Here are some great suggestions for easy quick workouts you can do at home.

1.      Exercise videos are a great way to do a great workout, they don’t cost much and you can pick your time and your spot to just follow the workout routine.

2.      Did you know that dancing is a major weight loss factor?  Dance while you dust, vacuum and clean.  It is the movement that you need.
3.      Push up, sit ups, crunches and planks can tone and build muscle.  Squats and lunges will build hamstrings, quads and gluts without a weight machine.
4.      Get you heart rate up by doing jumping jacks, running up and down the stairs, simple things that will get you moving.
5.      Cleaning can build muscles and blast calories. Scrubbing the tub or washing windows requires elbow grease and you might be surprised by what a good afternoon of cleaning can do for toning muscles if you work hard.
6.      If you get the urge, rearrange some furniture in your living room or bedroom, this is great for the lifting phase and will give you a super workout and give you a fresh feel in the room.
7.      Jog in place or jump rope, both of these exercises will get your heart rate up and are easy to do.
8.      If you have weights or equipment you can utilize these to the max.  Set yourself up a routine just like you would do at the gym or with our outside workout and stick to it.
9.      Ankle Touches are easy to do, just lie flat on the ground with your knees in the air and your ankles touching your bottom.  Lift your upper body enough so that your left hand can touch your left ankle and the same with the right.
10.  The Bridge: You will get into a pushup position only place your forearms on the ground instead of your palms.  Hold this position for a minute (longer if you can).  This will target your lower back and abdomen.
11.  The Superman:  Lie down facedown on the ground, stretch your arms out in front of you as if your are superman getting ready to fly.  Lift your left arm while keeping it straight and your right leg.  Switch to your right arm and your left leg.  Do both together for a super shoulder and abs workout.

So as you can see there are many things you can do even when you are stuck at home.  Just find a routine that works for you and stick to it.  Remember to get your heart rate up and you workout will do wonders for you!

So what can you do to stay fit during the winter season?

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!

The curse of being born a woman, especially one with a history of large people

• Eating less: It’s simple arithmetic – if you want to lose weight, you must eat a lower number of calories than you expend through exercise and other activities. Instead of skipping meals, try eating less during each meal or substituting low-fat food (that is lower in calories) for what you eat regularly. There are certain kinds of food that satiate hunger and which are low in calories, so switch to these if you feel hungry all the time.
• Exercising sensibly: When you want to lose weight around your waist, hips and thighs, the best form of exercise is high intensity cardio. It burns fat like nothing else. If you are not used to exercising at high intensities for a long time, you could try interval training, a form of exercise that involves working out at a high intensity for a minute followed by its low intensity equivalent for a few minutes, and continuing this cycle for half an hour or more. So if you like to run, sprint for a minute and jog for the next two until your heart rate almost becomes regular, and continue this routine for 30 minutes or so. It will be hard at first, but it is one of the best ways to build stamina and endurance and also lose weight quickly. Besides this, you need to tighten your muscles with a few strategic weight training exercises.
• Adopting a new lifestyle: When you want to lose weight and keep it off for good, you need to effect a complete change of lifestyle, one that you can stick to on a long term basis, day after day. So if you’re changing your diet and starting a new exercise plan, ensure that these are activities that you will be able to adhere to on a regular basis, not fads that you’ll drop once they become too hard or monotonous to sustain.

Weight loss does not happen overnight, so you need to be patient and dedicated in order to see effective results.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online nurse practitioner schools . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

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!