If you want to add shape to your rear while blasting calories with cardio, the perfect bun-boosting workout for you is just a kick away.

Kickboxing routines pack in a quadruple-punch, because they incinerate calories while tightening strengthening your glutes, abs and arms! Because kickboxing includes a variety of different kicks… high, side, front and back, all the muscles in your buns will feel the burn.

It’s time to get into knockout shape with this 5-minute booty-focused kickboxing workout! I developed this routine (from the Cardio Knockout DVD) with five time Martial Arts US World Champion, Keith Cooke to ensure true-to-form martial arts moves.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 30 September, 2016 | Abs, exercise, fitness, goals, Healthy, Kathy Smith, Motivation, practice, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Push Reset With Breath of Fire

by Kathy Smith

If you were to search for the life force in your body—if you wanted proof of life—it would be your breath. You can breathe hard, as you do when you’re exercising, or quietly as when you sleep; you can breathe consciously or unconsciously, but your breath is a rhythm that never stops.

In a physical sense, the breath delivers oxygen, our body’s most constant requirement. But in psychic terms, breath also is a conduit of emotions, of sexual vitality—of everything that we call spirit. In addition to keeping us alive and vital, the breath creates a connection between our outer environment and our inner self.

I remember my first experiences years ago with a breathing technique called BREATH OF FIRE! With its emphasis on breath, it’s both energizing and calming. It taught me to focus on the moment-to-moment experience of opening my body.

After a few minutes, I experienced a wave of relaxation, openness, and pleasure. Physically, I felt looser, disentangled, calm.

Today, push the reset button as I guide you through the basics of breath of fire, and 2 awakening moves that use the technique…

BREATH OF FIRE This rapid nasal breathing “fires” you up and stimulates metabolic processes. Breathing only through the nose, pull your navel toward your lower back to create the exhale. Then soften your belly and let the inhale come naturally. Pulse the exhales rapidly, relaxing between each exhale to let the air flow back in.

***Women with an IUD should not do Breath of Fire.***

BUTTERFLY ON BACK

1. Lie on your back.

2. Place the soles of your feet together, heels a few inches from your pubic bone, with your knees bent out to the side like butterfly wings.

3. Place your palms on your belly and take several long breaths into your palms.

Benefits: Frees hips, stretches adductor muscles, and improves circulation through hips.

Beginning Modification: Place a pillow under each knee for support.

Advanced Modification: While in Butterfly, add one minute of Breath of Fire. (Breath of Fire: Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, with an emphasis on a strong exhale as you draw your navel in toward your spine.)

Mental Focus:
The way you begin your practice sets the tone for the rest of the journey. An opening posture such as this allows you to start your practice quietly and provides a chance to let go of your usual daily concerns, to draw your energy and awareness inward, and to become centered. This, in turn, allows you to move deeper into your own body’s intelligence and benefit more greatly from your practice.

POWER CORE

Movement Focus: Power spirals in spine; navel moves into spine.

Time: Two minutes.

1. Lie down on your back.

2. Lift your shoulder blades and legs two inches up from the floor, keeping your chin tucked in.

3. Curl your pubic bone toward your navel and reach your arms toward your feet, parallel to the floor.

4. Start Breath of Fire as you move your arms up and down three inches, synchronized with your breath. (Breath of Fire: Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, with an emphasis on a strong exhale as you draw your navel in toward your spine.)

5. Keep your shoulder blades off the floor while pressing your navel to your lower back, and your lower back into the floor.

Benefits: Total core empowerment.

Beginning Modification: Bend your knees and place both feet on the floor, hip distance apart, eight inches away from your sitbones.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 23 September, 2016 | exercise, fitness, Healthy, Kathy Smith, practice, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

12-Minute Yoga

by Kathy Smith

12-Minute Laid-Back Yoga Sequence

NEW DVD: Kathy Smith Timeless Collection: Yoga Basics - Gentle Yoga

This laid-back routine routine includes gentle poses to help you release tension, improve flexibility, increase core strength, and create space and tranquility in your body. As you start to link fluid movement with breath, you’ll discover for yourself yoga’s time-honored power to restore the balance of mind and body…even during the weekend!

So before you spend the day lounging outside with friends and family, press play on this video to free your body from stress and tension.

Remember to soak in this much-anticipated weekend, because summer won’t last much longer!

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 16 September, 2016 | exercise, fitness, Kathy Smith, practice, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

10 Ways To Save Hundreds of Calories This Weekend

by Kathy Smith

1 – GET NUTTY!

Instead of going for a side of potato chips at this weekend’s potluck, instead, help yourself to a handful of nuts. Although nuts can be high on the calorie scale, they’re rich in protein and fatty acids, which help balance your blood sugar and curb your appetite so you’re not constantly nibbling.

2 – JUST KEEP CHEWING

You already know that whole foods are at the top of the charts when it comes to best foods for your waistline. It turns out, people who ate foods that require you to chew had significantly leaner waistlines than those who generally consumed processed, easy to chew foods.

3 – EAT YOUR FRUIT JUICES

Compare this…drinking one cup of apple juice contains 117 calories, 27 grams of sugar, and zero fiber. But, one whole apple 95 calories, 19 grams of sugar, and over 4 grams of fiber. Fewer calories, and more fiber to slow the sugar flow into your bloodstream is a win-win combination.

4 – BE AN EARLY BIRD

Early birds, rejoice! A study found that people who exercise BEFORE breakfast burn between 260 and 280 more calories throughout the day than people who exercise at other times of the day. Set that alarm clock, and head outside for a walk!

5 – GET ON VODKA’S SIDE

When you do decide to indulge in a cocktail, it’s important to understand that your choices – right down to the mixer – can determine whether or not you’re adding dozens of empty calories to your day. Traditional margaritas are among the worst offenders, packing a whopping 700+ calorie count, and often much of those calories are coming from high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden sweet & sour mix. Instead, try a vodka with club soda and just a squirt of cranberry juice for a touch of sweetness.

6 – GET SASSY!

Jazz up a party with a few pitchers of infused water, or have a gallon in your refrigerator at home. I love drinking water, but sometimes get a little bored with the flavor. I like this recipe, when I keep a pitcher around, I’m constantly sipping on the water, and less likely to snack on empty calories.

Sassy Water
8 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 medium cucumber, sliced thin
1 medium lemon, sliced thin
12 leaves spearmint

7 – EAT MINDFULLY

Eating mindfully and with a purpose doesn’t need to be anything complicated, formulaic, or even religious. Simply inhale — express appreciation for the meal — and exhale with the same sense of gratitude. Rather than leap in to your meal, pause, be thoughtful, and purposeful. It will help you eat less.

8 – LET ZZZ BE YOUR FAVORITE LETTER

Yes, bedtime have does have an impact on eating. Research shows that the most detrimental snacking happens late at night. Also, lack of sleep causes stress, and is linked to greater weight gain. You can fight stress and eat less by getting to bed earlier.

9 – QUENCH YOUR APPETITE

Getting water into your system is the perfect way to slash your appetite in half. If you fill up on a glass of water at least 30 minutes before your meal, you’re virtually guaranteed to eat less.

10 – GIVE YOURSELF A LINE

If you’re tempted to break your healthy habits, sometimes all you need to stay on track is a repeating sound advice to yourself. Some of my favorite mantras to repeat aloud are:

“Progress, not perfection!”
“I can do hard things.”
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
“I may not be where I want to be, but I’m better than yesterday.”

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 09 September, 2016 | exercise, Healthy, Kathy Smith, Motivation, practice, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Rough Night's Sleep?

by Kathy Smith

How do you bounce back after a rough night?

Adequate sleep is vital for so many reasons–cognitive functions, a healthy immune system, staying energetic, and so much more. Constant exhaustion can actually cause you to gain weight.

How it all works:

When your body is tired, your stress levels are elevated. This causes an increase in the production of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, the body’s fight-or-flight stress hormones. The adrenal glands secrete these, which send sugar into your bloodstream for a quick rush of energy. After this rush, cortisol sparks ravenous hunger cravings for carbohydrates and fat. You may have noticed that when you’re feeling tired or stressed, you often reach for food to make you “feel better.” Why? Because there’s a conscious feeling we have when we’re hungry; then you eat something, and you feel satisfied and content. So, the tendency is to reach for food (especially carbs and sugar) to help you “feel content.” This cycle sets you up for gaining weight.

How to deal:

We all have a bad night’s sleep from time to time, so when you do, just prepare yourself the next day. Know what’s happening with your body and take extra care of yourself. Instead of reaching for sugar/carbs or fat, reach for strong sources of protein like fish, a lean hamburger patty, or eggs something that will really hold you over until your next meal. Also, take some time that evening to slow down and rest. Maybe you’ll need to cancel your plans or skip watching your favorite television show. Either way, take care of yourself, relax, and get some quiet time so you can ensure a better night’s sleep the next night.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 26 August, 2016 | Healthy, Kathy Smith, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Sneaky Little Trick To Blast Belly Fat!

by Kathy Smith

Shrinking the midsection is a common fitness goal, especially for women who are noticing a waistline thickening as they age. One effective way to burn abdominal fat is with high intensity interval training (HIIT).

HIIT adds short bursts of high intensity movement to a workout. For instance, you might spend 10 minutes alternating a minute of a moderate indoor walking workout with 30 seconds of quick, high knee pull-ups.

With many exercises, such as a moderate treadmill workout, calorie burn is concentrated during the time you are actively engaged in them. The longer you work out, the more calories you’ll burn. But with HIIT, you burn fat during as brief as a 10-minute workout and continue to burn calories for hours after your brief workout has ended.

How can that be? As you exercise, your body establishes a certain metabolic rate that matches the workout rate. When you add a surge of high intensity, you’re telling your muscles to increase that rate. It will take your body several hours to recover from these bursts of extra energy. During this time, your body will continue to burn calories at a higher-than-usual rate, a phenomenon called Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC).

In business terms, HIIT provides a huge return on investment. An Australian study followed two groups of women – one that participated in interval training and a second that participated in moderate 40-minute traditional workouts. Researchers discovered that the interval group lost an average of 5-1/2 pounds while the continuous workout participants gained a pound of fat.

That’s not all…another study out of Canada found that adults performing interval training for two weeks were able to increase their fat burn by 36%.

Let’s get clear – burning fat isn’t exactly the same thing as burning calories. Calories come from the foods we eat and are converted into energy the body needs. If we don’t use up all those consumed calories, then our bodies store them away in fat cells to be used later. In order to get the maximum fat burn from a workout, we have to tap into those hidden fat stores, and bursts of high intensity intervals do just that. The increased physical demand triggers the body to release a greater amount of fat-burning enzymes in the muscles than it would during moderate exercise.

The good news is that HIIT training not only shrinks your waistline, but it also is good for your heart!

Kathy

By Collage Video | 19 August, 2016 | exercise, fitness, goals, Kathy Smith, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Stress Literally Shrinks Your Brain: 7 Ways To Reverse The Damage

by Kathy Smith

Woman having headache or dizziness problem. Healthcare concept

We all know that living under stressful conditions has serious emotional, even physical, consequences. So why do we have so much trouble taking action to reduce our stress levels and improve our lives?

Researchers at Yale University finally have the answer. They found that stress reduces the volume of grey matter in the areas of the brain responsible for self-control.

So experiencing stress actually makes it more difficult to deal with future stress because it diminishes your ability to take control of the situation, manage your stress and keep things from getting out of control.

A vicious cycle if there ever was one.

But don’t be disheartened. It’s not impossible to reduce your stress levels; you just need to make managing stress a higher priority if you want to reverse this effect. The sooner you start managing your stress effectively, the easier it will be to keep unexpected stress from causing damage in the future.

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” –William James

Luckily, the plasticity of the brain allows it to mold, change, and rebuild damaged areas as you practice new behaviors. So implementing healthy stress-relieving techniques can train your brain to handle stress more effectively and decrease the likelihood of ill effects from stress in the future.

Here are seven strategies to help you fix your brain and keep your stress under control:

1. Say No

Research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Saying no is indeed a major challenge for many people. “No” is a powerful word that you should not be afraid to wield. When it’s time to say no, avoid phrases such as “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain.” Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.

2. Disconnect

Technology enables constant communication and the expectation that you should be available 24/7. It is extremely difficult to enjoy a stress-free moment outside of work when an email that will change your train of thought and get you thinking (read: stressing) about work can drop onto your phone at any moment.

Taking regular time off the grid helps you to keep your stress under control and to live in the moment. When you make yourself available to your work 24/7, you expose yourself to a constant barrage of stressors. Forcing yourself offline and even—gulp!—turning off your phone gives your body and mind a break. Studies have shown that something as simple as a weekend email break can lower stress levels.

If detaching yourself from work-related communication on weekday evenings is too big a challenge, then how about the weekend? Choose blocks of time where you will cut the cord and go offline. You’ll be amazed by how refreshing these breaks are and how they reduce stress by putting a mental recharge into your weekly schedule.

If you are worried about the negative repercussions of taking this step, try first doing it at times you are unlikely to be contacted—maybe Sunday morning. As you grow more comfortable with this, and as your coworkers begin to accept the time you spend offline, gradually expand the amount of time you spend away from technology.

3. Neutralize Toxic People

Dealing with difficult people is frustrating, exhausting, and highly stressful for most. You can control your interactions with toxic people by keeping your feelings in check. When you need to confront a toxic person, approach the situation rationally. Identify your own emotions and don’t allow anger or frustration to fuel the chaos. Also, consider the difficult person’s standpoint and perspective so that you can find solutions and common ground. Even when things completely derail, you can take the toxic person with a grain of salt to avoid letting him or her bring you down.

4. Don’t Hold Grudges

The negative emotions that come with holding onto a grudge are actually a stress response. Just thinking about the event sends your body into fight-or-flight mode, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. When the threat is imminent, this reaction is essential to your survival, but when the threat is ancient history, holding onto that stress wreaks havoc on your body and can have devastating health consequences over time. In fact, researchers at Emory University have shown that holding onto stress contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease. Holding onto a grudge means you’re holding onto stress, and emotionally intelligent people know to avoid this at all costs. Letting go of a grudge not only makes you feel better now but can also improve your health.

5. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a simple, research-supported form of meditation that is an effective way to gain control of unruly thoughts and behaviors. People who practice mindfulness regularly are more focused, even when they are not meditating. It is an excellent technique to help reduce stress because it allows you to reduce the feeling of being out of control. Essentially, mindfulness helps you stop jumping from one thought to the next, which keeps you from ruminating on negative thoughts. Overall, it’s a great way to make it through your busy day in a calm and productive manner.

6. Put Things In Perspective

Our worries often come from our own skewed perception of events. So before you spend too much time dwelling on what your boss said during the last staff meeting, take a minute to put the situation in perspective. If you aren’t sure when you need to do this, try looking for clues that your anxiety may not be proportional to the stressor. If you are thinking in broad sweeping statements like “Everything is going wrong” or “Nothing will work out” then you need to reframe the situation. A great way to correct this unproductive thought pattern is to list the specific things that actually are going wrong or not working out. Most likely you will come up with just one or two things—not everything. The key to keeping your cool is to remember that your feelings are exaggerating the situation and the scope of the stressor is much more limited than it might appear.

7. Use Your Support System

It’s tempting, yet entirely ineffective, to attempt tackling everything by yourself. To be calm and productive you need to recognize your weaknesses and ask for help when you need it. This means tapping into your support system when a situation is challenging enough for you to feel overwhelmed.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 12 August, 2016 | exercise, fitness, goals, Kathy Smith, Motivation, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

How To Eat Carbs And Still Lose Weight

by Kathy Smith

How to eat carbs and still lose weight

What’s so bad about carbs?

By now we’re all well aware of the low-carb diet craze, and many have tried to skip the bread from time to time, often with mixed results. Most of us are still left asking:

What exactly is all the fuss about?

When you munch on a muffin, here’s what happens to the carbs that you just put in your mouth: they’re converted into glucose, which is essentially the body’s energy. The problem is that there’s only so much glucose that you actually need. The rest is converted into glycogen and stored in the liver and in your muscles. When glycogen storage reaches full capacity, all the extra carbs are converted into fat.

How Much is Too Much?

When it comes to carbs, there’s a range, depending on several factors. First and most importantly, how much time you’re putting in on a treadmill or at the gym is crucial. An elite athlete needs more carbs to fuel her lifestyle than someone who spends most of her day sitting at a computer.

Here’s a ballpark range of what’s appropriate, safe and effective, depending on your level of activity:

0-50g Carbs Per Day: Accelerated Fat Burning Zone

If you’re trying to lose a lot of water weight in a couple days, cut your carbs below 50/day. This isn’t easy to do, and very restrictive, but any professional model or bodybuilder knows it’s the fastest way to lean out in a short amount of time.

This is when your body goes into ketosis, a metabolic state where you’re burning your own fat as a main source of energy. But ketosis doesn’t come without its risks – so talk to your doctor before making any major changes in your diet.

50-100g Carbs Per Day: Weight Loss Zone

If you’re staying in this range, chances are good that you’ll achieve healthy weight loss.

I like the way my friend Mark Cisson (creator of the popular blog Mark’s Daily Apple) describes this range: “The primal sweet spot for effortless weight loss.”

100-150g Carbs Per Day: Weight Maintenance Zone

This supports healthy weight maintenance, because it allows optimal fat-burning and muscle development based on body weight and activity. Here, you get to enjoy ample amounts of vegetables and fruits while avoiding grains and sugars.

150-300g Carbs Per Day: Weight Gain Zone

Even though this is represents the low end of a typical American’s daily carb intake, the truth is that this number can lead to gradual weight gain (depending on the types of carbs you’re eating, and your activity level).

Over 300g Carbs Per Day: DANGER Zone!

If you’re eating in this range, you’re almost guaranteed to experience continuous weight gain. Mark aptly describes this as “The Danger Zone.”

How to Read Your Carb Label:

The carbohydrate count of the food you eat is usually right there in plain black lettering. If it contains over 30 grams in a small serving, with little to no fiber content, you might want to try a healthier option. Remember, the higher that fiber count is within those carbs, the better. (I could go on about the benefits of fiber, but that’s for another newsletter. For now, just know: Carbs with a high fiber content are generally considered the “good carbs.”)

A Carb Cutter’s Cheat Sheet

Here are a few carb-count examples of some typical foods:

1 Slice of whole wheat bread: 13-16 g/slice
1 can of soda: 35.6 g
1 slice of chocolate cake: 35 g
Mocha Frappucino: 44 g
Cinnamon Raisin Bagel: 65.1 g
1/2 cup of All Bran Cereal: 23.5 g
8 oz. Low-fat Blueberry Yogurt: 48 g

For comparison, here are some carbs that are combined with a little more fiber, which helps you digest them more slowly, and doesn’t create that unfavorable blood sugar spike (which leads to weight gain) caused by other carbs:

1/2 cup of Oatmeal: 12 g (2g of fiber)
1 small Banana: 23.1 g (2.6g of fiber)
1 medium Apple: 19 g (1.7g of fiber)
8 Asparagus Spears: 5.2 g (2.4g of fiber)
1/2 cup of Steamed Kale: 3.6 g (1.3g of fiber)

Take The Next Step:

Due to years of consuming a diet full of processed carbs, most people have grown quite insensitive to one of the most important hormones in our body—a hormone that can either be a huge asset to your body transformation goals, or a total fat loss and health-derailing nightmare.

Its name is insulin.

And insulin’s function is to help your body keep blood sugar at bay, clear it quickly from your bloodstream after a carbohydrate meal, and (hopefully) shuttle that blood sugar to muscle tissue for energy instead of fat.

I say “hopefully” because that’s actually the exact opposite of what occurs when most people eat carbs. Going back to insulin sensitivity and carbohydrate tolerance, due to a diet full of processed, insulin–and blood–sugar-spiking carbohydrates, most folks are suffering from some level of insulin resistance, a state in which insulin is no longer able to efficiently remove blood sugar from the blood stream.

The result? Dramatically reduced fat burning and increased fat storage.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 05 August, 2016 | goals, Healthy, Kathy Smith, Motivation, practice, Recipe, stress, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Raspberry Lemonade Protein Shake

by Kathy Smith

Break out your blender and grab some ice! This lemonade-inspired smoothie is decadent, and is the perfect chilling concoction to bring to a pool on a warm, summer day.

The ruby red raspberries in this shake are packed with Vitamin C, quercetin and gallic acid that fight against cancer, heart and circulatory disease and age-related decline.

Ready for a sweet treat?

Ingredients:
1 serving vanilla protein powder
1/4 c. unsweetened coconut water
3/4 c. water
1 freshly-squeezed lemon
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 tsp chia seeds

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 29 July, 2016 | Healthy, Kathy Smith, Recipe, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Total-Body U-Turn Workout

by Kathy Smith

IT’S TIME TO U-TURN YOUR WORKOUT with this 15-min density circuit to tone every inch of your body.

What’s a “density circuit?” It means that you include just a few moves in your circuit, so you can pack a lot of movement into your 15 minutes!

Doing this lets your body train longer with less fatigue and more movement quality. And you know what that means…the more moves you can fit in during a 15-minute pre-shower workout, the better your metabolism-boosting results.

What makes the workout a U-Turn?

You start the workout off by doing 5 moves in sequential order. For the next round, you reverse the order, or in other words, you U-Turn.

Here’s how it works..

Complete 15 reps of each move
Do two rounds. Here’s where the U-Turn comes in…For the 1st round, complete moves #1-5. For the second round, do the sequence backwards and complete moves #5-1
Repeat for 15 minutes!

Start in plank position, but this time, rest on your elbows instead of your hands. Be sure to keep the shoulders depressed back and down and the neck nice and long throughout the movement.
Keeping your abs engaged, slowly swivel the hips underneath you to the right. Feel your obliques driving this motion as you swivel to the other side with a slow, controlled motion.

Holding a dumbbell in each hand, step your left foot directly behind you, taking a wide stance, and bend your legs, lowering your torso down into a lunge. Be sure and maintain that core stability to prevent injury.
While in lunge position, keep your shoulders over your hips, back knee slightly bent, front knee in alignment with your front toes, shoulders back and down.
Feel your weight in your right (front) heel as you push yourself to standing.
As you return to standing, do a tricep kickback: Reach your arms back behind you and extend, feeling a squeeze in the tricep.

Stand with dumbbells in each hand in hammerhead position, with palms facing each other.
Step out to the right side, with a wide stance. Bend the right leg and lower your hips down as you keep the left leg straight out to the side, feeling a slight stretch in the left inner thigh.
Pressing off the right foot, keeping your core engaged, push yourself back up to standing.
As you return to standing, curl the weights up toward your shoulders, squeezing the muscles on the front of the arms for a bicep curl.

Rest dumbbells on your hips as you place your left foot behind you. Instead of stepping directly back, the left foot should move diagonally back, with the back knee bending down directly outside the right foot
Fire up the core muscles as you squat down with the right leg, feeling the emphasis on your right glute (weight placed firmly in the right heel) as the left foot lightly supports you.
As you return to standing, bring the left foot forward, landing with a wide stance.
Punch the right hand across your body, toward the left wall, allowing your right foot to rotate as your torso twists to the left, engaging your right glute.

Squat down to rest both hands on the floor, similar to the Mountain Climber move. But instead of lunging one leg back behind you, jump both legs at the same time into a plank position.
Return to standing, and reach up to the sky.

Kathy Smith, New York Times bestselling author, has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for over 30 years. The numbers speak for themselves: Kathy has sold more than 20 million exercise DVDs - landing her in the Video Hall of Fame - and $500 million in Kathy Smith products. With her revolutionary approach to fitness, Smith has touched millions of people, inspiring them to move, live, and love.

By Collage Video | 22 July, 2016 | exercise, fitness, fitness success, goals, Healthy, Kathy Smith, Weekly Blog, Wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Fit Forever with Kathy!

Posts in the Kathy Smith category

Cardio That Boosts Your Buns

Full workout available here

Push Reset With Breath of Fire