Long, lean sculpted arms . . . .or maybe you want guns like Madonna. Either way it takes persistence and repetitions. 

I have one word: Pushups. Wide, narrow, in between. The best way to change your arms. But the form is a bitch. 

Pushups 101

You don’t need to be on your toes to do effective pushups. As a matter of fact, for most women it can be a bit of a neck builder if you do them on your toes. So lets, assume you are doing them girl style or modified. 

Begin by lying on your stomach, with your palms flat & parallel to your breasts. Your elbows need to be stacked right over your wrists. Keep your shoulder blades down away from your ears and pulled back toward your spine, keep your neck long, ribs and belly pulled in toward your spine and hips scooped to neutral.

On an exhale, push yourself straight up from the floor  – when your arms are fully extended, your body should be in a straight line from your head to your knees (we’re doing these modified, remember). Once at the top, slowly lower yourself back down toward the floor. You should at least be going down until your arms are bent at a 90 degree angle at the elbow. Make sure you maintain a flat back at all times and keep your shoulders from shrugging. Try starting with 3 sets of 10.

If starting flat on the floor is too hard for you, start on a higher surface like a bench, ledge, or counter top. 

Another way to learn pushups is to do “float down pushups”. You begin these by starting in a plank position (either on the knees or toes). Make sure your chest is directly over the space between your hands. Slowly lower yourself to the floor — making sure your chest, stomach and thighs land simultaneously. Once you land, then you push yourself back up from your knees. Lift the knees up and float down again. Try starting these with 3 sets of 10. 

Hand width is important. Wide will emphasize the fronts of your shoulders, your chest and upper back. Narrow will hit the triceps more. Try varying your hand distance with each set.

Try doing your pushups and alternate with jumping rope to really make those shoulders cut!

More arm exercises tomorrow . . .

Those last 5-10 lbs . . . impossible to lose. Right? Wrong. Especially after having a baby it seems like it is impossible to lose the rest of your tummy or slim down your hips/butt. I think it’s possible, but I know the biggest part of that is how you eat. 

Ok let’s look at the skinny girl at the party: She’s sipping vodka, not beer or a sweet drink. She’s noshing on the veggies and fruit, not all those unidentifiable crispy items that never really taste that good. This is the same girl that when you are eating at a restaurant, she picks the fish and the vegetables. 

This is not rocket science girls. You  have to eat clean. 

Let’s look at breakfast:

Steel cut oats, walnuts, almonds, fruit, & granola. 

Eggs, either hard boiled or scrambled w/real butter, poached. If you need something with that, a sweet potato, or corn tortilla

Smoothie — tons of fruit or frozen (I get a bunch of bags from WF), add flaxseeds, nuts, protein powder — use soy milk or rice milk before you choose milk or yogurt. 

Lunch:

Sandwich with lots of veggies maybe with protein. 

Sweet Potato — great thing for the office. Put a little butter on top, maybe a little cheese (don’t go crazy). 

Salad — ton’s of veggies with or with out protein

Dinner:

Too many things to suggest but I will tell you that I absolutely love the Every Day Food magazine by Martha Stewart, http://dinnertonight.marthastewart.com/?rsc=dinnertonight_Homepage_Homepage. I gave it as a gift to all of my clients/friends one year for Christmas — it’s really the best thing that I’ve seen out there. The others are great for maybe one or two items, but EDF gives you great ideas every night. 

My latest favorite that I made tonight was the Steak salad — not sure of the exact name — the magazine is in the kitchen. But, it was easy and very satisfying. My kids loved it too — my daughter loved the carrot slivers. 

So above is just a sampling there’s tons more. But you get the point: Eat clean, eat less. Breakfast is your biggest meal, Lunch, not as big, and keep your dinner light. When you nosh, nosh on fruit, or hummus, veggies, smoothie. 

Now to the store:

Make a list, make a list, make a list. Plan your meals — you have to, or you will eat poorly. Make a menu for most of the days of the week, and then plan to have one night of pizza or leftovers. On those nights when you are going out to dinner, I think it’s cool to toss some mac and cheese at your kids, throw in some broccoli and your safe.

Back at home: 

Organize your fridge so you can find everything. Prepare veggies so they are easy to snack on. Wash your fruit and put it in a bowl so you can grab it easily. Transfer your liquids out of their plastic containers to glass pitcher. Baking Soda in the back. Clean the refrigerator once a week when you buy your groceries. It’s easy if you keep up with it!

Ok, now go to it. You still have 6 -7 weeks before you are laying by the pool!

Muffin top beware . . .

Some oblique exercises for you to do today. Don’t forget the cardio!
Hip Lifts:

Lie on your side with hips/shoulders stacked. Sit up on your forearm making sure the elbow is right underneath your shoulder and your shoulder blades are depressed (away from your ears) and retracted (in toward the spine). Maintain stability in the shoulder (meaning don’t let it move around — keep it still and firm). Now lift your hip off of the floor and lift it as high as you can without leaning too hard into the shoulder — making sure you are still maintaining stability. If it is too hard for you to keep your feet stacked, you can put the top leg on the floor in front. If it is still too hard, you can bend the bottom knee — but still keep everything stacked. If it is still too difficult, bend both knees — still keeping good alignment. Now you will try to lift and lower the hip about 15 times on both sides. Make sure you are holding your belly in, keeping your neck long and staight (look ahead) and breathe!
Try up to 3 sets of this — alternate with the other exercises below.
Hip Swivel:

Lie facedown, then come up onto your forearms and either your knees or toes. Either way, make sure your spine is straight and you are not arching your back. Hold your tummy in tight and slowly lean to one side and touch one of your hips down to the ground — keep both elbows on the floor. Then slowly come back to center and go to the other side. Think of making an arc with your hips — always coming back up to a flat back in the middle before going down to the other side. Do 3 sets of 20-30 and alternate with the other exercises.

Bicycles — Hot Mamas Style

There’s a million ways to do this. Lying on your back, hands behind the head laced, bring one leg up over the hip, bent 90 degrees, shin parallel to the floor. Other leg is outstretched either just hovering above the floor or up about 45 degrees. If your leg is hovering, just make sure you are able to maintain a flat a back. Now, twist your opposite elbow UP TO THE bent knee. Do not bring the knee in to you. Hold this for a beat then straighten the bent knee and bend the straight leg twisting the opposite elbow UP to it. Try not to roll side to side. It is a lifting motion that you want. Also try not to pull on your head — the hands are for support, not leverage. Do 3 sets of 30 with control and alternate with the other exercises.

That should do it for now. Enjoy. Lots of snow in Denver today — getting ready to go teach at the studio. Should be fun!

It’s almost bikini time . . . are you ready to slip it on with confidence? Or, have you perhaps slacked off a bit this winter? It happens to the best of us. But, it’s not too late! You have a good 6-8 weeks to get that bod lookin’ hot. And in 8 weeks, I’m going to help you find some new suits!

First order of business . . . your butt, booty, tush, ass — whatever. It’s my bottom line — and the first place I look to see if someone is fit. So this is where we begin. Move the coffee table and let’s get to it.

The Plie: Stand TALL with your feet wider than your hips, toes turned out — making sure that your knees are able to point in the same direction as your toes. If they are pulling inward, then turn your feet in a little too. Now, scoop your hips so that your bottom is under you not sticking out. Try to hold a kegel, and tweeze your glutes– this will help you. Make sure that your spine is straight and your shoulders are back, tummy sucked in. Take your arms either out to the side, or put your hands on your hips and lower yourself down until your thighs are about parallel to the ground, then come back up slowly. Try not to rest at the top, as a matter of fact plan not to straighten your legs completely — just get close and then go right back down. You should do 3 sets of 20-30 of these. Alternate the speeds — some fast, some slow, pulsing, some with a hold at the bottom. Variety is key on these.

The T-jack. Stand with your legs together, arms out to the sides And, just like a jumping jack, you will hop your legs apart, but instead of hoping back in, you will hop in, but drag your toes back into the center while doing this — the extra drag will make you squeeze your legs harder and add resistance. Do this for 30 seconds and repeat this after every set of plies.

Leg kicks . . . this can be done a million ways. But the best are done if you are bending forward from the waist or upside down. So, put your hands on the coffee table, or the seat of a chair, back straight and flat, feet hip distance right under your hips. Start by bringing your right knee in toward your chest, then extend your leg straight back behind you — make sure that you finish with your leg parallel to your butt, or slightly higher. DO NOT ARCH YOUR BACK — hold your stomach in. Now, you can kick the leg straight back, or you can turn the leg out — try many different angles to hit different parts of your bum. Do this at least 25 times — 3 sets per side. Ouch!

Hip Lifts — Lie on your back, knees bent feet flat on the floor. Curl your hips off the floor until you are basically only on the back of your shoulders. Now, lower your body back down to the floor — slowly — feeling each vertebrae as it touches down until your butt taps to the floor. Try to kegel at the same time and keep your hips scooped and stomach in — this will keep you from feeling it too much in your hamstrings. If you want more of a challenge do it with one leg in the air — hold it parallel to the working leg. Do these 20-25 times 3 sets per side.

Prone Leg Scissors — Lie on your stomach with arms folded on floor in front of you with forehead resting on your forearms, legs apart in a V. Keeping the head down, lift the legs up and bring them toward each other and cross them left over right, then open the legs back to the V and touch the floor, lift them back up and cross right over left, then open back to the V. Do this 30 times — 3 sets.

OK, here’s your start. Make sure you are doing cardiovascular work to burn calories — because just doing this floor work alone is not going to get you the results you want. So, get out for a run, or a challenging bike ride, a very brisk walk, trail walk/run, swim, aerobics class, dance class. Something to get your heart pumping and do this for at least 30 minutes AT LEAST 4 times a week.

Start tomorrow . . . more to come. I’ll have video soon. I lost my camera snow boarding.

Oprah did it again. Her show today was about moms. But not your typical nauseating kind of mom show. A show that was real and illustrated that moms are human — not super humans. That we make mistakes and live a life where we aren’t necessarily ever the top priority.

We all get down on ourselves and have crazy expectations of what we should be doing. Something that I am always trying to tell my clients is that we all have a different definition of what motherhood is. We are all unique and have special talents — we define who we are as mothers, wives & girlfriends. And it is so easy to judge and to say “well, I would never do that”. Realizing that we are all unique creatures, we need to stop judging and start supporting each other. And we need to get REAL.

How many of you are afraid to admit that sometimes it truly sucks to be a mom? How many of you wish you could just take off in your car and never come back? It’s crossed my mind, I’d never do it — but it sounds tempting. The point is, we all have these feelings of loss — losing our old selves. As a mom, we have to reinvent who we are. We can’t be that young woman anymore. But this is exciting news . . . there are so many things we can do — so many opportunities to try new things. You just have to open your mind — and get out of the rut you are in.

In the end, our goal is the same. We want happy, fulfilled lives with our families. Getting there is our own individual journey.

Everyone who works out does the lunge. But are you doing it right? There are all kinds of lunges: forward, backward, to the side . . 

Forward lunge: more of a leg builder, has more impact on the knee, but you do feel them more for sure. Get’s your hr up and works your bootie nicely. Adding weight is probably not necessary unless you are a man or really need to add some girth to your thighs. Make sure you keep your knee over your ankle, hips aligned, stomach pulled in. You can also add arm motions like an upward reach or a twist to make it more of a total body exercise. If you do add weights, keep ‘em small!

A backward lunge has less impact and even adds a great stretch to the hip flexor. It’s a much more graceful move, and in my opinion much better for a woman’s physique. Adding light dumbbells (3-5 lbs) will also tone the arms and strengthen the core. Try a backward lunge with a forward raise, or a backward lunge with your hands laced behind your head then add a twist.

Try above exercises doing about 3 sets of 20-30 repetitions. Make sure you stretch the hamstrings and quads before and after!

Let me know how it goes!

When my 6-year-old told me I am on my computer all of the time, I realized she was right. Do you have specific computer/work time when you are at home? What about phone calls? We can Facebook, Twitter, text, call at anytime of day. I think we are TOO available. And at the detriment of our personal relationships. And, what are we teaching our children? I see moms/nannies on the phone all the time in front of their children in the park, grocery store, the car (not to mention dangerous). We need to stop. We have turned into this society of unavailable, unpresent, ADD adults. I hate to think how our children are going to be effected by this.

Start now by making specific hours that you are on your computer and when you return phone calls. Turn off your phone on the weekends and don’t return work emails over the weekend. Let’s all try harder to be more present with our kids, husbands, friends and teach our children to prioritize our time.

It’s that time again. After the gifts have been opened and the anticipation is over — you’re left putting everything away and pondering what the new year will bring.

Resolutions of losing weight, being more organized, being a better mom & wife . . . boring. Come on, you can be more creative than that.

What do you want to do this year? What do you want to do for yourself? Is there something you’ve always wanted to try, something you’ve always wondered if you could do? Take yourself out of the box you’ve put yourself in and reinvent yourself.

This is your year — this is the year that you find something new about yourself. Peruse magazines, websites, bookstores and take notes, tear out pictures of things that inspire you, people who inspire you and before you know it, you will have ideas. Then from those ideas, make a plan for yourself — and jump on it right away.

2009 may be projected to be the worst year ever financially, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a successful year for you.

I am a self-proclaimed procrastinator. I admit it, without any excuses. I put things off because I don’t want to do them. Simple as that.

Case in point: My Christmas tree. It is half decorated as is my house. I have one garland on one railing going up the stairs (the other side is bare). Maybe it’s the economy, I don’t know. But I just haven’t been feeling it.

I tried decorating the tree a couple weeks ago with my kids. That ended promptly when my daughter dropped one of my favorite ornaments and broke it into a thousand pieces. Why does anyone think it is fun to decorate a tree with kids? It’s not. I like my ornaments where I like them.

I plan to actually finish everything tonight. I know it’s 4 days before Christmas. Remember in the old days when people would decorate on Christmas eve? I think I like that tradition.

I was saddened this weekend when I learned that a former client and her family were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. They were sleeping in a beautiful home in Aspen on Thanksgiving night — all together in bed. It’s hard for me to get that picture out of my head.

A loss like this is unfathomable. And I am certain that their family and close friends are devastated. It’s hard to understand why these things happen. And yet, I figure if there is a way to die I would find peace in knowing that I would be with my husband and children.

What goes through head most is how their day went. Were they kind to each other on their last day on this planet? Did they express their love to each other? Were they having fun? Were they happy?

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day bullshit. But can you see through all the shit and find what really matters? Perspective, my friends is always easy following a tragedy. The challenge for me is to not get lost in the routine of life but to realize that this could very well be my last day and live it accordingly.