GO back to the beginning of my blog and re-read the information packed posts.
There are so many tips and ideas that can help you transform your body and pump up your motivation.
Train on purpose and eat with intention to be healthy and lean with focus and producing awesome results this week!
Withe Energy and Sexiness!
Victoria
Here are some workout ideas to help you sculpt your lower body.
Schedule Your Workout
Make your workouts a priority. Don’t let more than 2 days go by without training your precious vessel. There are so many benefits to training. The main reason we like to workout is for our health and looks. The secondary benefit of restoring the cells, healing the organs and reducing stress is life changing.
Picture Perfect
I like to put a picture up of a great looking set of legs and glutes I admire to keep me inspired while I am training. I have several pages of bodies I cut out a magazine that I used to make a collage.
I tape the collage up or lay it out in front of me so that I can visibly see it when I train. I image the muscles the way I want them to look when I reach my goal. It is inspiring and it helps me stay fired up.
Always Warm-Up
There are many major muscles and joints reside in your lower body, warming up is crucial to prepare your body to prevent injury.
Get the blood flowing into your quads, glutes and hamstrings before you begin your actual training, and nothing gets it moving like cardio.
You’re stronger and able to work more efficiently following a good warm-up.
Get on your favorite piece of equipment — bike, treadmill or elliptical trainer or dance, walk around the block, or step training and work up to a moderate intensity for 5-7 minutes. You should work hard enough to just break a sweat.
Then make sure you limber up those muscles and joints with warm-up sets of your first movement. And then stretch your lower body well before you start the weights.
Begin Strong
You’re strongest at the beginning of your workout. Take advantage of that energy by doing a hard-hitting compound move, one that works more than one muscle group and joint, first in your routine
Work the larger muscles of your lower body — quads, glutes and hams — while forcing supporting muscles in your lower legs and torso to work as stabilizers.
Continue Strong
Maintain your momentum by following up the first compound move in your routine with another one; this second exercise should hit your muscles from a slightly different angle than the first.
You can also try various feet positions for exercises for variety, but don’t do the same exercise each time, switch it up. Train hard, go for maximum effectiveness.
Target Your Lower Body
Your glutes (butt) and hamstring (back of thighs) are powerful hip extensors that are activated whenever you stand, sit or step up. Our two experts concur that lunges and step-ups, which work your legs unilaterally, are two of the most effective exercises for this muscle group.
Unilateral training (one limb at a time) can balance the strength and development between your legs.
When you work one leg at a time, your stronger leg can’t do the work for your weaker one. If you start to use poor form during your routine, choose a lighter weight and readjust your alignment so you can maintain good form.
Sets, Reps and Frequency
Most women should train their thighs and glutes with light weights two days a week, and the other days with some cardio intervals. I go into details in my Thin Thighs Program.
Stretch Out and Rejoice
Stretching increases the range of motion of your lower-body muscles, as well as the mobility of your hip and knee joints. Follow your thigh and glute training with 5-10 minutes of stretching. Try a variety of stretches that target your glutes, hams, quads and adductors
Celebrate your workout by eating the perfect fat burning and muscle restoring foods. Drink water throughout the day and honor your body.
You will feel like a million bucks when you get the body you want.
Victoria
OMG!! We are not total losers because we keep blowing our diet!
If you are like me, after the third day of eating healthy, you get an overwhelming desire for BREAD..COOKIES…CANDY… and CHIPS! Anything that has sugar, carbohydrates or starches.
If you want a scientific explanation to our munchie madness, you have to read the article below, it will set you free. You will find out that you are not weak, lack will power or just cant stick to a diet. There are metabolic and physiological reasons why you just can’t seem to stay away from those pesky fat building carbs. You can kick the habit and find startegies to counteract their effect. If you want to get lean, thinner and sexy this year, you are going to have to deal with this dreadful issue.
I know…I am with you! I have to be careful every single meal. That is why I even take my Quickstart list of acceptable foods with me when I travel just to remind me which foods will help me get lean.
Are you a carb addict? By Jerome Burne – 05th January 2009
Could it really be that sweets and chocolate are as addictive as cigarettes?
That’s the controversial conclusion from a study by New Zealand scientists who found that foods made largely from refined sugar and flour have the same addictive qualities as tobacco.
‘Heavily processed carbohydrates such as cornflakes, sweets and croissants quickly raise the amount of sugar in your blood,’ explains lead researcher Dr Simon Thornley, a registrar with the Auckland Regional Public Health Service.
‘This rush of sugar stimulates the same areas of the brain that are involved with addiction to nicotine and other drugs.’
In other words, some of us may be piling on the pounds not just because we are greedy but because we are addicted.
If Dr Thornley’s claim is supported, that would open up new ways of dealing with the obesity crisis, including a food version of the nicotine patch used to help smokers quit.
‘Drug addicts have to keep taking larger amounts of their chemical of choice. They find it difficult to stop, they keep doing it despite negative consequences and they feel depressed if they do stop,’ says Thornley, whose paper was published in the journal Medical Hypotheses. ‘People do all those things around refined carbohydrates.’
Just how big a contribution this could be making to the obesity crisis isn’t yet clear. ‘We need more research,’ says Thornley, ‘but the evidence for refined carbs being potentially addictive is growing fast. There’s a good case for treating highly refined foods as we do cigarettes – banning TV ads, taxing them and even insisting on pack health warnings.’
Studies of brain scans suggest that people who put on a lot of weight could be doing it to improve their mood; the same reason addicts take drugs.
This research shows that people with a high Body Mass Index (BMI) have fewer receptors in the part of their brains that generate pleasurable feelings. The same pattern is evident in people addicted to cocaine and alcohol.
These findings are backed by scientists at Princeton University in America, who have been turning rats into sugar addicts. The rats not only suffer cravings when sugar is taken away from them but they then binge on it when it becomes available again.
The concoction given to the rats was water with 10 per cent sugar added. Many fizzy drinks contain much more sugar than this. ‘The idea that carbohydrates can be addictive is an old one but until recently it was out of favour,’ says lead researcher Bonnie Spring, professor of preventative medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
‘Evidence has been building that high blood sugar levels affect brain circuits involved in addiction.’
A group of overweight women were offered two drinks that appeared and tasted identical, but one contained only sugary carbohydrates, such as dextrose and rice syrup, while the other had some protein added.
After they’d been made to feel depressed by thinking about something sad, most of them preferred the pure carbohydrate drink and said it cheered them up. Experiments like these are regularly used to test if a drug is addictive.
‘The way these women behaved in response to the pure carbohydrate drink was similar to patterns we see in addicts,’ says Spring.
Some people may be piling on the pounds because they are addicted
Some people may be piling on the pounds because they are addicted to carbohydrates
‘Addicts become tolerant of a drug so they need more of it, and we saw that with these women.’
One fascinating area of research is the link between raised blood sugar levels and the effects of smoking.
Pumping sugar rapidly into the bloodstream causes changes in various chemicals and hormones, including insulin and an amino acid called tryptophanin the brain. This creates more of the feel-good brain chemical serotonin. Nicotine also raises serotonin levels. That’s why sweets can give you a temporary ‘lift’ if you’re feeling low or irritable – as can a cigarette.
‘The more instant the hit from a drug, the more likely it is to be addictive,’ says Thornley. That’s why giving up smoking can be so hard – the nicotine gets into your bloodstream almost instantly.
A nicotine patch helps because it provides nicotine, but more slowly. Carb addicts may benefit from getting their hit of blood sugar more slowly.
Thornley says: ‘Combining refined carbs with certain foods can slow down the rate sugar gets into the bloodstream. These include vinegar or lemon juice, fat, protein and roughage. All can slow it by around half.’
So, rather surprisingly, if you have butter along with your croissant and jam, your breakfast will give you less of a sugar rush.
But while some combinations can keep blood sugar down, others can make it worse – especially caffeine in coffee.
Dr David Haslam, of the UK National Obesity Forum, agrees we must reduce the amount of refined carbohydrates we eat.
‘Certainly, evidence for the idea that these foods are addictive is getting stronger,’ he says, ‘and anything that reduces their consumption is a good thing.’
Just a quick note to let you know about the new YouTube videos I just posted!
Check them all out here:
Victoria’s Body Shoppe Channel on YouTube
Cellulite Reduction – Cellulite Solution
Cardio Training To Burn Fat
Anti Aging CH&F Episode #5 Segment #4
Womens Health CH&F Episode #5 Segment #3
Green Tea CH&F Episode #5 Segment #2
Brian Kest Yoga CH&F Episode #5 Segment #1
Fat Loss Warm Up VBS Episode #5 Warm-up
Exercise Trends CH&F Episode #5 Intro
Fine Bod VBS Episode #5 Closing Tip
Cardio Dance Training VBS Episode #5 Cardio
Shape Your Arms VBS Episode #5 Power Shaping
Hot Body VBS Episode #5 Peak Performance Tip
click on the links above to view…
Q. Victoria,
I read your newsletter every week and I want to say thank you for being there for me. I don’t have a lot of positive people in my life, so I really appreciate your love, humor and
Kindness. I feel like you are my friend as well as my personal trainer.
I am writing to you today because I feel like I am losing it! I get up in the morning and I have the best intention of eating right and having a good day but by 3:00 in the afternoon I am exhausted, irritable and I cant focus to save my life. I feel like so unstable.
I know I am not crazy or anything, I just have little to no energy and I suffer from severe mood swings. My life seems okay. I have good job and my husband is totally sweet to me.
We have been married three years and working towards saving for our first house.
I am not depressed and I have no desire whatsoever to go on anti-depressants. I hear they can make you gain weight and a bunch of other stuff. I am just sick of being fat and unhappy, so the last thing I need to spend my paycheck on drugs that make me gain more weight. Now I am not dissing anyone who is on them, that’s their business. It’s just personally for me, I am wanting to heal my body and emotions naturally so that I can be healthy for a lifetime.
I think I am eating right, but it’s hard to know anymore since most magazines advertise fake healthy food. You think you are getting a healthy protein bar and it ends up having a lot of sugar and additives in it.
Can you shed some light on the mood swings and how your program could help me so that I can get more energy, get back to my pre-marriage size and enjoy the blessings I have been given by God. I don’t want to be like my mom who is barely moving, always complaining about her health and IS NEVER HAPPY! I want to change. I want to enjoy every second I am alive. I want to “celebrate” life the way you sound that you are.
Karina
A. Karina,
I feel you girlfriend!
Like you, I am a woman who has personally struggled with obesity, low blood sugar, poor self- esteem, and lack of motivation and looked for practical helpful information. My health problems were the catalyst that spurned the passion I have for teaching, coaching, dancing, writing and research.
Before I took control of my health, my destiny, and my life, I was totally unstable. I was an emotionally wreck. I could cry at the drop of a hat about anything. I was totally paranoid for NO reason! I didn’t trust my own judgment even though I ran a corporation.
Read the rest of this entry »
Victoria,
I was watching TV and I saw an ad about belly fat and I was wondering if it is as dangerous as the ad said. You know that they just want to sell you a bunch of expensive pills and then they tell you, you don’t have to exercise and you can eat whatever you want.
I have a big round belly and I hate it. I hate my fat abs and I want to do something that works. It’s not so much buying the pills that worries me, it’s a waste of my time and money and still never being able to sit down without my stomach resting in my lap. I feel really self-conscious. It seems that the fat is getting lumpier by the day.
What is the truth and what can I do to get rid of this stuff?
Carin
Carin,
You have asked some great questions and you should be worried. Let me break it down for you.
1. Fat over the top of your abs is dangerous to your health!
2. You have to eat the right foods! Certain foods help you burn fat, the wrong foods will make you gain MORE belly fat!
3. Exercise is Vital. You have to move and do cardio to burn stored fat. You have to do the right exercises, the right way to re-flatten your abs while you are losing fat.
Belly Fat Facts
When it comes to a building a tight, lean, healthy body, fat is like real estate.
Read the rest of this entry »
“I Want To Have a High Yoga Butt Like Yours”
OMG! I was in the gym the other day and I walked on the Stepmill Cardio Climber for a while to burn some stored body fat and to tighten my legs and glutes.
I know many male trainers are against cardio. Personally, I love cardio and would never skip cardio or have my clients skip the one scientific principle that strengthens the heart, builds a stronger respiratory system, improve circulation, cleanses arteries, acts as a natural antidepressant relieves stress, improves your overall energy and not to mention it helps get rid of ugly fat!
SO, when you read their material, judge by your mirror and your and your body dimples. Each of us has our own preferences. YOU need to decide for yourself what works for you!
Happy New Year…
Is it? Will it be?
Or will it just be another year of everybody but me?
Who are you going to be this year? Who are you going to believe this year? The people who will help you and show you the way or the people who sabotage you and make you feel guilty?
Who are you going allow to help you become GREAT?
Yes.. GREAT! Not just better, not just ok, not just getting by or surviving another year, but absolutely unequivocally GREAT!
Being great is in your DNA. It is the very essence of your soul. You have tried to squelch it, ignore it and talk yourself out of serving everything and everybody. But deep down inside there is this longing, this yearning for more.
That is why you are so dis-appointed (missed your appointed assignment -YOU!) in yourself at times. You gave more of your emotional and physical energy to helping and pleasing others and allowed your own body, spirit and goals to deteriorate.
You know there is more to this life and your mere existence of just getting b. You know that you want to look, feel and be better. It is part of God’s design for you to seek a higher, more beautiful way to look and live. Read the rest of this entry »
OMG!!!
I am so bummed…
Plus, I feel like a total idiot! I spent a ton of money on my favorite
snack only to find out it is NOT okay!
Check this out.
I discovered this incredible fresh air deli and gourmet market that sits right in the middle of a magnificent Yacht Dock. They have foods from all over the world to accomodate all the world travelers who shop there.
One afternoon after I had finished with my Super Client, I stopped in to unwind. I like to shop for exotic gifts, foods, and unique goodies you don’t see at chain stores.
There were samplers of dozens of global cuisine. I wandered around the market for a few minutes and nothing tempted me until I saw a chef in a giant white hat with a brittish accent chopping and dicing exotic fresh FRUIT!
He was making an assortment of decorative fruit images. I was mesmerized. Especially since I have ZERO fruit carving talent!
I can barely cut an apple in half without cutting myself.
The chef would carve a flower or something out of fruit and then he would kindly put it on a dish and hand it to an observer. He looked at me and grabbed a GIANT mango, I had never seen a mango this large before, and he made a scooped a big ball. He carved a smile into. He put it on dish, sat it down and was silent for a moment. He reached out his hand, grabbed my hand and kissed it. Read the rest of this entry »
Less Carb Diet Makes You Sexy and Strong.That is want helped Jessica Simpson look hot in her Daisy Duke Booty Shorts!Pop star Jessica Simpson started a lower carb diet and a booty shaping exercise routine to get in shape for her role as Daisy Duke and to prepare her to wear “Daisy Duke’s” signature short shorts (AKA-Booty Shorts) in the movie Dukes of Hazard movie.
Her workout includes two hours a day of squats and lunges and has motivated her to create a new Courtesy of Warner workout video. “I have a white-girl booty, so I’m doing all my squats to lift it a little bit and get some junk in my trunk,” says Jessica.
It is so awesome to constantly see proof of healthy carb eating using the right FEMALE principles yield such amazing results. I just read a great article about how reducing the bad fat building carbs in your diet can help you lose weight faster and easier! Hallelujah.
I just got three emails from these highly financed, old, out of touch, negative, so last year, organizations telling me to “eat whatever I want” and “lose weight”. What line of marketing bull! Read the rest of this entry »
