There is always a reason why you aren’t getting the results you want – especially when you are trying to get a tight and toned, cellulite free butt.  Its figuring out WHY you aren’t getting these results after working out week after week that becomes the challenge.

When you don’t see results you want – in this case you’re butt just doesn’t seem to get firm no matter how many lunges you do – it becomes frustrating. This frustration can often lead to you giving up on your goals – never really getting the butt that you want.

But no more – there is something you haven’t taken into consideration yet and there is one muscle group that is prohibiting you from getting the butt of your dreams.

Your hip flexors are preventing you from getting a tight and toned butt.

How?

Your butt is the biggest muscle in your body – made up of three different muscle groups. In order for the glutes to work properly you need to make sure that your hip flexors are not tight.

When your hip flexors (located in the front of your hip) are tight your glutes basically shut down.  When your glutes shut down it is nearly impossible to get a tight and toned butt.

Why?

If you have tight hip flexors it prevents your glute muscles from firing properly.  This means that your glutes to work to the best of their ability. The tightness of your hip flexors causes your glutes to become weak as you cannot work your glutes properly.

Not only will tight hip flexors not get you a cellulite-free butt – it can also increase the risk of injury as your hip flexors start to take over some of the jobs that your butt is suppose to do. Such injuries include back injuries, knee injuries or even injuries to your hamstrings.

You can do squat after squat, lunge after lunge or even bridge after bridge and you will not get the butt you want.

What to do?

The only way to get rid of tight hip flexors – to prevent injury and get a cellulite-free butt is to stretch them.

The best stretch? The Warrior Stretch.

• Kneel on your right knee – with your left foot on the ground in front of you.
• Place your hands on your left knee.
• Without moving your body – tilt your pelvis forward so you feel a stretch in your right hip flexor.
• Hold for 10-15 seconds.
• Switch sides and repeat for opposite side of your body.

The Warrior Stretch is an important stretch to end to the end of your your workouts to get your glutes working again. This one simple move – to fix the one little muscle that has been preventing you from getting the butt you want – will help get your but working again so you have the tight and toned butt you want in no time.

If you’ve been keeping up with me on Twitter you know that Saturday mornings are one of my favorite workouts of the week. I’m not 100% sure why especially considering my gym has been getting busier and busier these last few Saturday mornings, but there is just something about training on Saturdays that gets me excited.

Well, there are a few reasons that I love my Saturday morning workouts:

• I’m up early but not TOO early
• I have more time to be in the gym than any other day of the week (even though my workout will probably be the same time frame)
• I don’t have to ‘do’ anything (like go to work) right after so I push myself EVEN harder
• There is just a great energy

Saturday morning workouts get me PUMPED for the rest of my day and the rest of my weekend. I want to start your weekend off the same way – so I thought I’d share one of my favorite Saturday sweat sessions with you. So that you too can start your weekend off the right way! Read the full story

Everyone likes surprises – I know I do! In fact, your muscles need a bit of a surprise every once in a while in order to continue effective weight loss.  Ladies, since you’re already lifting weights because the benefits of lifting weights for women are endless, you need to make sure that you keep your muscles surprised and working. You can change your routine completely or you can make minor changes to your current routine.

If you’re in the middle of a flat stomach workout, I have at least two ways to surprise your muscles that don’t require a whole routine change. Try one of these two methods to keep the fat burning and your muscles growing.

1. Slow Down – Changing the tempo of exercises helps to stimulate the muscles differently.  Instead of just lifting the weight up and down – take a bit more time – push for a two count and bring the weight down for a four count.  For example – when doing a chest press – count two when pushing the barbell up towards the ceiling and then count to four as you lower the weight back down.  Or, if you are doing a squat count to four as you go down and two when you come back up. Slowing down the exercises makes your muscles work longer and therefore burn more fat.
2. Mix it Up with Cardio – Keeping your heart elevated helps you burn more fat. Doing cardio in between sets of weight exercises helps you burn even more fat calories during one workout as it keeps your heart rate up for a longer period of time. Instead of resting after a weight exercise, head to the treadmill for a one minute of sprint or if working out at home try jumping rope for 30 seconds or high knee lifts.  This quick bout of cardio will help you burn even more fat and reach your flat stomach goals even faster.

So, next time you’re in the gym, try one of these two methods to keep your muscles guessing what you’re going to do and make sure that with every workout you are burning fat and building muscle.  All to help you reach your flat stomach goals.

I was watching TV the other day and a commercial came on for a lotion and pill that will help you get rid of cellulite.  The part that bothered me was when the small print came on with all the warnings – there were SO many! I know we all like quick solutions – especially to get rid of the cellulite, that we commonly refer to as ‘cottage cheese’, that may plague our bodies, but a quick fix, like a lotion with all sorts of cautions, isn’t going to help us get rid of this wonderful addition to our bodies.

In order to get rid of cellulite on our body we need to first understand what it is and how it comes to appear on our bodies.

What is Cellulite?

Cellulite is the collection of fat cells in the body, just below the surface of the skin. These fat cells come together and push against the tissue that is beneath the skin, thus creating dimples in the skin, making it look lumpy – like ‘cottage cheese’ (AWESOME! Please note the sarcasm).

Why do I have Cellulite?

Cellulite affects women of every shape or size – tall, short, overweight, and thin – and usually affects women after puberty. It even affects models, celebrities, athletes, women in their 20s and women in their 50s!

There are several causes of cellulite:

- Genes: If your mother had cellulite then you will most likely have cellulite. Our genes predetermine our body type and how our cells function – thus determining whether or not we have cellulite.

- Diet: Poor diet that consists of too much sugar, too much fatty foods or processed foods can affect how much cellulite you have.

- Water: Water helps flush your body of toxins (that can be produced by a poor diet) – the more water you drink = more toxins getting flushed out of your body = less signs of cellulite.

- Smoking: It’s never been a good thing! It damages tissues in your body thus increasing the sight of cellulite.

- Lifestyle: An un-active lifestyle is not beneficial in more ways than one. How does it affect cellulite production?  If you lack muscle tone you’re the connective tissues in your body will harden thus creating the looks of cellulite, as well as poor circulation and blood flow throughout the body.

How Can I get Rid of Cellulite?

There are a few ways to get rid of cellulite – there is the quick and easy fix – like the commercial I saw on TV for the lotion.  However, what they fail to mention on the commercial is that you still may have signs of cellulite if you are a smoker, you never drink water or you sit and watch TV all day.  The cellulite is just not going to go away because of some lotion.

If you really want to get rid of nasty cellulite then I’m afraid you MAY have to do some work, but honestly – it’s better for you in the long run.

GET RID OF MY COTTAGE CHEESE!

Here are Five Quick Tips to help you Get Rid of those Toxins and start to saying ‘bye bye’ to cellulite.

1. Start drinking more water – they recommend drinking at least eight, eight ounce glasses of water daily, personally don’t stop at that –just keep drinking – this will help flush those toxins out of your body!
2. Eat more vegetables – yes your mother was right – especially the green ones. Green vegetables are full of fiber and goodness for your body.
3. Lunge and Squat, Lunge and Squat – These two exercises (done with or without weights) will help to tighten and tone the muscles in your body and in these trouble areas.  It will also help you lose weight, decreasing the number of fat cells you have, thus decreasing the collection of these fat cells in your trouble spots.
4. Stay away from processed foods and foods with too much sugar – these foods aren’t going to help you lose weight, they are only going to enhance the storage of fat in your body – in ALL the wrong places.
5. Drink Green Tea – Well, it may not have a direct link to losing cellulite, but I’m drinking a cup right now, it’s delicious and it’s GOOD for you! It not only helps prevent cancer, but it can help you lose weight.

Now I feel better, knowing that since you read this you are better prepared to make an informed decision as to how you want to get rid of cellulite. Stay away from the lotion aisle…start lunging away from the computer!

If you still choose the quick fix and it doesn’t work – don’t say I didn’t warn you!

About to go out for a walk with the dog and I made this quick video for you.

Life gets busy sometimes and we can’t always make it to the gym – it’s okay.  There are other options – take a look!

I switched it up this week and made Monday my Upper Body Workout day. I’m training with a friend tomorrow and we’re doing legs, so instead of skipping a day I just flip-flopped the workouts. My arms are beat after this workout today. I could still feel the leftovers from Saturday’s workout, even though I didn’t do anything yesterday. But that’s the BEST part.

What’s even more exciting is I’m starting to really notice some major changes in my arm definition and strength – which for me are my two biggest measures of the effectiveness of my workouts.

So, instead of writing down my workout for you, because I love sharing what I’m doing in the gym, and because I’m a visual learner – I made a quick video of my workout for you to check out.  Please let me know if you have any questions about the exercises, my workouts, or would like some help with your workouts – I love helping and talking about fitness – so please don’t hesitate to let me know!

Ladies, short season is just around the corner which means its time to get your legs toned and ready! Personally, seeing a woman with lean legs is one of my favorite things. I don’t mean to sound like a guy, but for me toned legs represent dedication and hard work, unless of course this person is just genetically programmed to have HOT legs.

However, since many of us are not programmed that way we have to spend our time in the gym making sure are legs are ready for short season.

So I’ve shared with you one of my favorite leg workouts to get you those lean legs in time for summer.

(You can do these exercises as a workout one day or separate the exercises into your workouts throughout the week – depending on how you train).

PS – The BEST part of a leg workout – not being able to walk down the stairs the next day or sit down comfortably! Would you agree? How’d you feel after THIS workout?

Every woman wants tight toned arms.  Spending hours on the treadmill or elliptical is not going to do the trick.  So, what do you do to make sure that your arm flab goes away?

You need to start lifting weights.

Yes, ladies, I should not be the only woman in the free weight section of the gym. Every woman should get off of the elliptical and join me!

One exercise that is going to help you tone your arms and drop body fat is the Chest Press. Its good for people at every level of exercise because you can easily adjust the exercise to fit your fitness capabilities.

Take a look a the video below, I talk a bit more about the benefits of the Chest Press and go on to show you three variations you can try.

Have questions? What did you think? Leave a comment or email me and let me know!

Your core muscles help stabilize your body during every single activity. In order to prevent injury it is important to make sure that you have a strong core.  Also, having a tight strong core will help you get those flat abs you have always wanted, faster.
These are my three favorite core exercises I do during my workouts to make sure I don’t injure myself again and that my core is strong to help me become stronger.

1)    Bird Dog – Lift your right arm straight out, while you lift your opposite arm out – hold for a count of three. Continue this alternating arms and legs for a total of 16-20 reps, for 3 sets. [singlepic=10,200,200,,center]
2)    Plank – Rest your elbows on the floor and raise yourself onto your toes – hold.  Hold for 30 seconds then rest 15 seconds and repeat. To make it more difficult extend the period of time you hold the plank. If you have back pain or are just beginning to work out try resting the hold on your knees instead of your toes. [singlepic=8,200,200,,center]
3)    Bridges – work your core and glutes, which work together to make your core stronger.  Lie on your back, bend your knees about shoulder width apart. Lift your glute to the ceiling and hold for 3, then lower your glute back to the ground. While you are holding in the up position, make sure to squeeze your glute muscles and tighten your core. [singlepic=9,200,200,,center]

This week, we are going back to the Weight Loss Basics. It’s that time of year when everyone has headed into the gym, whether for New Year’s Resolutions or it’s time to get down to business.  No matter how much expertise you have in the gym, or how little, it’s always important to start with the basics, and have a solid foundation to work from.

Houses, cars, computers, all begin with solid foundations and we, as humans, are no different.  In order to be most successful in reaching our weight loss goals, we need to start with a solid foundation and work onwards from there.  So where do we begin – by building a strong core.

What is the core?  Your core is the area in the middle of your body (think of the core of an apple), [singlepic=6,100,100,,left] consisting of your abdominals, back, pelvis, and hips.  These four areas work together to create the foundation for your upper and lower body strength. Without a strong core the rest of your muscles will not reach their full strength potential.

Why do I need a strong core? Everyone needs a strong foundation, without that you will crumble. Your core muscles not only help with balance and posture, but they help with stabilization of your body, allowing other muscle groups to work.  A strong core will help you jump higher and run faster, lift heavier objects, as well as preventing injuries to your back or other muscle groups.

Please do not disregard the importance of your core muscles, not just for working out at the gym, but as a part of your daily life. This past year, a few weeks after my first triathlon, (just a few weeks after the “After” picture on my Twitter page) when I was in the best shape of my life, I herniated two discs in my back.  It was easily the most uncomfortable and painful thing that I have ever experienced.  I couldn’t go to the gym for at least a month, it hurt to sit, it hurt to stand, and it was not my idea of a good time.

When I was finally able to go back to the gym, I was only able to do very BASIC workouts – everything focusing on my core muscles, making sure that they were strong enough to protect my back from further injury.  I felt silly doing all these simple moves, but during that time, I realized just how important a strong core is to your daily function.  Having a strong core, a solid foundation, is critical to living a healthy life, as you use these muscles during SO many daily activies.

Now, whenever I lift something heavy or pick up a pen off the floor, reach for something, or whenever I’m about to do a set of weights at the gym, I make sure that I brace my core muscles and then continue with what I was doing. Why, because I definitely don’t want to hurt myself again and I don’t want you to hurt yourself!

So, please, take a look at your workout – are you focusing at all on making your core muscles stronger? If not, it’s time to start.  This week we’re focusing on the basics…the basics of successful weight loss, to make sure that everyone reaches their goals. You can’t reach your goals if you are injured!  Tomorrow I’m going to post my favorite core exercises for you to include in your workout; so you too can start building a strong foundation and avoid injury on your road to a flat sexy stomach and weight loss success!