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toned arms

Fitness, Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary

February 23, 2014

This has been another of those weeks that have just flown by! Do you guys ever get that? I accredit that feeling primarily to the fact that I am busy 24/7 with my MA work …

I was also invited to Santa Cruz this weekend by my sorority sister to go to their semi-formal (I am an alumn of Kappa Kappa Gamma). It was great to see my friends and to visit Santa Cruz for a little while, plus Santa Cruz has such good food! Have any of you ever been?

Fitness wise, my upper body strength has definitely improved. With the assistance of a resistance band, I am now able to do 6 chin ups! And 1 pull up … baby steps people, baby steps. I am also planning to start Kayla Itsine’s 12 week training program called the ‘Bikini Body Guide’. She is the inspiration for my chin up and pull up challenge actually!

KI training ebook

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kayla, here’s a quick summary about this amazing lady. She is a personal trainer based in Australia who specifically focuses on helping women achieve a bikini body; toned arms and legs, shapely butt, and a flat and toned stomach. She became famous after posting photos of her own amazing bikini body, and several client transformations on her instagram account (who all start to achieve the same coveted look). She has a very realistic and no nonsense attitude which is so refreshing to see, no endorsements of silly products and quick fixes, just good old fashioned exercise and eating right!! I am really excited to give her program a go and to see how it helps my own problem area’s. Let me know if any of you have tried it, or are interested in trying it!

Food wise, I went out to an amazing Japanese place in Lodi (California) called Komachi Sushi with my boyfriend and our friends this Saturday. The food was fantastic, and they had some really original options such as Japanese nachos, seasoned edamame, and Japanese pizza! The photos below are of the Japanese style nachos with salmon, and my entree of broiled squid. If any of you are in the Central Valley or live nearby, I certainly recommend you try them out. My Japanese friend has described them as the ‘best Japanese food in the Valley!’

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That’s it from my end! For next weeks Friday Fare I am planning an infused goody for you all .. betcha can’t guess what it is 😉 And I will also be telling you all about an amazing new food blog I found as well, so stay tuned!

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness

Glide your way to toned

January 14, 2014

If I’m right, the area’s women tend to be most concerned about are the abs, legs and butt. Am I right?

Of course there are other area’s we all want to be perfectly toned and slim, like our arms, backs and etc, but the three mentioned above are what I always hear women complain about. How can I tone my legs? How can I tone my abs? How can I look like a Victoria Secret model? How can I tone up fast? All valid questions. I have quite a petite frame and although I have never been fat (although I was definitely overweight as a middle schooler), I have always been on the lookout on how to shed some extra body fat, and tone up those problem area’s. I mean come on, apart from Victoria Secret models, who doesn’t want to lose a little fat and tone up a little?

Glide your way to toned

Glide your way to toned workout

Although a number of factors come into play when shedding body fat and toning up, I am going to talk about an awesome, little, and portable piece of equipment that has given me a whole range of new exercises to do, and has really helped tone up my stomach. I am still on my fitness journey and am nowhere near my ideal body yet, but man oh man, I am so happy to have discovered this baby!

Glide your way to toned workout

Ta-da, super sliders! Super sliders, commonly known as furniture sliders, are what they say they are. They literally help you slide around heavy objects, like furniture … and human bodies! You guys probably think I am nuts and are wondering how on earth I use furniture sliders to tone my abs, legs and booty. I will explain that in a moment, along with a few exercise demonstrations right after I explain how I discovered them.

I first came across the concept of using sliders when I heard about Valslides, which are the creation of celebrity fitness trainer Valerie Waters. I thought they were a great concept, and a new and fun way to really push your routine that extra mile and challenge your muscles in a new and different way. However, as awesome as Valslides are, they are not cheap. They are around $30 dollars for a set and frankly, I was not willing to pay that much for something that seemed like quite a simple product. I did some intensive Google searching and came across a forum which recommended Super Sliders as a substitute for Valslides. They were only $10 from Lowes so I decided to buy them because even if they didn’t work out, $10 won’t break the bank. Let me just say that I am SO happy I did. Not only did they look exactly like Valslides, I actually got 2 pairs instead of 1 🙂 Now they’re a regular part of my workout routines and have been a fun and quite difficult little addition.

The following are my favourite slider moves. Let me know how they work out for you guys, and if you want more moves or even a whole workout utilizing them, then please let me know. For any followers who are located outside of the U.S wanting a super slider, I would be happy to send them to you. If so, please leave your email address below so I can contact you about it.

Honestly yours,
Alice

P.S. If any of you have any advice or experience with video editing, I would love to hear how I can make my video’s better! I am hoping that the more I make, the better I will get, so please bear that in mind when watching the above video 🙂