Beautilicious Week - Day 2 - Bend It Like Barbie

We have been hiding under our winterish layering for more months then I care to acknowledge, but the time is creeping up upon us, where tanks and easy jersey are going to be on the menu for the day. Well, we may have added a few pounds to our waist line (of course to keep us warm) and so we're a little un-toned in this area.... No problem. Today we are going to look at an exercise to help whip it back into shape just in time for jiggle free 'easy-tee' wearing Spring time. (This would be a great exercise accompanied by some form of cardio everyday - if you have a hula hoop, using it for 20 minutes a day would really be fantastic. If you don't a brisk jog 20 minutes a day will also help not only your jiggle, but more importantly overall health.)

Start by sitting on the edge of a stable surface - A sofa arm, a table, any flat stable surface is sufficient. Lean back at about a 45 degree angle, making sure you are holding on to the surface with both your hands. (The further you lean back the further southwards this exercise works, e.g leaning back slightly further will tone the 'pooch' part of your stomach, below your navel.) 

So the exercise is simply drawing your legs towards you, and then straightening them back out. It's a crunch mechanism but with the stability of the table so you can hold on and lean back as far as possible in order to tone as low as possible. Try to do 20-30 of these every day - fabulous start. If you do more I'll call you super woman....

So Beauties no matter what time you try this today - give it a try it may be the answer you've been looking for ;-)

Want help or advise with this exercise or any of the others, just leave a comment below and I will get back to you with anything you need

LA xoxo

SFVTHBAT4T6B 

I Must I Must Uplift My Butt... More

Ok so some of you may be used to Bulgarian lunges and want some thing to kick your butt into high gear action.. This exercise will make you not want to sit down the next day but is so powerful that you will see results in about a week. I'm going to go through with you methodically how you do it - what you need to do to see results quickly is do this every morning and every evening. You do it first thing when you wake up - and just before you go to bed (maybe you'll want to do it before you are really tired because you won't get the most out of your body.

Ok, there are no repetitions or sets involved what you need to do is do it until you 'Burn Out' (which means push yourself so you literally cannot do any more) then each day you add 1 or 2 more repetitions then you did the previous day. So if you managed to complete 15 repetitions of the exercise on each leg, the next day you should do 16 or 17 on each leg. This exercise I learnt from Nick Nilsson and it really is Superb. I'm giving you another warning now... you will feel this in your bottom the next day and I am not kidding. 

This is your starting position, you need to wedge a chair to a door frame so that it is secure and cannot move. You can allow the door to close also with the chair wedged between like I have so that it really won't budge. Start by placing your right leg on the ground and your right hand holding the door frame (slightly above waist level). Your left leg should be balanced firmly on the chair because soon you are going to put all your weight on this leg to draw yourself upwards into a standing position on the chair...

Now you begin to draw yourself up with your left leg (the chair firmly on the chair) all your weight should be in this leg and you should feel the power your muscles are putting into this exercise as you raise yourself upwards into a standing position. 

So now you've assumed a standing position you are going to lower yourself again but without letting your right foot  (the  one that was on the floor) touch the floor again. Instead you are going to bend it, and lower yourself again - allowing that right leg to come just below the seat of the chair. In other words you are lunging without letting your foot touch the floor -  lunging on a chair. (It gives more range in the muscles targeted). Try not to use your hands to pull you up and lower you down, the power should come from your leg taking it's turn on the chair. 

So this is the end position, allow your knee to dip just below the chair seat and do not let your feet touch the floor keep your leg bent. This is the end of the motion, after this you draw yourself up again to standing position (using the foot placed on the chair) and  repeat this exercise of bending down and standing up and each of these movements count for 1 repetition. So if you can do 7 - Great! 10 - Fabulous! 15+ Check you out Superstar

So now all you need to do is swap legs when you have finished the repetitions on one leg. Remember to do the same on each leg, you really don't want to end up with one Gluteus Maximus and One Gluteus Minimus. 

LA xoxo

I Must I Must Uplift My Butt

I've not yet had a conversation where the subject of butts doesn't come with a negative connotation... They run along the lines of  'It really needs lifting, toning, shaping, plumping, reducing or de-celluliting.' If this doesn't sound your alarms, and you're not smirking in recognition, you need to add this to your CV...

The reason I write today about our little cushion pads is because for many women, their shape (or lack of ) causes unhappiness... And there is no reason why we should be unhappy when there are such simple things we can do to improve it.

I'm going to show you an exercise which will sort out a multitude of problems... It will uplift your bum, shape and tone it, and it steals brownie points for also toning and shaping your thighs.

You should do this exercise twice a week, say Monday and Thursday allowing your muscles these days in between to replenish themselves, and if you are going to go for the option of using weights, these in between days are 'growth' days.

Place two chairs exactly like I have, hold onto the one in front. Do one leg at a time - here I have started with my left leg up and right leg straight down. You are going to bend so that your right leg is parallel to the floor whilst keeping you head up and back straight. This is a Bulgarian lunge, and all you do is repeat the motion of bending down and using the foot on the floor to push you up (not your hands holding the chair). 

So here is the angle you will be at when you bend down (a 90 degree angle). You should start by doing one leg ten times and then switch to the other. You should have a one minute break and then do another repetition of ten on each leg. So each leg would have had 20 lunges in total each. This will be week one, then week three (when your body gets used to this) you could add another repetition to take it up to 30 lunges on each leg. (With a minutes break in between of course)

If you are trying to build volume into your butt, after the first week of doing this like I have showed, you should try adding a backpack on your back with a few weighted items in it. (Books usually do a great job) No you will not look like 'Muscle Butt' .. so don't get put off by using weights. Weights are a great way to shape and sculpt your body when used correctly.

Put your Best Butt first... Happy Scooping, Sculpting, Toning and Building Beauties

LA xoxo