Keeping Fit on a Budget!

Contrary to what gym ads (Bally Total Fitness) say, you don’t “need” a gym to stay in shape and look your best! This may be shocking to hear from a group fitness instructor who constantly uses the gym, but I’m also a 26 year-old, paying rent and utilities, still in the beginning phases of my career, and keeping track of a tight budget! I’m sure many of you can relate to my situation.

So, what do you do if your budget doesn’t have room for that fancy gym? Use your surroundings! I actually enjoy working outside during a nice day or in the comfort of my home, it helps to mix things up and keep my workouts interesting. Check out these suggestions and feel free to add more ideas if you workout without a gym:

• Local high school track: I happen to live very close to a high school with a nice track that many members of the community use after school hours to walk, jog, or run. It’s safe from all the traffic and helps you track how far you’ve run (four laps equals a mile).
• Interval running: If you don’t live near a high school track, you can use your sidewalk and the street lights. Make sure to walk fast for 5 minutes to warm up the body, then after every other street light sprint really fast to the next one…then walk slow to the next one…then sprint. Interval training will help you burn fat and get your heart pumping, which is great cardio!
• Hand weights: You can go straight to your nearest Target and buy two hand weights and do bicep curls during your favorite TV show (Grey’s Anatomy, anyone?)
• Workout videos: You can now work out with some of your favorite celebrities as it seems EVERYONE is coming out with a new exercise video: Carmen Electra, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson (I think) or you can go to try cool workouts at home like Taeboe, belly dancing, strip tease, etc. Have fun in the privacy of your home if you’re not one who prefers to workout in front of others.

That’s just a few examples of how you how you can get and stay in shape during a time where every budget cut helps! You can also use fitness magazines (I love SELF Magazine myself) to get tips on new moves and workouts that don’t need a gym. So there you have it, one less excuse to not live a healthy lifestyle! Keep it moving ladies .

Beauty Buzz for your gym bag!

So Pond's recently asked me to try out there new product called Pond's Wet Cleansing Towlettes. Every Fitness Goddess needs to have their gym-bag filled with the best products to help you keep fresh and clean after the gym. I gave the Pond's towlettes a few tries after teaching a fitness class or two. When I first used them, I thought they were a bit soapy but luckily it didn't leave any residue on my skin. I actually feel like a nice breeze was blown on my face with a fresh clean scent! I'm now hooked and take it with me everywhere, not just my gym bag! It's a great way to freshen up or to get a quick "pick me up" after a long day.

This is definitely a product you want to consider including in your gym bag! The first person to tell us what beauty essentials (skin or hair) they include in their gym bag will win a prize from Pond's Gym Essential Gym Bag Gift Pack! * Please note that we will need a shipping address to send the prize.

And if your curious to learn more about Pond's, check out this Web site: www.ponds.lifestyle.msn.com to get more information on the Pond’s Superior Clean money back guarantee, find summer beauty tips from fashion and beauty expert Jenn Falik, download coupons for Pond’s Wet Cleansing Towelettes and find proprietary Pond’s research for an in-depth explanation of the science behind the Pond’s exclusive cleansing system.

Good luck,

Rose

Free Online Weight Loss Toolbox

Now that the summer is coming to an end, this is the perfect time to step up the fitness and weight loss efforts without summer vacations and barbecue’s ruining your hard work. Now is the perfect time to get ready for summer 2010! To help you get your healthy lifestyle to a good start, I wanted to share a few online tools that have helped me lose weight in the past.

•Self Magazine Weight Fate Quiz: Before you kick off your healthy lifestyle journey, get an idea of how your daily habits affect your weight. Self Magazine tells you what your weight will be in the next 5 or 10 years based on what you your current lifestyle. http://www.self.com/magazine/quizzes/weight_fate/weight_fate

•MyFitnessPal.com. This free online food and fitness trackers tells you how many calories you earned back if you work out. I don’t see many other online food trackers letting you do that. Perfect for my lifestyle because I work out more than the average person…sometimes 2.5 to 3 hours at a time. After you finish tracking your food and fitness for that day, the online tracker can tell you what you you’ll be in the next 5 weeks if you continue to eat and workout the same way for each day moving forward. Pretty neat! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/home

•My Virtual Model Community Why I love it? Mental image is a great inspiration! You can create a virtual model of yourself to see what you will look like at your goal weight and you can also go back and see where you started. http://www.mvm.com/cs/

•WeightWatchers.com Online community: You don’t have to pay to be apart of the community or even follow the WeightWatchers program. Everyone needs support and encouragement. I have 108 friends from across the country that always give me kind words every day, share tips, read and comment on my blog, congratulate me when I achieve a success, and encourage me to keep going when I’m having a tough day. http://community.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx


That’s just a few! I’m sure there’s more out there, so if you know of any other free online tools that can help us lose weight, do share!