Lookin' good...do you work out?

Did you know there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat? That means that to lose just one pound, you need to burn 3500 calories! (That's some powerful logic there...)

(Pound of fat)

Let's say you need 2000 calories to get through they day.
Case 1: Usually people eat more than what they need. Let's say you consume 2100 calories. That's 700 extra calories a week which results in gaining roughly 10 pounds per year!
Case 2: You realize you've gained 10 pounds and you desperately want to lose that weight, so you only eat 1500 calories per day. This may work for awhile, but your brain is hard to trick. Your hypothalamus realizes your body is not getting enough sustenance and goes into starvation mode, meaning your body takes everything you put into it and stores the fat. Fat takes less energy to burn, so to help preserve your body, your brain tells it to increase its fat reserves. Not the image you had in mind for yourself, right?

So what now? Your body needs 2000 calories to function, so give it those calories. To shed the pounds, exercise! If you burn 300 calories in a single workout session, that's 1700 calories still in your bank. Your body has had enough to run, but you are still able to decrease what you have at the end of the day. Keep this up and you're looking at -1 pound roughly every 2 weeks. This is a healthy rate at which to lose weight.

If you start gaining weight from muscle mass, don't worry. Muscle takes a lot of energy to maintain, so the more muscle you have, the more you burn without trying! It's like an investment.

Eat right and exercise well! Good luck!

This one actually consists of a lot of leg workouts, but a lot of exercises you do for your upper legs can work your gluts quite nicely as well! So kill 2 birds with one stone and try a couple of these out.

Squats.
Yes, you hate them and it's all you ever hear about but squats are great for your quads, gluts, and even your inner and outer thighs. Try these fun variations:
Wall sits: with your back to the wall, sit till your legs are bent at a 90 degree angle (sit even lower down to make this harder!). Hold it for 30 seconds, stand up, and repeat. See if you can do 45 seconds for the second set and 60 for the last one. Be sure to tighten your core, keep your hands off your knees, and keep your butt firm during the exercise.
One-legged: You can do this one of 2 ways. One way is to put a yoga ball between your back and the wall. Stick one leg out in front of you (it doesn't have to be too high off the ground) and keep your balance by tightening your core, gluts, and thighs. Slowly lower yourself down till your legs are at a 90 degree angle, hold for a moment, and roll yourself back to a standing position. The other way is to use a bar at about chest level. Hold the bar in both hands, feet on the floor beneath the bar, and raise one leg in front of you. Squat deep, almost till you're sitting (but not quite!), pause, and then stand up again. Do either of these about 10-12 times per leg, 3 sets/leg.
Sumo squats: Spread your legs slightly wider than shoulder level. Rather than having your toes point forward, point them outward slightly. Clasp your hands in front of your chest and squat. Tighten your butt, core, and thighs and stick your butt out a little as you go down. This might help with form and will really help you feel the squat. Do 3 sets of about 8-10 of these.
Jumping squats: Lower yourself into a standard squat (feet about shoulder-width apart, toes and knees forward, knees in line with toes) and jump. When you land, land directly back into your squat. 3 sets of 10-12 should get your heart rate up and your legs burning.

Lunges.
Like squats, also great for legs and gluts. Here's a couple variations:
Touchdown lunges: From a standing position, lunge one leg straight out behind you. Bending low on your forward leg, lean down and forward till you touch the ground with both hands on either side of your forward leg. Bring the back leg forward again as you return to a standing position. 3 sets of 20 per leg.
Squat lunge: Is it a squat or a lunge?? Go into a lunge position and pump yourself up and down about 20 times. Stand, switch legs, repeat. Again, 3 sets of 20 per leg.
Medicine ball lunge: Hold a light medicine ball or something that weighs 4-6 pounds in front of your torso. Lunge forward and twist your body toward the forward leg. As you stand, bring your body straight again. Lunge forward with the other leg and twist slowly an with control toward that leg, and so on. Take about 30 steps.

Thigh Squeeze.
This is a good one to help firm up that jiggle that might be going on between your legs. Lie on your back, raise your legs in the air, bent at 90 degrees (knees in line with hips), and place a yoga ball (or a few fat pillows) between your knees. Squeeze the ball/pillows as tight as you can while still keeping a steady breathing pattern and hold for 30 seconds. When 30 seconds are up, pump your knees (maintaining a grip on the ball) 20 times and the squeeze for another 30 seconds. Do 3 sets (Squeeze, pump, squeeze, pump, squeeze, pump).

Donkey Kicks.
Get down on all fours, knees below hips, hands below shoulders. If you have a heavy can, an 8 pound dumbbell, or something similar, it is highly recommended. Place the weight in your "knee-pit" (where your leg bends) and perform the exercise in one of the ways shown in the image. This one is a lot easier to illustrate than explain.


You can bring your bent leg up to hip-level and down (see image 1 and the lady in the orange), out to the side and down (like a dog marking its territory), in and out (2), whatever. Make up your own variation! Do about 3 sets of 20 of these.

Good luck!

Call me biased based on my high school experience, but swimming is one of the greatest workouts a person can do! It's low impact, works your whole body, and can help keep you in shape as you heal from injuries. An added bonus: no sweat! Well...OK you do sweat but it washes off in the nice, refreshing water so you don't notice.

To get an effective workout when you swim, you need to have (guess) GOOD FORM. For a great little tutorial, check out this Jimmy D'Shea in this little video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYuSMumlUk4
His freestyle tutorial goes till about 1:45. That's what the workout in this post will consist of, so don't be intimidated by the whole 6 minutes.

Form can be very difficult to get down when you're on your own, so it can help to have a buddy come with you to give you feedback. Just make sure they can give you good feedback first!

A little background information before I post the workout: Most pools are 25m in length, so 1 lap (there and back) is 50m. Olympic size pools are 50m in length, so 1 lap would be a full 100m. If you are unsure of the length of the pool, simply ask a lifeguard or staff member and they should be able to tell you.
So if an exercise looks like this: "10x50 free," it means that you will swim 10 sets of 50m freestyle.

So next time you get in the water, try this little workout:

Warm Up
5x50 free
4x50 kick (do this on your back in a streamlined position. Google image "streamline position" if you don't know what that looks like)

Workout
10x50 free: start slow and increase speed with each 50, 30 sec rest between sets
2x50 Kick, 15 sec rest
Ladder (rest 20 s between sets)
1x25 free
1x50 free
1x75 free
1x100 free
Rest 1 minute
1x100 free
1x75 free
1x50 free
1x25 free
***Repeat ladder 1-2 more times***

Cool Down
4x50 free (slow and easy)

Good luck!

I love writing swim workouts! Contact me if you want a more customized workout, or you can check out http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/swim-cgi/