Fit Friday w/ Sweaty Betty

Alright, bringing y’all a ‘fit Friday’ post! I get asked all of the time about my fitness regime. I’ll be honest, it’s a mixture of good genes, dancing and playing tennis all of my life. When I do work out, it’s not usually in a gym. I hate gyms. Over the years people creep me out a bit. Some of these stretches I’m sharing in this post I’m not able to do because of gawkers.

Moving on from all of the gory details. Today along with these stylish leggings, which reverse to black, I’m going to share what I like to do at the gym. Please note that these exercises are what work for me. You may have to tailor the workouts to your liking and abilities.

Abs

My absolute favorite thing to work on besides my legs are my abs. Being an NBA dancer, they are the first part of your body that the crowd sees. Having a strong core also helps with posture. Great posture prevents hunchback and all of those issues. Besides all of my years of ballet, I can not slouch, it’s actually painful for me. That was NEVER acceptable by ballet teachers. Anyway here is the ab circuit I do.

“10 minute abs” – if you are ever in a time crunch do this circuit once (only lasts about 10 minutes)

Crunch halfway up, all the way up, halfway down, then back on the mat/floor. Do this 8-10 more times. You will immediately feel the burn.
Crunch to the center, take it right, take it left, back to center and back on the mat/floor <– that counts as 1. Do this 8-10 more times.
8-10 regular crunches (to the center)
Stretch out your abs. This is the most important part. While laying on the ground, put your hands above your head and keep your legs on the ground. Just stretch out your stomach muscles. You should start to feel some lactic acid building up so you want to get rid of some of it. You’re not done yet 🙂
While flat on your back, bend your knees so that that are into your chest. Crunch to your knees 8-10 times.
Do the same move of crunching to your knees but on the second crunch, straighten your legs to the sky while still crunching. That will count as 1. Do this 8-10 more times.
Now only have your knees bent in towards your chest and crunch to your knees. Do this 8-10 times. FINISHED!!! Stretch again. When you strengthen you should lengthen.

If you aren’t used to doing crunches like this, this will be all you need to do. If you want more or another alternative, here is my other favorite.

Yoga Ball abs – this exercise is harder than the other “10 minute abs” one.

Lay flat on your back with your arms extended above you and legs out straight.
Take the yoga ball in your hands and bring your feet and arms up to meet each other. Pass the ball from your hands to your feet. Extend your body back out.
Now the ball is in your feet. Do the same movement and pass the ball from your feet to your hands. Extend your body back out. That counts as 1. Do this a total of 10 times.
Stretch it out and you are finished.

Cardio

This is a no brainer. Wanna burnt fat? Run. I was a runner in high school. Tennis and dance are both full body workouts so I love~~/hate~~ to get my cardio workouts in. To get my cardio in, I prefer to run outside and up hill. I usually run about 2 miles. Inside I do:

Treadmill
Elliptical – 20-30 minutes. If there was never another machine in the gym, this is all I need. I love that the elliptical targets your thighs and butt! Put it on an incline to get more or a workout.

Arms

One thing I take pride in is my arms. As I stated before, I owe most of my definition to years of tennis and dancing. When I am at the gym I just focus on maintaining definition rather than trying to bulk up. I usually use my own bodyweight for all of my exercises too. If I use weights I do: