After I shared with you my little tricks to motivate myself to exercise daily at home, I will now share with you how to get in top shape with Youtube home workouts.
For those of you who are at the very beginning of this adventure, I would recommend going for yoga and pilates for the first few weeks. They could be also overwhelming (especially in terms of stretching), but what I like most about them is that they focus your mind not only on the correct performance of each exercise but also on breathing consciously while working out.
And this is an extremely important factor that we tend to overlook. Not breathing consciously while training makes us feel tired faster and overloads the body excessively and improperly. A simple example of my practice is the headstand. For weeks I was having a headache, red and aching eyes immediately after performing this exercise.
The reasons were two – for some reason, while I was doing my headstand I was not breathing. As a beginner in this practice, I felt uncertain and somehow subconsciously imagined that if I take a breath this would undo my balance and I will find myself on the floor. This and the fact that I was putting some bodyweight on my head led to these unpleasant side effects.
Subsequently, I started doing more yoga, especially in one of the professional studios here in Edinburgh (teachers spend many months in India learning yoga). What caught my attention was each of my yoga teachers there (vinyasa) was paying more attention to breathing techniques than to exercises.
So I set myself the goal to listen more and apply each and every breathing technique that they explained to me. This way I imperceptibly released my body from great weight and strain that were taking my energy and strength away.
Acknowledging this, one of my most important pieces of advice to you is to always breathe properly and consciously while exercising. Yoga and Pilates practices would be particularly useful to you in these terms. At the same time, they activate simultaneously every single muscle from your body and as a result tighten and shape your silhouette and give you a new dose of self-confidence. Here are some of my favorite workouts.
PILATES
Pilates is a system of exercises for whole body performed on the ground. It improves flexibility, increases muscle strength and tone, especially abdominal muscles, lower back, thighs, and buttocks and balances muscle strength on both sides of the body.
I am a terrific fan of GYMRA chicks and when I am up for Pilates I often play them on the TV. They have great exercises for glute and abs that shape the body just perfectly.
Honestly, this chick is my favorite and I exercise with her every time I workout for my abs and glute.
If you want to exercise the whole body for about thirty minutes, this workout is quite enjoyable and requires no equipment but your body and your motivation 🙂
If you type GYMRA on YouTube, you will see a huge list of workouts. Depending on your preparedness and willingness to work for a particular part of your body, you can choose a specific workout.
YOGA
Yoga is an ancient form of exercise that focuses on strength, flexibility, and breathing to stimulate physical and mental well-being. The main components of yoga are postures (the so-called asanas) and breathing. Yoga is a safe and effective way to increase physical activity, strength, flexibility, and balance.
Yoga has been one of my favorite sports for many years. It is not easy to find good yoga teachers but here in Edinburgh, I found the perfect ones. In addition to standard vinyasa asanas, teachers here involve you in lots of chanting and breathing practices. It is just now, after practicing here at the Meadowlark yoga studio, that I found out what a real yoga workout is. Unfortunately, they do not have video classes that I can share with you.
This workout here, however, is pretty good for beginners. The teacher provides excellent guidelines and explanations on how to perform the exercises correctly.
HIIT
HIIT training usually combines short peaks of intense exercise with rest periods or low-intensity exercises. Overall, HIIT brings about the same health benefits as other forms of physical activity, but for a shorter period of time. These benefits include a reduction in body fat, heart rate, and blood pressure. HIIT can also help lower blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity. Hence, as soon as you feel ready to throw some sweat on the floor like confetti, embark on the adventure.
If you are a beginner, it is desirable to prepare your body for these high-intensity workouts with some yoga and pilates for about a month. Then, you would be able to truly enjoy the HIIT dynamics. You will jump, be constantly in motion and sculpt the dreamt, body. I guarantee you that after the first workout your muscles will tremble like an aspen tree.
This workout with Pamela is just great for beginners.
The past few weeks I have been addicted to these HIIT chicks:
This workout is also HIIT, but it is not as overwhelming and honestly, it is quite enjoyable. When I do not have much energy, I usually opt for it.
TAE BO
Tae Bo is a combination of martial arts and boxing with some dance moves. It tones the body, burns fat, improves stamen and speed. The first workout I share below is one of my favorites, it’s not overwhelming and it’s just half an hour.
The second workout is suitable for the moments in which you have lots of energy or are overwhelmed with daily issues and want to get rid of all the negative energy. With these exercises, you will feel great in less than sixty minutes 🙂
INSANITY
I left the best for the end 🙂 Last year, with my husband we went through the 30-day challenge of INSANITY. The title speaks of itself – it is really crazy, dynamic, sweating and exhausting, and long after the workout was over we could not get off the floor, collecting the remnants of our lungs. I love these workouts because they are a real challenge. They are suitable for people in very good physical condition and quite advanced in their training regimes.
I remember that the workouts began with a duration of 30 minutes, and daily grew longer and more difficult. It is a bit strange that day, a year later, I can not find them on YouTube. At least not for free. This workout below, however, is good and illustrates clearly what INSANITY is. If you love the dynamics, you want to get into your ideal body quickly and re-energize, these exercises are the best for you!
Now is the perfect time to sculpture the dreamt shapes for the summer. And not only. The strong body is not just beautiful, it is a source of energy, tone, and HEALTH, which are fashionable all year round.
ХХХ
The Mermaid
