Ready to ditch the workout clothes and show off your hard work by being a little fashion forward? Don’t mind if I do!
I think it’s wise that everyone gets out and enjoys the fruits of their labor. Life is meant to be lived. So don’t forget to swap out the running shoes and put on a pair of heels or dress shoes and dance the night away every now and then. Am I right?
Hope you’re having an amazing weekend!
Ready to relax and recover this weekend in casual style. Who else is kicking back and enjoying themselves? It’s well deserved to allow your body to ease into a state of flow versus being set on grind mode 24/7. You have to unwind and reset if you want to progressively move forward without hitting plateaus and running yourself into the ground. So with that being said I’m going to kick it on the couch and work a bit from there.
Does anyone else feel like getting your packages is a mini sweat session in itself. I sure do! Lifting weights is going to make mundane tasks easier to do throughout the day. Who loves getting their sweat on lifting up all their new orders in the mail.
Dropping to my knees exhausted from getting my sweat on today filming a bunch of workouts for you along with some spicier looks too. You will have to check them out when they’re released on OFTV. Can’t wait to hear what you think about them!
Recap of what goes into getting ready for a photoshoot. Had one of the best workouts, got my nails done, cleaned up, did lots of laundry, got packages for some new outfits that came in, put together different shoot outfits and accessories, study the lines I wrote out for my workout videos that I created. That’s a wrap.
👀 If you want to see all the fun that happened next after my workout then I suggest you slide in my messages and let me know.
Let’s get BACK in action babyyyyy.
Let’s strengthen our latissimus dorsi aka our lats. Why? Incorporating lat pull downs in your back workouts deliver so many advantages.
It improves your upper body shape by building a more balanced appearance. It’s strengthens your lats at the same time while building that ideal V shape body.
Your posture will improve due to the effects of this exercise.
This will require proper upper body stabilization to maintain proper form, which will improve your overall core strength as well.
You can do this exercise whether you are advanced or a beginner you can adjust the way accordingly.
Pro Tip: You should be looking straight out as your head should stay neutral with your spine. Do not look up when letting the bar back up while performing this exercise in order to prevent putting a strain on your neck.
Hope this helps!
Ready & motivated or not it’s time to crank up that discipline and go train. Who’s with me?
Things you can do when you’re not feeling that motivated:
Join a fitness community or new gym that creates opportunities for social interaction and support. This will create connections that will contribute to an overall better quality of life with you living happier and healthier.
Change up your playlist to more upbeat and high frequency songs. I would forego the dark moody songs unless that helps you find that extra boost of passion in the gym.
Repeat Alpha Affirmations making you feel like the baddie you are. There are so many things you can accomplish once you realize that you will start to feel more in the zone and ready to tackle your fitness goals.
It’s time to take it to the next level. Let’s get it. 💪🏽
Be in hormone harmony by lifting weights. Doing this triggers the release of hormones like growth hormone and testosterone which is going to promote muscle growth, a better mood, and recovery. This will enhance your overall sense of well being.
Weight lifting is basically like a magical time machine for your body. As you get stronger while building muscles you’re basically giving your bod a dose of an age defying elixir. You’re reversing the loss of muscle mass that comes with natural aging. Moral of the story enhance your quality of life and go lift.
Ready or not let’s Russian twist together.
This exercise is going to target not only your abs, it also engages your entire core while enhancing stability and your rotational strength.
A strong core is your bodies armor against injury. So by training like this, you are creating a more powerful core and enhancing your ability to protect your spine.
This exercise will engage your muscles that run along the sides and back of your body. So strengthening these muscles supports your balance, posture, and overall functional movement.
Let’s twist and get shredded together shall we?!
Let’s walk and talk.
Walking for 30 minutes a day or more on most days of the week is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health.
Walking is low impact and you can do it anywhere without worrying about the risks associated with more vigorous forms of exercise.
Walking is beneficial in the sense that it creates stronger bones, will improve your balance, increases muscle strength and endurance, and for the cherry on top of it all it also reduces body fat.
So walk it out if ya know what’s good for ya!
My favorite kind of lifting is picking up shopping 🛍️ bags. After hard earned work it’s nice to reward myself, followed by a stroll getting my steps in at the mall. I’m surprised at how fast the steps rack up to the ideal 7-10k steps we should be hitting a day, as I’m searching the racks for a pretty new outfit. Do you enjoy taking long walks down fashion lane while hitting the stores as well?
For the love of squats….do it if ya know what’s good for you.
A benefit to using a smith machine for your squats is there is an increased concentration in your muscle development because there isn’t a need to focus on balance if you were doing the same exercise with free weights.
If you are more of a beginner or would like more assistance in your move starting off with a smith machine is a great idea. Try it out, and see which one you enjoy more. Personally I like both just as much free weights or using the machine, it’s nice to switch it up so your body doesn’t plateau.
Let me know which one you enjoy more.
Running is free therapy, get yours today!
The benefits of running far outweigh any reasons not to unless you have a preexisting injury then I would hold off until you’re cleared to again.
Physical Benefits Include:
Boosted Immunity
Improved Joint Health
Cardiovascular Health
Stronger Muscles
Enhanced Endurance
Mental & Emotional Boost Benefits:
Stress Relief
Better Mood
Confidence Boost
Mental Clarity
Better Sleep
Why not go for a run come on let’s go?!
Are you longing to go out but don’t know what to order in order to keep driving your progress uphill without wrecking it? Let me give you some dining out options and help.
Control your portion sizes by asking for a smaller one or consider sharing with a friend.
Skip the bread and butter, if anything order a salad with the dressing on the side.
Make sure to choose lean protein, when dining out like fish, lean cuts of meat, and grilled chicken, or seafood. You can always ask for no butter on the seafood or to place it on the side to make sure that it’s not drenched in it, adding a bunch of content to your overall meal.
Load up on your veggies if it doesn’t come with enough, you can always ask for more or an additional side to fill up the right way getting your daily fiber intake in.
You can always pull up the menu online ahead of time to scope out what you’re about to get into. Most places display the calorie contents as well as health conscious options on the menu.
Try to avoid deep fried foods at all costs these usually pack a ton of fat content and will have you feeling sluggish after consumption.
If you must have dessert, share with a friend or go for the couple bite rule.
Hope these tips helped!
Dumbbell Swing Squat Time
1st Setup: Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell with both hands, stand with your feet shoulder, width, apart or slightly wider.
2nd Squat: Start by squatting down, keep your chest up shoulders back, and core tight. Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
3rd Swing: As you reach the bottom of the squat, maintain a strong core, and use the power from your hips to explode upward.
4th Stand: As the weight reaches chest height, stand up by fully extending your hips and knees without locking them. Keep the dumbbell or kettlebell close to your body throughout the movement.
Now you know, so let’s go.
What’re you doing this weekend? Hopefully a little relaxation at its finest mixed with a little fun. This weekend I’ve been doing a bit of both. It’s called balance you’ve got to practice that to live a life that you can unwind from yet also enjoy and appreciate without getting overworked. Now go enjoy yourself!
Let’s talk about muscle tissue and what 7 things are major contributing factors to how they’re built when lifting weights 💪🏽
1) Progressive Overload- gradually increasing the weight you lift overtime challenges your muscles, and encourages them to adapt and grow.
2) Muscle Fiber Recruitment- lifting heavier, engages more muscle fibers, hence leading to more muscle, activation and growth.
3) Mechanical Tension- tension placed on muscles during exercising creates micro-tears in your muscle fibers, which will then be repaired and rebuilt resulting in muscle growth.
4) Nutrition- consuming sufficient proteins and calories provides the building blocks necessary for both muscle repair and growth.
5) Hormonal Response- lifting stimulates the release of anabolic hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone resulting in muscular development over time.
6) Metabolic Stress- there are certain factors that will promote sell, swelling and hormonal responses which will enhance your muscle growth such as higher reps and shorter rest sets.
7) Rest & Recovery- getting a good amount of rest between workouts allows your muscles to adapt, repair, and then it will ultimately lead to growth.
If you know what’s good for you then let’s get to lifting, shall we!
Life has its ups and downs, we call them squats. Build a better booty with a dash of effort, spice it up real nice with some muscle. Before you know it you have a recipe for a fat burning machine aka body upgrade. It’s not as hard as you think you just have to be CONSISTENT.
Today was such a relaxing day. Had to let the mind unwind. If you ever feel overworked from life’s day to day duties or like you’re exhausted from a bit of overtraining in the gym. Allow yourself permission to rest up buttercup. Why? Because you will come back stronger after giving your body what it needs versus over doing things and running yourself into the ground. Sometimes the best solution is to just freaking chill, coming from a workaholic that’s hard to say, but necessary to practice. Hope you have an amazing rest of the day!
Showering your happy, hormones with experiences and activities that ignite your passion is important when maintaining emotional well-being, and overall satisfaction.
Happy hormones include dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin all play a major role in regulating your mood, reducing your stress, and helping you to feel content.
You can engage in activities that bring you pleasure and has a profound impact on your brain chemistry. Indulging in hobbies such as spending time with your loved ones, running or allowing yourself to get creative with a new project, these will allow your brain to release dopamine. This is considered to be the feel good neurotransmitter.
In a world often characterized by fast paced routines rewarding yourself by choosing to focus on your happy hormones and getting involved in activities that light you up become an essential part of self-care that will contribute to a better quality of life.
Choose to be happy with whatever that looks like for you. We all have different definitions of what it means to be happy. The key to long term happiness is finding out what that looks like for you, and consistently choosing that to be a part of your regular routine.
Ready, set, action.
So you’re ready to grow your upper body?! Let me share some of the top things to focus on to help you master stacking some strength on your upper body.
Compound Movements- for example bench presses, pull ups, and rows. These exercises engage multiple muscle groups for enhanced overall upper body development.
Varying Rep Ranges- switch things up when it comes to your repetition ranges try lowering them from 4-6 to focus on strength and high reps 8-12 for hypertrophy. Switching things up will help to give your body and muscles the variation it needs to keep adapting and growing.
Isolation Exercises: Incorporate these exercises like tricep extensions, bicep curls and lateral raises to hit specific muscles to enhance its definition.
Frequency & Volume: focus on increasing the total number of (sets x reps) which refers to the volume.
Mind to Muscle Connection: make sure you are paying attention to the muscle contraction to put in the effort to engage it fully. What you focus on grows so if you’re in tuned with your body and focused on its growth while putting forth the effort, that’s most likely going to be the result you get.
Exhaust thy Muscle: perform a set until failure, rest quickly, then complete a few more reps. This is going to intensify the workout and can lead to greater overall muscle growth.
Hope these tips help the next time you go to workout and let me know if incorporating them did. The more you know the more ya grow. 💪🏽
Cheers to resting on the weekend. Are you a live it up partier always doing something wild, or do you prefer a more chill relaxing time to recharge in the sun with maybe a light workout like me?
Ready to break it down and bust out some push ups today to help build some upper body strength. What are you planning to do today yes even on the weekend to help prep you for a better tomorrow?
Excited to be planning some OFTV’s for you guys. Can’t wait to share all that’s in store. Are there any specific exercises you would like to see me do let me know as I’m planning them out. Hope you have a super productive day yourself! :)
Ready, set, kettlebell squat.
Both kettlebell squats and regular squats are effective. However, when choosing the one you prefer to perform you can keep your goals in mind, as well as all of the additional benefits kettlebell squats offer.
They help to:
Increase your range of motion
Integration of upper body muscles
Offers versatility of exercises
Helps guide for proper squat form
Increases engagement of stabilizing muscles
These are just some of the reasons why you might want to grab a kettlebell for your next workout.
Booty to the ground if ya know what’s good for ya.
Squats help to strengthen the muscles around the knees, hips, and ankles. The muscle support can potentially reduce strain on these joints, if you have any. This also promotes better joint stability, as well as reducing the risk of potentially injuring yourself.
You may find you have recently improved your posture, due to the fact that you’ve been squatting more. This move mimics our every day movements such as standing up, sitting down and lifting objects around your home. So because of that, it’s going to help you function more efficiently throughout your day once you start implementing these in your workout routine.
It feels amazing to be back home! Definitely got my sweat on lugging these two heavy suitcases around! Ready to embrace workout number ✌🏽
Did you get your workout in today?
Did you know that a pound of muscle burns three times more calories than a pound of fat? Also more muscle mass = burning more fat while resting. So with that said let’s get to burning those calories and building that muscle. 💪🏽
Does anyone else prefer to get their steps in at the mall? I sure do!! It’s one of my favorite ways to rev up my metabolism while having fun and browsing for nice new stuff to add to my wardrobe. Love putting fitness and fashion hand in hand.
Hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
Feeling on top of the world 🌎 if on top of the world was about 40 stories up in Texas. Helping friends move out of their spot can certainly be considered a workout.
1) Make sure to wear comfy shoes when moving and to also protect them if something falls unexpectedly.
2) Wear workout clothes so nothing gets caught on anything and you can move around more efficiently.
3) Engage your core when lifting heavy items and wear a belt if necessary. I especially recommend you wear a lifting belt if you’re moving heavy furniture, this is super key to not injuring yourself.
4) While moving items around you can perform some extra reps before setting the item down to work up a sweat and towards an actual workout. This helped for me and I’m sure it will for you too.
By the end of it I was exhausted.
5) You can pick and fill up suitcases then turn around and use them as a solid weight afterwards for a variety of different exercises like I mentioned previously.
Hope this helps the next time you relocate or help a friend or family member move!
