Summertime is pretty much here and some of us may be frowning while we look in the mirror. No need to fret my loves. I’ve complied the best DVDs on the market to help you shape up for summer. The great thing about DVDs is that they are way cheaper than a gym membership and it’s like having a private instructor in your home. SO LET’S GET STARTED LADIES!

Ballet Body

A new craze sweeping the gyms right now is the Bar Method. These classes take techniques and warm-ups used my ballet dancers and apply them to your workout. Now you can bring the Bar Method home with Leah Sarago’s Ballet Body. Ballet techniques will help to flatten your tummy and tone up your legs! 

Addicted to Sweat

One of the hardest parts of working out is that fact that it’s not always fun. With Addicted to Sweat you don’t have to worry about enjoying yourself. Madonna’s personal trainer has come up a set of DVD’s to dance your bottom into shape.

Yoga For Weight Loss

Now you can burn calories and combat stress. Try this triple workout to see results in your body and mind.

Booty Boot Camp

Time to sweat it out with the Real Housewives of Atlanta! Kenya Moore has developed a workout to get your rear in gear. Proceed with caution though, you will not want to sit down afterwards, but that’s ok because you’ll be busy checking out your butt in the mirror. 

Jessica Smith’s 10 Pounds Down

Are you a girl on the go? Don’t have the time for a full workout? Then this is the DVD set for you. Each DVD targets a different area (arms, legs, abs) and only lasts 20 minutes. Get results in half the time!

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Head to your nearest DVD retailer and pick these puppies up! And remember you need to combine a workout routine with a healthy diet to truly see results. 

Photo Credit: imagerymajestic | freedigitalphotos.net

Read More Comments (1)

 

 

Let’s face it. It’s practically summer, and there will be days were no amount of Maya Angelou quotes or Oprah photo timelines will make us feel better about getting into our bathing suits. Really, when we strip away all the superficial, we all have two choices. First being the easier of the two, and involves good old fashioned denial and some Ben and Jerry’s fro-yo (because… it’s like healthy right?) or we could go with the second option and get proactive about feeling and looking healthier. 

I’ll be straight with you guys on something, because you may be a little suspicious of a male writer talking about weight loss, and I get that there is probably a pretty legitimate need for me to establish some street cred. I am a personal trainer, but I do happen to be a gay guy in his 20’s with a group of best girl friends most people only dream of. That being said, I know first hand the kind of pressure guys and girls put on themselves to look good, and how most of the time this process ends up biting you all in the butt you are trying so hard to work on. 

The first piece of advice we should take in is to be realistic. There really isn’t any health related need for you to look like Gisel Bundchen. We all come in different shapes and sizes, and our weight loss goals should be grounded in feeling healthier and happier, and should not be connection to trying to get J-Lo’s butt or Michelle Obamas arms. 

That being said there’s nothing wrong with being honest with yourself and identifying your “trouble areas”. Madonna’s trainer, and business partner recently said in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine that she tells her clients to walk around in a bikini while hanging around in the house. The idea behind that is that you have more range of motion to have an impromptu solo dance party, and also get used to being comfortable wearing less clothes. She also sneaks in the idea that if you hang around in bikini you have more of an opportunity to get to know which parts of your body you would like to work on, and can plan your workouts accordingly.

The best advice I have actually applied is linked to friends. Studies have shown that people lose weight and keep it off when the people around them are also making an effort to be healthier. So for most people, having your friends also commit to making healthier choices makes a huge difference. 

My friends and I were really honest with ourselves and realized that our daily glass of wine was non-negotiable, and was not going anywhere, but to compensate we all started cooked dinners together that we healthier and less calorie dense.  Whether its prioritizing whether to eat or drink calories, or setting up a gym buddy date, friends are key in looking and feeling better. 

Photo Credit: photostock | freedigitalphotos.net

Read More Comments (0)

So the topic might not be appropriate to discuss at the dinner table, but bloating could very well be related to what we eat while sitting around it. Most of the time bloating is just that inconvenient feeling of pressure in your lower belly, but for some people it can be a chronic issue that really affects their quality of life. 

Regardless of where you and your tummy fall on this spectrum there are proactive steps you can take to fight the bloat. One of the best ways to fight against excess gas and fluid retention (the two processes that cause that bloating feeling) is to start being more careful with what you eat.

Be Aware of Cruciferous Vegetables

This almost kills me to say because of how healthy they are for you, but vegetables like Brussels sprouts and broccoli contain a sugar called raffinose, which is a little tough for our bodies to breakdown, and methane gas gets released as a byproduct. So avoiding foods like these on a date night might make sense, but if broccoli makes you gassy some doctors recommend looking into pro-biotics. The idea is that bacteria break down raffinose when it gets introduced to our system, so the more good bacteria in your gut the better.

Foods High in Fat

Foods high in fat, especially meat take way longer for our bodies to digest than things like fruit and vegetables. Gas and cramping are signs that your body is working overtime to breakdown the food you put into it. There’s a reason some people wear sweatpants to Thanks Giving. 

Smoking and Drinking with a Straw

It sounds weird but both smoking and drinking out of a draw can introduce air into your stomach. So if you needed another reason to quit smoking – there you go. 

Salt Intake and Water

It may sound counterintuitive but drinking the recommended 8 to 10 glasses of water a day actually helps your body fight bloating, especially if you’re bloated because of the amount of salt you ate. Salt holds onto water, but your body also needs water to clear it out of your system via your kidneys. So start looking at nutrition labels for salt content and keep drinking your juice Shelby. 

Photo Credit: Ohmega1982 | freedigitalphotos.net

Read More Comments (0)

The phrase “sedentary lifestyle” is thrown around a lot in health articles and public service announcements, and it probably isn’t news to anyone that the amount of sitting we do on an average day is not good for us. The fact that most of us sit all day at work, only to get into our cars and drive home, to then crash in front of the TV to help us unwind is really unhealthy. 

The scary reality is that this lifestyle is actually deadly, and has been linked to countless diseases and disorders in literally thousands of studies. One such study was lead by Dr. James Levine, who is the director of obesity solutions at the Mayo Clinic. His study showed that the amount of time the average American spends sitting is connected to the all shorts of horrible health issues like obesity, hypertension, mood disorders, heart disease, and even certain forms of cancer. 

Most people feel like they don’t get enough exercise, and a lot of people complain that fitting a work out into their schedules is almost as challenging as finding the motivation to work out in the first place. 

So what’s a working stiff to do? Well, American companies like Google, Microsoft, and Marriott have all invested in a new piece of office/work out equipment called “walking workstations”, which are essentially treadmills with desks attached. 

They are pretty pricy and look pretty silly, but some walking workstation users have reported losing weight, reduced back pain, and have fought off depression by walking while working. 

It probably takes a little getting used to, I can see myself answering emails and phone calls while walking at a slow pace on a treadmill. The manufactures say that the machine can be set for 1 MPH, which even for me (with a body coordination on par with that of a 14 year old boy coming out of a growth spurt) could totally handle. 

Photo Credit: TreadDesk

Read More Comments (0)