I came up with just 3 exercises that will work those muscles to help you achieve that round and sexy backside. While there are plenty other exercises that you could use, these 3 are for sure going to work for you!

1. Hip Extensions
2. Sumo Squats
3. Deadlifts
I suggest doing each one of them for 12-15 repetitions, with our without weight and doing them 3 sets each. Now watch this video for correct form.

So with my sister here and us being so busy, how did I find the time to burn some calories?

Thursday evening I had my Fit Chick Express classes.  She helped me prepare for them and then came and participated in the class. Thursday nights class was a Couplets workout, which consists of alternating 2 exercises back to back for a 10-12 repetitions for 5 minutes, then rotating to the next group of exercises. We did this for 20 continuous minutes with a warm up and cool down. Check it out below:

Friday morning, I had Preschool kiddos and knew it was going to be a busy day, so I got up and did a quick 20 minute KB workout. Just continuous rounds of alternating cleans, snatches, side squat swings and push presses for about 15 minutes. Got my heart rate elevated, and burn some good calories!

Saturday morning was Fit Chick Express again, and there were only 5 ladies, so I decided to join them in the workout! They LOVE/HATE when I do this, because it pushes them to work harder when the “instructor” is working out too! Gotta love motivation!

We did a lot of work on the house both Friday and Saturday and were on our feet a lot! Heather said my house looked “sterile” so we gave it some color and life!  Look at how great the living room turned out! My sister painted the canvases for the fireplace! She’s so talented, thanks Heather! Still  a few things left to finish up, but all in all, turned out great!

Sunday we got up and enjoyed sitting outside on deck and having some coffee for a while and then we went for a hike! My sisters only request, as she had never been on a hike before! So off we went up to the mountains for our fun adventure! We hiked for 2 hours! Great workout and fat burner!

We stopped in Lyons and had lunch, as we were both starving! Was fun to sit and have the mountain in the background and relax! But all to find out I had locked the keys in the car! So I went back into the resturant and asked for a hanger. Thank goodness is was hot and the windows were cracked a bit! We started working on getting the door unlocked and some nice people came along and tried to help. He went to grab the hanger and dropped it into the car. So I went back in and asked for another hanger. Finally, the door was unlocked and we were on our way….

The rest of Sunday was more relaxing, with some pizza and football, followed by some highlighting of my hair and a haircut, via my sister the stylist! Yes, she is talented in many different things!

So we have an eventful and very fun time, and we were even able to get in some workouts and burn some calories! Keep in mind that burning calories does not need to come from running on a treadmill or lifting weights. My sister was telling me that just the past week, she decided to play freeze tag with her two daughters on the playground equipment and after about 10 minutes, she was pooped! What a great and fun way to exercise! Thanks for the idea Heather, the Fit Chicks shall be playing freeze tag now! ;0)

If you are looking for a quick 10 minute workout, my friend Holly Rigsby is just did up a video of her favorite metabolism boosting moves! I tried it and was out of breath and sweating! Great way to burn some calories when you are short on time! But check it out today, because I think it will only be up for a few days! Check it out by clicking => Metabolism Booster Video

What are 20′s? With this workout I take 4-5 exercises that everyone will do 20 repetitions of each. After completing one exercise for 20 repetitions, they will then do some form of  cardio. For this workout, we did suicides or ladders in between the exercises. Usually I have them do it in between each exercise, but I had a surprise for them at the end of the workout. We did 8 minutes of tabatas continuing with ladders and adding in step ups as well. All in just 25 minutes!Fun stuff!

Why do I love these workouts? Well for one, each person can go at their own speed and still be working their muscles to fatigue, all while getting their heart rate elevated each time they do the cardio.

Try this at home with your own workout. Pick 4-5 exercises, do each 20 repetitions and do cardio in between each (such as jumping jacks, side jumps or jump rope). Do this continuously for about 20 minutes and you have a great fat burning  workout!

I warmed up with some swings and pushups and then went to work…

Photo Courtesy of Flickr

I had a member of Fit Chick Express tell me that she was challenged to an arm wrestle competition. Just something for fun. She really wanted to beat this girl, as this was the second time they had done this. She asked me this:

“I am doing my normal workouts with mixups and weights – but need added advice on if you think the single hand pushups have value to help build up my arm strength. Any ideas on additional exercises beyond push ups, dumbbell weight curls, rows, extensions, specific for my arms? It also builds my core as well… : )”

If there is one exercise that I consider the best of the best for upper body strength, its is the push up. It is where most of my clients lack strength the most, which is why we are constantly doing pushups. Not just regular pushups, but MB pushups, side to side pushups, renegade row pushups and the list could go on and on.

I also have some other exercises that I have been focusing on the past few months and have noticed an incredible increase in my upper body strength. Check out the video:

Do you have some favorite upper body exercises that you have as part of your fitness routine? Please share!

Give these 4 exercises a try and come back and let me know how they work for you. Have a favorite ab exercise of your own that targets the middle ab muscles, post a comment and let me know! Always looking for more great ab exercises!

I have only in the past year tried quinoa. At first when people talked about it I was like “what is that?” so I decided to give it at try. Of course I came to love it! I have used it in a variety of ways, but my favorite is with some fruit and plain yogurt. Very yummy for a snack!

Now its my friend Wendy, of www.DontWorryGetHealthy.com and of the Money Saving Meal Plans, turn to share with you her knowledge of Quinoa.

If there’s one whole grain I can’t get enough of, it would definitely have to be quinoa. Since I’m sensitive to wheat, quinoa is the perfect grain for me, completely gluten-free.

Not familiar with quinoa? It’s a grain from South America that has been gaining in popularity in recent years.  I love the fact that you can cook it in 15-20 minutes, which seems like a breeze compared to brown rice. Extra bonus: it’s a great source of protein that’s non animal-based, and contains ample amounts of magnesium, iron and manganese.  Plus, it just tastes good.

I’ve been having fun experimenting with quinoa in the last few months. Recently, I added it to one of my favorite Real Simple recipes, bean and sausage stew. It makes for a hardy one pot meal but with minimal effort and so much flavor.

I also like that quinoa works as a breakfast porridge, part of a main dish or a healthy side dish. Check out this week’s video tip on adding pesto to quinoa — a great accompaniment to almost any meal. I talked about this specific recipe a while back, so fast and easy. Now you can see just how easy it is in the video.

Do you have a favorite quinoa recipe? How do you like to prepare it? Another of my favorites is this delicious quinoa stew. Enjoy!

I have some clients that have bad knees before they even come to me. What I do with them is first off, do exercises that will strengthen the quad muscle and the muscles around the knee. Squats and lunges are great for this as long as you do them with correct form. Watch this video to see some variations that my doctor recommended for my arthritic knees.

Another great product that will help those painful knees, that I was able to try  is called the Moji Knee Ice Wrap. This thing is awesome! I keep it in my freezer to keep it nice and cold at all times. It’s so different from just putting regular ice pack on your knees. You start to feel the coldness as soon as you put it on. One of the greatest things is that you are able to keep doing things that you need to do, instead of sitting on the couch holding the ice pack on your knee. They even have different sizes, which is great! They say that you can leave it on your knee for 20 minutes, but this Moji Knee Ice Wrap works so well, that I only needed to have it on my knee for 10 minutes. I would recommend this to any athlete or fitness trainer. It definitely beats a plain old ice pack!

I just learned that they now have a product called the Moji Back . Again, the second most problem area that my clients have, along with myself. I think this product would be great for just about anyone! I am always having a hard time keeping the ice in the right place when I am trying to ice my back and it usually has to be in the lying down position. To be able to wrap this around my back and move around while icing my back would be awesome!

Do you have knee problems or back problems? What adjustments to you make to your fitness routine to make sure you still are able to get in a good workout withouth causing more discomfort?

You get a pack of cards and assign an exercise to the hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs, ace and joker. You set up your cards about 20 yards away, run to the card, come back, do the exercise and then repeat. You do the number of repetitions that equal your number on your card. I normally take out the 2-6, but if you use them, just double them. So a 2=4, 6=12 repetitions. You can assign your card with whatever exercises you feel like doing that day!

I set it up as if you get an ace, everyone runs ladders or suicides. This is running from cone to cone. If you get a joker, everyone does 8 inchworms.

This is a lot of fun, because you just never know what you might get!

Boot Camp Poker:

Hearts=Push Press
Spades=Frog Jumps
Clubs=DB/Band Rows
Diamonds=Forward Lunge with Bicep Curl
Ace=Ladders
Joker=Inchworms

Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you! For more great workouts like this, be sure to visit: Fit Chick Express Workouts!

All you need is your body to get in a good interval training workout! I did a video of all the different things I could come up with that would get your heart rate elevated, allowing for a very effective fat burning cardio workout! I used my gymboss timer which works great so you don’t have to watch the clock! Give it a try!