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The Run/Walk Workout via @FitnessMagazine

Jay Sullivan via Fitness Magazine

Drop a Jeans Size: 30-Minute Run/Walk Workout

It's simple: Walk or jog, then hit the gas for a minute. Hate to clock it? Sing six choruses of "99 Bottles of Beer," then return to your walk or jog.

• Walk 3 minutes (warm-up) 
• Jog 1 minute 
• Walk 2 minutes 
• Jog 1 minute 
• Walk 1 minute 
• Jog 1 minute 
• Walk 1 minute 
• Run 1 minute, alternating run/walk or run/jog (depending on your level) intervals for 12 minutes -- that's six sprints total. 
• Jog 1 minute 
• Walk 1 minute 
• Jog 1 minute 
• Walk 1 minute 
• Jog 1 minute 
• Walk 3 minutes
• Calories burned: 188 (walk/run), 215 (jog/run) 
• Get the complete Drop a Jeans Size Fitness Plan

Image and Workout via the always amazing Fitness Magazine

$30 Passport to Yoga Classes in the City

With swimsuit season right around the corner, it's time to step up your workout routine. While cardio is great for burning calories, you'll get the best tone and muscle shape if you include yoga in your regiment. However, we all know those yoga studios that have popped up everywhere can be a bit pricey. But never fear, the internet is here! While surfing I found the coolest website, Passport to Prana. They offer an annual pass for $30 that allows you one visit to each yoga studio on their list of participants. Los Angeles has 33 participating studios; that's less than $1 per class! 

Not only is it a great deal, but it gives you the opportunity to try out different studios in your area to find which one best suits your needs. I recommend gathering up a couple girlfriends and trying out as many yoga classes as you can together! 

Check to see if your city is listed on www.passporttoprana.com! Available in the US and Canada...

-Posted by Nicole, JMC Social Media Intern

Photo via www.flickr.com

How We're Burning Off Those Extra Holiday Pounds

Burn Those Holiday Calories: Walk it Off!

Here's a quick and easy way to burn off those extra holiday calories: walk! Twenty minutes a day, four or five days a week and voila - buh-bye apple pie...

Burn Those Holiday Calories with @FitnessMagazine

This is a zero-equipment, no sneakers required, all energy-boosting cardio workout that tones from head to toe. "You'll target your major muscle groups from every plane of motion while scorching away calories," says Maryanne Blake, group exercise instructor at the Sports Club/LA in Boston, who designed the gym's ingenious new yoga-meets-sculpting-meets-cardio Zenergy class and shared her best body blasters exclusively with FITNESS. Complete these signature supermoves twice a week to tighten your bod and revive your brain.

Pick Up Sticks

What you'll need: A mat

Targets: Abs, butt, hips, and quads

• Stand with feet hip-width apart, arms by sides.
• Lunge forward with right leg, bending right knee 90 degrees, left leg extended behind you, and reach right hand to ground beside right foot.
• Return to start, switch sides and repeat. MAKE IT HARDER: Jump up between lunges and switch legs in midair to alternate sides or take shorter steps and lunge faster.
• Do 10 reps per leg.

Trainer's tip: To help support your lower back, keep your core engaged as you reach toward the mat.

Text and photo from FitnessMagazine.com. Photo by Amy Postle.  

Cat Pose

Start on your hands and knees in a "tabletop" position. Make sure your knees are set directly below your hips and your wrists, elbows and shoulders are in line and perpendicular to the floor. Center your head in a neutral position, eyes looking at the floor.

As you exhale, round your spine toward the ceiling, making sure to keep your shoulders and knees in position. Release your head toward the floor, but don't force your chin to your chest.

 

Inhale, coming back to neutral "tabletop" position on your hands and knees.

This pose is often paired with Cow Pose on the inhale for a gentle, flowing vinyasa.

From Yoga Journal dot com

Abs-ercize

Let's go kick some Abs! Check out this great abdominal workout from FitnessMagazine.com! Try it and tell me how it worked for you.

Targets: Shoulders, abs, obliques, butt, and quads

Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding a single dumbbell with both hands in front of hips. Squat, bringing dumbbell by outside of right hip.

Keeping abs tight and arms extended, stand as you trace an arc with hands out to right, then overhead. Complete rainbow, bringing dumbbell out to left, then down by left hip, as you lower into squat again. Do 10 reps, arcing from one side to the other. 

Butt, Legs, and Thighs

Lunge 101

Many exercisers miss out on much of the butt-shaping magic of lunges because of common flubs that make legs do all the work, according to trainer Rich Barretta. Use his foolproof how-to and, ahem, firm the other cheek.

• Lower straight down. "Focus on the up-and-down movement rather than the forward motion to really target the glutes," Barretta says. "Put a hand on your butt and sit down into it as a cue."
• If knee isn't behind toes, step farther.
• Land on heel. (Be able to wiggle toes.)

 Exercise from FitnessMagazine.com, photo by Laura Doss

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