Workout of the Day!

Get MORE Results in LESS Time

Who wants to spend forever in the gym? I'm really into fitness and I'm not a fan of spending more than about an hour in the gym. That is why I'm a huge fan of any workout that gives me more results in less time. One of those workouts is circuit training. Circuit training is when you perform exercises back to back without resting between the exercises and there are also lots of different kinds of circuits but one of my favorites combines both cardio and weights.

1. Cardio 10 minutes: (include 5 min warmup)
2. Weights 10 minutes: repeat 15-20 reps of squats, pushups, shoulder presses, lunges, dips for the full 10 minutes, move from exercise to exercise without resting
3. Cardio 10 minutes
4. Weights 10 minutes: repeat #2 above
5. Cardio 10 minutes
6. 5 minutes of Abs: Crunches, 20 reps of bicycles, basic crunches, reverse crunches followed by one minute of plank
7. YOU'RE DONE!!!

Dorm Room Workout Series

The Wonderful World of Bands!

Check out a cheap and easy way to get a great workout in your living room!

iPod Playlist

In my opinion, great music is an ESSENTIAL part of a workout. In fact, it's actually been proven that you burn more calories when you workout with music. So here are a few songs that are currently on my workout playlist. So head to itunes and improve your workout while you stimulate the ecomony!

1. Shatterd Glass-Britney Spears


2. We Are Alive-Paul Van Dyk


3. Fix Me-Velvet


4. He's a Pirate (Pete n' Red's Jolly Roger Trance Remix)- Klaus Badelt, Redtop & Sneaky Pete Pirates Remixed - EP Dance


5. Disturbia-Rhianna


6. Walking in Memphis-Master Blaster


7. Breathe Me (Mylo Remix)-Sia

Better Treadmill Workout

It's winter in Seattle and for me that means working out inside. I am not afraid to say it, I am a sunny warm weather outside girl. So for me that means one, I'm some sort of traitor to the Seattle North Face and Gortex culture and two, the treadmill and I have gotten to know each other very well. So to keep things interesting I've come up with a few variations on indoor workouts and here is one of them.

All you need is an ipod (or Zune, I know you're out there) or any sort of music player and a treadmill.

1. Create a playlist with a large variety of songs. You can also just shuffle the songs for the duration or your workout.
2. After a warm up each time the song changes change your speed or incline to correspond with the song. Fast songs get sprints, slow songs get walking or jogging and mid tempo songs get hills.
3. Cool down with walking or jogging.

I promise this workout will fly by and the with the variety of speeds and inclines you will end up getting a better workout than if you just slogged away on the treadmill at one speed!

Accessory Analysis: BOSU Ball

This is a BOSU Ball. BOSU stands for Both Sides Up and its is one of my favorite and most versatile pieces of fitness equipment. When the dome (blue) side is up it provides a great unstable surface to stand on and do any number of upper or lower body exercises from bicep curls and shoulder presses to squats and lunges. The great thing about an unstable surface is that it gives you the added bonus of getting a great core workout no matter what exercise you are doing. I love anything that allows me to get more bang for my buck because, let's be honest here, no one wants to spend a ton of time in the gym. The BOSU is also great when the platform (black) side is up since you can use it to make push ups harder, since push ups aren't hard enough anyway, right? There are a few gyms that teach BOSU cardio classes where you use the ball in the place of a step and those classes are killer! Seriously, I have taken them and they are nap inducing. Finally, the BOSU is amazing for abdominal workouts. You can use it in place of a regular stability ball for crunches and it's fantastic for plank exercises. So if you are in the market for some fitness equipment, I highly recommend the BOSU ball since it is so effective and the BOSU with some dumbbells or bands is all you really need. Plus it stores really nicely under a couch or in the corner so it is always out of the way.

Dorm Room Workout Series

Check out this video to get more out of your workouts when you go outside!