My Top 10 Butt Exercises

Why anyone would want to base their goals on any of the girls in the following video is beyond me:

Nevertheless, I've just received a challenge to mold one of my client's posterior into Kim Kardashian's keister.  Sooo, while Kim may not kayak often, I am willing to bet that she does hit these exercises in the gym.  Here are my top 10 butt exercises for lifting, toning, and strengthening...

10.  Dead Lift

When executed correctly, this exercise can work wonders for your butt!  As you stand up straight, completing each repetition of the exercise, be sure to squeeze your glutes for an added bonus.  

The "romanian" or "stiff leg" dead lift is a great butt exercise as well.  It works the hamstrings and low back, but again, squeezing everything tight after each repetition makes for a crazy butt workout too!  For an added challenge, stagger your feet placing one foot back and keeping the bulk of your weight on your front foot.  Hold your abs in and lower the weight.  A few sets of these seal the soreness every time.

9.  Walking on an Incline

Walking may seem like an easy form of cardio for people who are used to a more strenuous workout.  However, if you raise that treadmill incline up to about as high as you can handle you will end up with a sore but perky reason to give walking another chance.

8.  Hip Abduction

There are several ways to perform a hip abduction so stay open minded and be creative.  Whether it is a machine that you sit on and push your thighs apart, a machine with a cable that you swing your leg away from, a resistance band under your feet that you walk side to side with, or a simple leg lift you execute while lying on your side, hip abductions will bring you the butt burn you are seeking.  Remember to squeeze your glutes tight during every repetition for an unbeatable burn and the best results.

7.  Rear Kick

This exercise makes for a strong backside and a sizzling burn.  Most gyms have a machine to simulate the rear kick.  Pack on the weight so that it's challenging to complete 12-15 reps.  Push through your heel and make sure your form doesn't suffer during your set.  If you can feel yourself using your upper body or core even more than your legs you need to lower the weight.  Rear kicks can also be completed with a resistance band, no weight at all, standing, or on your hands and knees.  The important thing is that you challenge yourself and your body by switching things up.

6.  Leg Press

The leg press machine is a staple in every gym.  There are many different versions of this machine and I encourage you to try each.  Find a weight that makes 12-15 reps challenging but doable and press away.  Consider moving your feet out wide and pointing your toes slightly outward to isolate the glutes even more.

5.  Rollerblading 

Whether it is roller blades or ice skates, the side to side motion that skating entails will leave you with a first class fanny!  Some gyms have cardio machines that simulate skating and you might be surprised at how tough they can be.  Be it in the gym or outside, your butt won't be the only thing burning with this exercise.  Count on burning about 250 calories for every 30 minutes of skating.

4.  Squats

There are about a million different ways to do a squat.  This is another exercise that creativity and open-mindedness can take a long way.  Try a standard squat with your feet shoulder width apart.  Pay attention to the placement of your knees.  If they are moving forward beyond your toes as you are squatting down you need to work on correcting your form.  Place a chair behind you then sit down and stand up.  Keep your butt back and your weight in your heels.  Your knees should not be doing the work here.  When they stay behind your toes you know you're working your butt and thighs!  

Try moving your feet out wide and pointing your toes slightly outward.  Squat down and squeeze everything tight on your way back up.  You should feel this type of squat in your butt and inner thighs.  For more of a challenge add weight.

3.  Running

These top three butt exercises can probably also be found in a lot of people's top three most hated exercises.  Give them another chance if you're serious about toning up your back end.  Running, alone, can burn up to 400 calories per 30 minutes.  Interval training can be a great way to overcome the mental aspect of running while giving your body an even greater physical challenge.  Try running at a challenging speed for 45 seconds followed by 60 to 90 seconds of a reasonably paced walk.  Repeat this until you reach a mile.  For additional toughness jack up that incline!

2.  Lunges

Ahh, the dreaded lunge.  I don't really have any tips to make these any easier or more exciting.  However, like squats, dead lifts, and hip abductions, lunges come in several different styles.  Practice alternating lunges, walking lunges, and side lunges to keep your body guessing.  Step backward into a reverse lunge or reverse walking lunge to give your glutes an extra workload.  Add weight to any of these lunge types to make them more difficult.

Finally, what may be the worst and best thing that's ever happened to you.....

1.  Stair Climbing

Don't think this has to be done on a stairmaster or stepper.  Get outdoors if the weather is nice, try to make the most out of an exercise that sucks!  Whether you're in the gym or outside, keep an open mind if you're getting a stair workout in.  Try climbing steps forward, backward, and sideways.  Try skipping every other step or if you're really coordinated doing the grapevine on your way up.  If you can survive a moderate intensity 30 minute stair climbing workout you can burn over 400 calories and be one "step" closer to bootylicious.

A Little Tip That Goes a Long Way

"Strive for progress, not perfection." - Unknown

That's all I got in me tonight.  I'm exhausted.

My Top 5 Stability Ball Exercises

After a recent inquiry about what exactly can be done with a stability ball, I've decided to post five of my favorite exercises and a couple of tips that will help you incorporate core work into your total body routine.  Aside from the exercises listed below, remember that you can use a stability ball as a flat bench or an incline bench.  Try exercises like the chest press lying flat on your ball for a good way to engage your core!

#1 STABILITY BALL SQUAT

This is a pretty easy exercise and a good way for people with suffering knees to strengthen their thighs and glutes.  Notice how this guy is keeping his knees behind his toes and practicing good posture by keeping his back straight.  It is not necessary to bend your knees any further than 90 degrees.  I would emphasize that suggestion if you consider yourself to have bad knees.

If this version of the exercise is too easy for you, consider holding dumbbells to increase the intensity.  Still too easy?  Consider adding a front raise or curl to your squat on the way down or a shoulder press on the way up.

#2 STABILITY BALL CRUNCHES

Using a stability ball to do standard crunches is one way to add some variety to your core workout.  While standard crunches tend to isolate your upper abdomen, balancing on a stability ball forces your entire core to stay engaged.  

Try this exercise without the weight first.  If you feel confident remaining stable on the ball you can increase the intensity of your crunches by holding a weight behind your head or above your chest.  You may also choose to bring your elbow toward your opposite knee to include your obliques in the exercise.  Finally, you may try placing your feet flat on a wall rather than flat on the ground to challenge your core even more!

#3 STABILITY BALL PUSHUPS

This exercise is a little more challenging.  I would suggest starting with your thighs on the ball rather than your feet.  As you gain strength and confidence move the ball back to your knees, shins, feet, and finally toes.  The wider you keep your hands the more of a chest workout you will get.  The closer you keep your hands the more you work your triceps.  Keep in mind that the chest muscles are much larger than the triceps muscles.  For that reason, wider hands make for easier pushups.

Want to try something different even more challenging?  Keep your feet on the ground and your hands on the stability ball. Complete a set of pushups this way, but not until you feel ready strength wise. 

#4 STABILITY BALL GLUTE RAISES

For a great glute and hamstring workout try these out.  Ideally, you want to keep your hips raised through an entire set.  If that's too difficult for you, start by raising your hips for each repetition and work up.  To make this exercise more difficult try keeping one foot on the ball while raising the other straight up into the air.  

#5 STABILITY BALL ROLL-INS

For an advanced way to work your lower abs and entire core try these.  Looking for a way to make these tougher?  Try keeping your legs straight and rolling the ball in with a pike rather than a tuck.  Think I'm crazy?  Okay, just try adding a pushup between every rep.  :)

Hope this was helpful!  If there is something you're interested in learning more about email me at Jess@napfitpt.com.  You might end up making the blog!  

Helpful Tool to Help You Track

Earlier this week a client shared www.loseit.com with me.  (Thanks Rachel!)  I have seen this type of site before but thought this one was particularly helpful due to some of its features.  You can enter a goal of losing, gaining, or maintaining your weight and the website helps you do just that!

By logging your food and exercise online you receive the number of calories you've eaten and burned for the day, along with a break down of where those calories are coming from.

If you're serious about reaching your weight goals calorie counting is often a necessary evil.  This website not only makes things easier on you (because of its food database that helps you determine how many calories you've eaten) but it can also help you to understand the flaws in your diet and how you can fix them.

Finally, the site allows you to "friend request" other people which is a GREAT way to establish accountability!

A membership through Lose It! is completely free and totally worth checking out.  It can help you keep the diet portion of your new year's resolution on track.  Visit www.napfitpt.com for exercise accountability. :)

How to Choose Your Booze

First of all, don't worry - the beer below is not really *my* beer, I'm just posing next to it for scale.  :)  I hope that through this blog entry some of you can learn to implement healthier drinking habits into your weekly routine.  For those of you who don't drink...skip to "The Truth About Carbohydrates" or another entry that's more applicable!

It starts with the nice weather and a glass of wine on your back porch.  Before you know it football season is here and you're drinking beer all day long.  Then come the holidays, which just wouldn't be the same (or in some cases tolerable) without a fully stocked liquor cabinet.  The bottom line is that there is always a reason to drink!  Since all of this talk about fitness and new year's resolutions is probably driving you to drink right now I figure it's the right time to examine different types of alcohol and how they can effect your diet.  Realistically, there are a lot of us who aren't willing to cut these drinks out of our diet completely.  However, there are ways to make smarter decisions when we're picking our poison.

Alcohol, when consumed in any form, will be processed by your body before fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.  This means that drinking any kind of alcohol will slow down our fat burning process and thus our ability to lose weight.  While cutting cocktails completely out of your diet would be ideal, I am a strong believer in the power of moderation if and when you do choose to drink. 

Let's take a look at calorie comparison first.  Below is a list of different kinds of alcohol and where they stand in comparison to one another when contemplating calories.

• Regular Beer (one can)  ~  150 Calories
• Light Beer (one can)  ~  100 Calories
• Most Liquor (one shot/no mixer)  ~  95 Calories
• Dinner Liqueurs (one ounce)  ~  190 Calories
• Red Wine (one glass/half cup)  ~  80 Calories
• Dry White Wine (one glass/half cup)  ~  75 Calories
• Sweet White Wine (one glass/half cup)  ~  90 Calories
• Wine Cooler (one bottle)  ~  150 Calories
• Hard Cider (one bottle)  ~  200 Calories

Unfortunately, calories are not the only thing we have to consider when choosing a beverage.  If you were at all relieved to be on the low end of the calorie spectrum with your drink of choice you may be unpleasantly surprised at how many carbs you're taking in.

• Beer may be fat free but it can have anywhere from 2 to 20g of carbohydrates in a single can.  Light beers are usually lower in carbs, but that's not always the case so be sure to check out the nutrition facts.
• Most wines range from 0.5 to 8g of carbs.  Sweet wines tend to have a higher carb content than dry wines.  You can definitely get away with having a glass of wine for under 3g of carbs if you stay away from the sweet stuff.
• Many liquors do not have carbs due to the distillation process.  However, some liquor such as tequilla and rum can have up to 5g of carbs per ounce.  The real concern with hard liquor is the nutrition facts of the mixers you may use to sweeten things up.
• Dinner Liqueurs are usually higher in carbs and average around 17g per 1.5oz.
• Hard ciders contain around 20g of carbs per bottle and wine coolers sit right around 30g of carbs a piece!

In conclusion, drinking in moderation is your best bet if you're going to drink.  Every calorie you drink is a calorie you're taking away from breakfast, lunch, or dinner, so don't overdo it!  Not to mention, drinking daily will slow down your metabolizing process and make it tougher to lose weight.  This year try to cut your drinking back a bit by lowering the frequency of which you drink or lowering the amount of which you consume.  Wine, light beer, or hard liquor without a sugary or high calorie mixer are far better choices than sweet ciders, wine coolers, and dinner liqueurs.  It's time to start living by the toasts we propose.  Make a change and stay committed.  Salud!

The Truth About Carbohydrates

Contrary to popular belief carbohydrates are NOT the spawn of Satan!  In fact, they're used for energy. Those of us who stay active should reserve anywhere from 50% - 65% of our daily caloric intake for carbs.  This is why diets like Atkin's and South Beach are not only unrealistic, but unhealthy as well.

There are two types of carbohydrates.  Things like white bread, white rice, cake, and candy fall under the category of "simple carbs".  In contrast, things like whole grain breads and pastas, brown rice, fruits, and green veggies are considered "complex carbs".

While simple carbs can often become a source of weight gain, complex carbs are imperative to energy and good health.  These carbs are suitable for a pre-workout meal.  They will provide you with the energy you need to make it through a tough session at the gym.  In addition, complex carbs can be a great source of fiber.  A person should include about 25 grams of fiber in their daily diet and the right kind of carbohydrates are a good way to fit that fiber in.  

While taking all of this into consideration one must also realize that even good carbs can be misused.  Whether it's an apple or a bag of chips eating carbohydrates after supper can be as destructive as feeding a gremlin after midnight.  A guaranteed way to jump start your weight loss or avoid weight gain is to cut out ALL carbs after you eat your last meal.  If you're feeling really brave try to avoid eating carbs during supper too.  Most of us aren't in need of much energy at night.  For that reason, eating the bulk of your carbohydrates for breakfast and lunch makes more sense and can ultimately lead to weight loss and increased energy levels during the day.

So next time you reach for the beer and popcorn after dinner think of this clip:

...and think again!

5 Ways to Make Consistency a Part of Your New Year's Resolution

Are new year's resolutions practical motivators or have they too often become irrational goals that we never end up reaching?  When is the last time you came up with a new year's resolution that you legitimately achieved AND kept?  Unfortunately, those of us who can say we've done this are considered the minority.

I don't necessarily think that our goals are unattainable.  However, our lack of consistency is the stumbling block that is holding us back.  Setting goals to lose fifty pounds or implement a diet with healthier choices ARE feasible!  What most people fail to realize is that neither one of these goals are going to happen overnight.

Imagine staying true to your new year's resolution for all of 2011.  Isn't that the meaning of a new year's resolution, after all?  I am willing to bet that if you spend the entire year working toward something positive that you will not only accomplish the goals you set out to reach, but you will achieve the lifestyle change that you were ultimately after.

Below are five simple ways to practice consistency this year.  I challenge you to apply these tips to the goals you have set for yourself.  If you are able to stay consistent for all of 2011 you will not only hit those seemingly unattainable goals, but you will join the minority of people who start 2012 off exactly the way they hope to.  GOOD LUCK!

1.  Use Both Long and Short Term Goals to Your Advantage


Simply setting a long term goal that is to be reached in one year's time can contribute to our loss of interest.  This is a big part of the reason most of us have forgotten about our new year's resolution by March.  If you have a goal of running a marathon by the end of the year that is considered your long term goal.  To keep interest in reaching that goal you must set short term goals that will help you stay engaged in achieving the end result.  Set a goal of running five miles by March and ten by June!  Allowing yourself to recognize progress in the form of short term goals is essential to developing consistency.

2.  Personalize Your New Year's Resolution


Instead of setting goals aimlessly make sure your resolution is realistic for YOU.  Identify potential drawbacks that might stop you from being consistent.  If you set a goal of working out five days a week knowing very well that your schedule won't allow it in the spring you end up setting yourself up for failure.  In this scenario you would be better off to choose a more realistic goal or to plan ahead and come up with a way that you can still make five days a week work once your schedule becomes more hectic.

3.  Stay Away from Fad Diets and Shake Weights

If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.  Quick fix diets and infomercial exercise equipment are a waste of your time and will ultimately lead to you getting discouraged.  If you can't see yourself implementing a particular diet for the rest of your life it is not worth your time.  We do more damage to our bodies by constantly changing our diet from one extreme to another than we would do if we just added a few healthy habits to our diet and stayed consistent.

In regards to the exercise equipment fads, if you're thinking about buying ANYTHING that's advertised like this:

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!

4.  Add Variety to Your Exercise Program

One reason people end up out of the gym and back on the couch by March is because they get bored.  This year challenge yourself to trying some new things.  If you are a gym member check out one or two of the classes your gym has to offer.  If you find one you like it may be the key to overcoming that plateau.  Muscle memory is the reason we hit plateaus.  The more time you spend doing the exact same thing in the gym the more time you are wasting.  Constantly change your program up to see results all year long.  Need new ideas?  Hire a personal trainer!! :)  

5.  Reward Yourself for Consistency

Staying engaged for an entire year is no easy task!  Whether you decide to reward yourself with something every time you reach a short term goal or every month you stick to your resolution, having something to look forward to is key.  Buying a small piece of exercise equipment (not the shake weight) or a healthy living cookbook are a few ideas for positive rewards.  A spa day, massage, or a new outfit are a few more.  Try to avoid taking yourself out for 25 cent wing night after you reach this month's goal of losing four pounds.  Rewards are a great aid in achieving accountablilty but make sure your rewards aren't counterproductive.