Mini Workout My Skinny Friend Swears By

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gracienkaidens_momma
gracienkaidens_momma Posts: 379 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I have this friend who is not just thin but completely and totally toned. She says all she mainly does on a daily basis is a very short 20 minute workout. The first 10 consist of cardio where she maxes out on her treadmill. The last 10 consist of her doing as many sit-ups and push-ups as she can. She said the cardio tons her legs and gets her heart rate up to the burn zone while the sit-ups tone her core and the push-ups tone her arms. She looks fantastic. I'm going to shoot to do this in the mornings to get myself going and feel energized and then do exercise DVDs in the evening like Turbo Jam, Kettlebells, and Jillian Michaels. Just thought I'd share her secret.

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  • DoneWithTheFatGirl
    DoneWithTheFatGirl Posts: 173
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    How interesting! I may have to give that a try myself :) Thanks for sharing!
  • kfuller27
    kfuller27 Posts: 50 Member
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    I met with a trainer this past Saturday who said basically the same thing. He does 12 minutes of cardio as hard and fast as he can go and then strength training on top of that. He really tried to stress that the 12 minutes of cardio is all you really need as long as you're in the burn zone the whole time!
  • Jacquelyn913
    Jacquelyn913 Posts: 300 Member
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    Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred is all about cardio and toning mixed together, and its only twenty minutes. I bet it would work just the same as your friends workout.
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    Sounds good expecially if your shourt on time. I would throw in squats and pull up in there then it would be complete
  • Meggie_pooh
    Meggie_pooh Posts: 316 Member
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    i do 300 crunches 5 days a week...but I just can't do push ups unfortunately. I turn to my cable company for their Fitness On Demand for the cardio kickboxing and meringue dancing tho :) Pilates is great for the core too!
  • beckystephens
    beckystephens Posts: 117 Member
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    Another thing that is fun -

    I'm a runner, and love to run outside, but I HATE doing it at the gym. When weather forces me to cardio inside, what I like to do is circuit train cardio - 10 mins stair stepper, 10 mins max on treadmill, 10 mins on elliptical - or shorten to 5 minute circuits and add a bike to the mix. Besides geting you your recommended 20 mins cardio (you NEED to do 20 minutes to help improve your cardiovascular fitness) it also activates all of the different muscles - so u wont plateau as quick :)

    If all you do is 10 minutes of treadmill and sit up/push ups - if u are already at goal, cool that can maintain u. But if u are trying to make gains (weight loss, more muscle tone) - u HAVE to vary ur workouts or u will plateau.

    Just my words of wisdom.
  • gracienkaidens_momma
    gracienkaidens_momma Posts: 379 Member
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    Becky - I just plan to do this in the a.m. before work to get my heart rate going and as a metabolism booster. In the p.m I have several fitness DVDs to choose from such as Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, Chalean Johnson's Turbo Jam, six different kettlebell workouts, and Just Dance. My goal is to do this in the a.m. and then alternate the DVD's mentioned above in the p.m with an even more calorie burn. In addition, I just found out about HIIT and I might throw that in 3x a week for an extra overall calorie burn.
  • safari20111
    safari20111 Posts: 42 Member
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    Interesting
  • missjsifuentes
    missjsifuentes Posts: 9
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    Jillian Michaels is awesome! I am doing the lose weight in 8 that I found on Exercise TV's website. I am super stoked to get back into my high school jeans.... almost there!!!
  • beckystephens
    beckystephens Posts: 117 Member
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    love anything by beachbody - i initially lost a lot of weight by doing slim in 6 - good stuff...

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