America’s number one online weight loss community SparkPeople.com released SparkPeople: 28-Day Boot Camp with their fan-favorite trainer Coach Nicole this morning, December 27th.
This 28-Day Boot Camp DVD gives you everything you need for create a customizable 28 day boot camp program that combines heart rate raising bouts of cardio with full body strength training to get you results in just 12, 20 or 30 minutes. The DVD includes four workout segments with 3 intensity levels and several bonus features, including recipes and added ab exercises. Light hand weights are required to complete the workouts and a mat is optional.
The workouts themselves are nothing groundbreaking- expect combinations of lunges, squats, bicep curls and crunches- but the exercises are completed without rest and usually combined with kettlebell swings using the light handweights so your heart rate stays elevated and you really target your butt and thighs. Each workout includes the whole body, so no matter whether you have 12 minutes or 30 minutes, you can be sure you’ve hit every muscle group.
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Courtney is an avid runner and fitness enthusiast, but gets the best workout chasing after her three-year-old Ellie. Follow her at twitter.com/smugrunner
While I enjoy the time away from work during the holidays, unfortunately the change in – or more accurately, complete lack of – routine wreaks havoc on my nutrition and fitness plans. On a normal work day, I’ve knocked out a run before the rest of the fam wakes, plan all my meals and snacks, hit the office gym over the lunch hour for some strength training and then get up and do it all again the next day. This may sound boring to some, but to me, the routine simply makes healthy living a natural part of my life. That is until the holidays roll around, and I suddenly have no reason to set the alarm, a stocked pantry and refrigerator just around the corner, and no gym packed with on-demand workout options.
This year I’m vowing to plan my at home holiday fitness just as I would on a typical work day. As a bonus, working out at home provides me with another opportunity to teach my spunky preschooler how fun fitness can be. If you’re like me and don’t like coming up with your own workout routines, here are a couple of my favorite tools that make exercising sans gym a breeze.
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Kettlebell workouts seem to be all the rage these days. And because it’s an exercise known for being tough, gritty and somewhat complicated, I’ve been interested in trying it for the last few years (glutton for punishment, I am). But it wasn’t until I reviewed a few kettlebell workout DVDs that I gave them a go. And what a go it was.
Working with kettlebells is intense and some of the movements are downright dangerous and can result in injury if you do them improperly. And because many of the moves—especially the compound ones—are extremely challenging and advanced, it’s likely that when you get tired (and you will get tired), your form will suffer. And bad form isn’t good.
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September is National Yoga Month! The Department of Health and Human Services has designated a national observance of yoga to bring awareness about its multiple health benefits. Yoga is beneficial in many avenues. Fitness, relaxation, and health can all be obtained through the practice of yoga. We’ve compiled some great resources for you and your family to use as you celebrate National Yoga Month!
The Yoga Dictionary
Get started with a basic understanding of yoga and it’s fundamental poses.
Top 10 Yoga Benefits
The positives are countless. Here are the top 10 benefits to get you excited about yoga and the health to be obtained.
Many think of yoga a a quiet meditation time, but that isn’t always the case! Here are some intense forms of yoga to get you into shape.
Introduction to Yoga for Fitness
This slideshow shows multiple techniques for every type of person proving that yoga truly is for everyone.
Yoga For Athletes
Take a in-depth look at the benefits yoga provides for the aspiring athlete.
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Thin in 30 days? Maybe. Doing it in three 20 minute workouts a week? Prove it.
I’m always wary of workout programs that offer more results with less effort. Turns out, in this case, less effort doesn’t mean less exercise, just less of a time commitment, which I can get behind.
The FIRM has been a trusted name in exercise and fitness for years, with workouts designed to empower women to work towards their best bodies and achieve total body fitness in the comfort of their very own home.
The FIRM has introduced a new workout series called The FIRM Express, which takes their successful fitness philosophy and condenses it down into three times weekly 20 minute workouts that promise to get you “thin in 30″ days. Like all of the workouts by The FIRM, this program combines effective cardio exercises with weight training to get results faster and help you burn more fat than traditional cardio or weight lifting alone.
This 12 DVD program includes 12 workouts you will use through four different cycles that are specifically sequenced to optimize weight loss. The FIRM Express boasts that you can burn up to nine times more fat with this program than traditional workouts.
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