Today’s post comes to us courtesy of my good friend and fitness guru Angie Schumacher.  Angie inspires women everywhere to feel great about their bodies and get in action.  I love her focus on the lower body because that’s where I personally am challenged and need to focus my attention.  Best part of all, you can do this in 10 minutes!  This is a great tool to help get you in tune with your body and support healthy weight loss.

The following will be the exercises that you will use. You will repeat this sequence up to 4 times. If you are a beginner, I suggest you start out doing half of the repetitions and still doing the circuit 4 times through.

*24 Reverse Lunges
*20 Squats
*24 Alt Step Ups
*20 Jump Squats

Now watch the video for proper form. Make sure to listen to your body, but work hard to get the most effective fat burning workout in under 10 minutes!

Can you see yourself doing these exercises? How can you build them into your busy lifestyle?

You can learn more about Angie at her workouts and how she inspires women like me to get into action at http://fatburningtips4women.com/. And be sure to check out her free, online community for women to get connected and active, Fit Chick Express: http://fitchickexpress.ning.com/

So I’m always encouraged when I get a dose of inspiration from one of my favorite fitness experts, Angie Schumacher.  Angie shares her fitness expertise on my blog and I think you’ll love today’s post about trimming off that stubborn belly fat. Good news? It doesn’t have to be so hard if you follow a few simple steps.

Summertime is just around the corner and if you are like most people, the chances of you wearing some form of swim suit is pretty good. You are going to want to have that waistline looking fabulous and sexy, am I right?

Most people think that the best way to burn off belly fat or get rid of that “spare tire” is by doing abdominal  work and I hate to be the one to break it to you, but they are so wrong! While abdominal work is great for helping you to create a strong, solid core and for building up those core muscles, that is all that it will do. You will be building up the muscle UNDERNEATH that layer of belly fat. I am sure there are lots of people walking around with some great looking abs underneath their bellies, but the one way that you are going to trim off that fat is by doing cardio.

Now when I say cardio, I do not mean jumping on the treadmill for 60 minutes every day or going on a 10 mile bike ride. I mean adding intervals OR bodyweight circuits to your fitness routine.

Intervals are periods of high intensity training followed by an active recovery period.  For example:

Start off on a treadmill at 3.0 mph for 2 minutes to get warmed up. Then increase the speed to 5.0mph for 1 minute, followed by a drop back down to 3.0 for 1 minute (or longer if needed). Repeat this 4-8 times and you have a great belly fat burning cardio session. You can do the same thing on a bike or walking. The main goal is to increase your heart rate and then bring it back down, making your body work harder than it would have to if you were doing the same form of exercise at a steady rate of speed.

By incorporating 15-30 minutes of intervals into your fitness routine at least 4-6x each week, you will have no problem burning off that belly fat and start seeing those muscles that you build up by doing your core or abdominal work.

You can learn more about Angie at her website: www.fatburningtips4women.com. Check out all the exciting things she’s up to!

Most of us are usually pressed for time in general. The thought of fitting in a workout sometimes just seems too much. But what if I was to tell you that you could benefit from just a 15 minute workout 3x a week?

By putting together a workout in circuit form, you are raising your heart rate, burning fat as your muscles pump up from the exercises and boosting your metabolism so that your body will continue to burn calories, even after your workout is done.

Here is a quick and effective 15 minute workout for you:

So when I came across my buddy Kevin Gianni’s post-Thanksgiving workout on The Renegade Health Show, I just had to share it with you. Kevin and I run into each other periodically at our friend Glen’s raw food café, Catch a Healthy Habit in West Haven, CT (if you haven’t been there you must check it out). 

I love Kevin’s videos because his energy is contagious and he’s lots of fun as you’ll see – just what most of us need to get (or hopefully stay) on track!  Figure out where you can do these simple exercises. Given that I HATE the cold, I’m doing them inside in my cozy den.  But if you live in a warm climate, all the better to be outside.

Can you see the possibility of burning some fat and course correcting before you’re eating your way through the upcoming December holidays with a little too much gusto?

What’s your plan?  Do tell.