch body fat now!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

Interval Cardio on Land

Have you ever tried doing 20 minutes of running intervals on grass? You should. If you get through one week (3 sessions) of these cardio intervals, you will see the results.

When you have a choice, run outside on grass, sand, etc. (not pavement, asphalt or other hard surface). Why? Because its tougher—you have to supply all the momentum and force with no help from machines. This will cause you to burn more calories during and after your workout.

Research says that you will burn 10% more calories by running on the land. I believe its probably more when you figure in wind resistance and natural land inclines.

Running outside is definitely my first choice and sprint intervals is the cardio workout I do the most. It works—much better than cardio on machines!

–It could work this way: Sprint 50 yards, walk back to start line, sprint 50 yards (do this rotation for 20 minutes)

Another effective form of cardio exercise is bodyweight cardio. Pick strength exercises like squats, step ups, squat jumps, pushups, pullups, inverted rows, etc. and do 20 minutes of cardio. You get both strength and cardio benefits.

–Do sets of 10 for each exercise and walk 30 seconds between sets (do exercises for 20 minutes)

My point is this: ditch the machines and do tougher, more effective cardio on land. The body fat will melt off!

Leg Strength Circuits

Sculpt your legs with a consistent, challenging exercise program. You want your lower body to look good in 3-D space. Your leg exercise program should train your leg muscles in all planes of motion. Your leg exercises should also include high speed exercises like jumps and sprints to shape your bulkier fast twitch muscle fibers (like glutes and hamstrings).

Rotate heavy and light lifting days. You could do bodyweight strength circuits on your light days, if you want. Since this workout is circuit-style, you also get the benefit of a great cardio workout. Do each exercise (10 repetitions) one after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Rest 2-3 minutes and do the circuit again. On heavy days, do 5 repetitions of each exercise and rest 30 seconds between sets. Here is a representative leg circuit program:

–Walking Lunges with rotation
–Bodyweight Squats, squat jumps (rotate with each circuit)
–Glute Bridge
–1 Legged Dumbbell Deadlift
–Reverse Lunges
–Split Squats
–Front Step Ups
–Side Lunges (pictured above), side-to-side cone hops (rotate with each circuit)
–Lateral Step Ups
–Transverse Lunges
–Glute/Ham Raises
–Calf Raises (slow and fast)

Be sure and download my FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program and torch body fat now!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

I know the size and shape of your abdominal area is important to you. Keep thinking that way…..

A fitness assessment is performed by a professional trainer before you start your exercise program. Body fat measurements will let you know where you are and how far you have to go to reach your goals.

You should focus not only on your belly fat…..focus on burning total body fat with full body circuit strength training and short, intense interval cardio sessions.

Your strength training sessions can be about 30-40 minutes (3 times a week) and your cardio sessions about 20 minutes (2-3 times a week). Your strength training workouts will include core exercises like planks, bridges, back extensions and mountain climbers to help burn your belly fat. If you want to do extra “belly fat burning” core exercises on off days, you can.

There is a correlation between chronic diseases, such as cancer, and abdominal fat.

Work to shrink your waist size and abdominal fat. Researchers from the American Cancer Society warns us about the deadly risks of having too much belly fat.

Eric J. Jacobs, PHD, American Cancer Society strategic director, and his colleagues found that people with very large waists (47 inches or larger in men, 42 inches or larger in women) had approximately twice the risk of death compared to those with the smallest waists (35 inches in men, 30 inches in women) during the study period.

It didn’t matter if the person was normal weight, overweight or obese (according to body mass index).

“We found a pattern showing that expanding waist size was linked to a greater risk of dying regardless of body weight,” said Jacobs. “Similarly, people with the smallest waist sizes had the lowest risk. The take home message here is watch your waist size regardless of your weight.”

Burn your post-baby fat as soon as you can. Don’t let post-baby fat follow you to subsequent baby births, if possible. Excess weight/fat gain and failure to lose this weight six months postpartum are predictors of long-term obesity, according to research.

Exercise plays a huge part in the fat-burning process. Many women continue to do strength and cardio training well into the third trimester of their pregnancies. Sometimes medical conditions don’t allow much exercise. After the birth of your baby, resume your regular workouts as soon as you can.

And, get a good fat loss meal plan that you can maintain. It obviously plays a huge part in the success of your fat loss and weight loss efforts.

Start slimming down your tummy region now (summer is coming)!

Be sure and download my FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program and torch body fat now!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

Bodyweight Strength Workouts

This article is also helpful: Burn Fat Like a Female Athlete

Yes, bodyweight strength workouts will transform your body to “lean and mean!” Just get ready for short and tough workouts.

Bodyweight strength workouts allow you to burn fat using natural body motions. Machines limit your natural range of motion. Try doing a squat on the Smith Machine and see how natural that feels.

To be fair, machine workouts can be beneficial for beginners. But, even beginners should not stay with the machines for too long. Why? Because machines also stabilize your body for you. You need to develop strength that allows your body to stabilize itself. Also, no two people have the same exact motions.

Bodyweight strength exercises allow you to train in all 3 planes of motion (machines usually limit you to training in 1 plane of motion–sagittal). You need to exercise with up, down, rotating, twisting, pushing, pulling and side-to-side motions. Train movements and not just muscles.

Research at Duke University, directed by Dr. Cris Slentz, supports high-intensity exercise for better fat loss. The eight-month study showed that people could lose weight with exercise and no dieting. Those who exercised intensely (especially using interval training) lost much more fat than those who exercised moderately.

According to the research, the high-intensity exercisers had these advantages over the low-to-moderate intensity exercisers: more release of fat from cells, more fat used as fuel during exercise and increased metabolic rate after exercise.

Here are some effective bodyweight strength exercises:

1. Pushups on Medicine Ball (pictured above) – This is a tough exercise that not everyone can do! If you need to start with a regular pushup, that’s definitely okay.

How to do pushups on medicine ball:

Put both hands on the ball at arms length. Keep your body straight and torso braced (as if taking a punch in the gut) throughout the movement. Keep your head in line with your torso at all times. Lower your body down to the ball and back to starting position.

This type of pushup requires adequate core strength to do it properly. The pushup on medicine ball will build your upper body stabilizer muscles (chest, arms, shoulders, core, etc.) needed to increase your bench press or other upper body strength exercises.

2. Pullups – The pullup is not just a back muscle exercise. Pullups work your lats (and other back muscles), core, shoulders, arms, chest, biceps and improve grip strength. That’s why you should be doing pullups!

–Hang from a pullup bar with your palms facing away from your body, your arms straight and your feet crossed together with legs bent about 90 degrees. Pull yourself up until your chin passes the bar.

–A wider grip (greater than shoulder width) will work your lats more. A closer grip (shoulder width or less) will work your middle back muscles more.

–If you lack grip strength, you can use straps to help.

Use proper technique when doing a pullup:

–Don’t jut your chin out (it strains your cervical spine).

–Don’t swing. It makes the pullup easier by using momentum. You need to pullup, not swing up.

–Don’t let your chest collapse because that puts too much stress on your shoulders.

–Don’t arch your lower back too much. You want your abdominal muscles to be engaged when you do the pullup. Keep your torso braced (as if taking a punch to the gut) during the pullup.

–When you start the pullup, drive your shoulder blades down and squeeze them together. This will engage your shoulder stabilizers more.

Don’t be afraid of the pullup exercise! Pull it out of the closet and start doing them!

3. Plank on Stability Ball – Isometric bodyweight exercises cause most if not all of your muscles to work during an exercise. To do the plank, you get into position and hold for a period of time (like 20 seconds). Many core exercises are great isometric exercises.

4. Step Ups – The bodyweight step up is one of the best leg toning and strengthening exercises available to you.

Step ups will also improve your dynamic balance. Its not that easy to balance all your weight on one leg (with good form) while stepping up onto a platform.

–Face a bench or platform (knee high) and put your right foot on the bench. Your knee should be bent 90 degrees. Don’t do this exercise with dumbbells until you have mastered the bodyweight version.

–As you lift your body on your right leg, keep your body erect (don’t bend over) and look straight ahead. Balance on your leg for 1-2 seconds and descend. Don’t let your left foot touch the platform.

–Do all required repetitions on the right leg and switch to left leg.

You may have to start with a platform lower than knee-high. Your hamstrings and butt will be worked more with a higher platform.

5. Lunges – Use bodyweight lunges as part of your dynamic warm-up or as a strength exercise. Lunges are great for adding muscular balance and dynamic balance to your lower body because you work one leg at a time (stronger leg can’t compensate for weaker leg).

You also need adequate core strength to keep your body upright during the lunge. Walking lunges improve your speed because you use the same pathways it takes to run fast.

When you do the walking lunge, don’t let your front knee go past your foot and don’t let your back knee touch the ground on the descent. Also, don’t let the front thigh go past parallel to the ground.

To work your hamstrings more, lunge out further with the front leg. A shorter lunge will work the quadriceps more. Most people need more hamstring strength to prevent injuries.

Include walking lunges, forward lunges, reverse lunges, clock lunges and side lunges in your workouts!

6. Squats – Do single leg squats, Y-squats, split squats, Bulgarian split squats, side squats, sumo squats, prisoner squats, sissy squats, etc. Include some sort of squat exercise in every strength workout.

7. Inverted Rows – Include bodyweight inverted rows in your workout routine to work your back muscles in a different way. I will see many people doing barbell rows and dumbbell rows but very few people doing inverted rows. And, inverted rows strengthen much more than just your back muscles…

Inverted rows build strength in your upper back, shoulders and arms. Your core muscles are also engaged during the movement. Inverted rows also improve your stabilizing strength in the low back, glutes and hamstrings. And, when you superset the inverted row with the pushup, you will get better muscular balance between the frontside and backside of your upper body.

–Hang from the bar of a Smith Machine (back to the floor but not touching) and pull your chest up to the bar.

–Keep your body in a straight line throughout the movement and brace your abs. Also, keep your head in line with your torso. Don’t drop the head or jut it forward.

8. Mountain Climbers – Do bodyweight mountain climbers if you’re serious about taking your workout to another level. The mountain climber is a versatile exercise in that you can do it on level ground, on an incline, knee-across-your-body, etc. I like to include mountain climbers as part of a bodyweight cardio session also.

You will burn more abdominal fat and overall body fat by doing mountain climbers.

Either way, include mountain climbers in your workouts more often. It is one of the best and toughest exercises out there. It is a compound exercise in that it works the calves, quadriceps, glutes, back, chest, triceps, abdominals and shoulders. You will need high levels of core strength to do this exercise the right way for each set.

Do mountain climbers this way:

From a push-up position, keep your back flat (do not let your back bow) and pump your legs as fast as possible (if doing as a speed exercise) like you are running in place. Don’t scrape the ground with your shoes as they run forward. And, don’t let your glutes “sag to the ground” when you are fatigued.

If you feel low back pain when doing mountain climbers, stop immediately. It is impossible to do this exercise the right way if you have a bad back.

If you want to start burning fat now, download my FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program!

Bodyweight Cardio Workouts

Note: The exercises listed under “bodyweight strength exercises” can be used in a bodyweight cardio workout.” (this gives you a dual strength/cardio benefit)

Burn more fat with bodyweight cardio (including running interval cardio). If you’re bored with your cardio, just try bodyweight cardio! You won’t get bored again. You need to ramp up the intensity of your cardio workout to get better fat loss and weight loss results.

I don’t recommend doing cardio exercise on machines. Cardio machines do alot of the work for you. Personally, running on cardio machines bores me to tears! Try doing sprint cardio intervals outside on grass and see how tough it is to fight against gravity, ground forces and the elements. You are forced to generate all the momentum and force.

Here are some effective bodyweight cardio exercises:

1. Mountain Climbers – see discussion above

2. Squat Jumps – Use the bodyweight squat jump exercise to better sculpt your body and burn more fat and calories during your workout. Squat jumps remain one of the best exercises to burn fat and help you lean and tone your body because of the high intensity.

If you’re having trouble toning your butt, hips and thighs then you need to do more squat jump exercises in your workouts.

If you are into sports, squat jumps will also help to increase your speed and power for sports like track and field, soccer, lacrosse, tennis and basketball.

To do the squat jump, descend into your squat, swing your arms back and forward and jump up explosively (reaching upward with your arms) and repeat for the required repetitions.

You need to perfect jumping and landing techniques or you will injure yourself. And, if you have knee and low back problems, high-speed jump (plyometric) training is not for you. Tuck jumps, pike jumps, platform jumps and lunge jumps are also very effective fat burners.

3. Sprints – Sprinting burns fat like crazy! Sprinting is one of the best ways to get your total body lean and toned. It is probabaly one of the least used exercises done by general exercisers. And, you don’t have to be fast, just run as fast as you can! To avoid injuries, always sprint on surfaces like grass or sand and never run on hard surfaces like concrete or asphalt.

Sprinting activates your bulkier, shapely fast twitch muscle fibers. These fast twitch muscle fibers lie dormant when you do slow-paced cardio sessions (hint). Sprinting will really burn the fat on your butt, hips, thighs, hamstrings and lower legs. Fat will also be burned on your upper body.

It is important to properly warmup before doing sprinting intervals. A proper warmup is a dynamic warmup such as doing 5-10 minutes of jogging, walking lunges, half-speed sprints and three-quarters speed sprints. Do static stretches after your workout to bring your muscles back to normal length.

To sprint efficiently and avoid injuries, you need to master correct running mechanics. Most people that I see at gyms need to work on running mechanics. Running the right way really does make running easier (and vice-versa)!

A 20-minute sprint interval workout is very simple—and tough! Do it this way:

–Run a 50 to 60 yard sprint
–Walk back to start line
–Run a 50 to 60 yard sprint

Do this rotation for 20-minutes and you are done (exhausted)! Do this type of workout no more than 2 times a week. This will allow your body to recover from this intense form of exercise.

A sprint interval workout will also give you superior heart-health.

4. Jump Rope – Jump rope now with your bodyweight to burn more fat, improve your heart health and better lean and tone your body.

Jumping rope will also help improve your balance, coordination and overall core strength.

Just do intervals for 20 minutes when you jump rope such as jumping for 1 minute and walking for 1 minute. As you improve, you can begin to jump faster and faster and burn more and more fat.

Be sure to look straight ahead, keep your body erect, your core braced (as if taking a punch to your gut) and use your hands/wrists to propel the rope. Keep your arms and body as still as possible as you jump. Land on the balls of your feet and not your toes.

5. Burpees – The bodyweight burpee exercise sounds kind of gross but it burns body fat like crazy and its good for you! Do burpees under control with good technique.

Burpees will increase your strength endurance, power and anaerobic conditioning (aerobics is an exercise done for more than 2 straight minutes).

Exercises like sprints and jumps are anaerobic. Research has proven that anaerobic conditioning will give you superior fat loss and heart health.

From a squat position with your hands on the floor, kick your feet back to a pushup position. Quickly return your feet to the squat position and jump as high as you can from the squat position. Repeat this exercise at full speed for 1 minute. Whew! Walk or jog for 2 minutes and burpee again.

6. Side-to-Side Hops – Jump side-to-side over a cone as fast as possible. Concentrate on jumping laterally and not for height. The squat jump develops the height of your jumps. Do intervals: 1 minute jumps, 1 minute walk and repeat for desired repetitions. Front-to-Back hops work well also.

7. Jumping Jacks – This exercise gets your arms, legs and body moving. The faster you can go, the better fat burning results you will get……just jump 1 minute, walk 1 minute and repeat for desired repetitions.

Be sure and download my FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program and torch body fat now!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

You won’t burn fat in your home gym by just setting it up. How many little-used treadmills and fitness gadgets are sitting in people’s garages gathering dust?

About all you will need is a stability ball, medicine ball, resistance tubes and some dumbbells. And, don’t forget about bodyweight strength exercises—pushups, pullups, inverted rows, squats, lunges, mountain climbers and step ups are all staple bodyweight exercises you should be doing.

Building muscle mass will speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain it. Muscle mass will also help you to lose body fat and inches which is more important than losing weight. Transform your body to lean and toned–that’s how to keep the weight off.

Do strength training 3 days a week and interval cardio exercise 2-3 days a week.

Vary your workout routines and intensity to keep your workouts fresh and to keep making progress. Your body will adapt if you do the same workouts week after week.

A shorter, more intense 20-30 minute full body circuit strength workout will give you better results than doing a 1 hour strength workout when you are trying to lose body fat and weight. A circuit workout is one in which you do one exercise after the other with little or no rest between exercises.

Research at Duke University, directed by Dr. Cris Slentz, supports high-intensity exercise for better fat loss. The eight-month study showed that people could lose weight with exercise and no dieting. Those who exercised intensely (especially using interval training) lost much more fat than those who exercised moderately.

According to the research, the high-intensity exercisers had these advantages over the low-to-moderate intensity exercisers:

–more release of fat from cells
–more fat used as fuel during exercise
–increased metabolic rate after exercise

Also, change up your interval cardio routines—such as rotating sprints, jump rope and bodyweight cardio.

Here are some more tips to keep your home workouts from becoming boring:

1. On some days, it helps to split up workouts into 2 separate workouts—such as doing two 15-minute strength training workouts (morning and evening) instead of one 30-minute workout.

2. Exercising outdoors can be a refreshing change from exercising in the living room.

3. Doing something fun and different works too—such as playing soccer, basketball or tennis (these are 3 of the best natural interval cardio exercises).

4. Exercising in a totally different place works sometimes—such as running on the trails at the lake.

5. Take a day off from working out—sometimes even on a scheduled workout day. Its always important to listen to your body.

Also, don’t make the mistake of laying around as much as possible until your workout. Research proves that your fat-burning enzymes shut down when you sit down. Keep your metabolism ramped up all day and burn more calories.

Walking helps you lose the weight and keep it off because it helps you maintain an active lifestyle. Walk at least 30 minutes every day.

Be sure and download your FREE eBook: “10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips,” Free Fat Loss Meals and Free Fat Loss Workouts!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!