Fit Forever with Kathy!

Posts in the womens fitness category

IN A FITNESS RUT? COME ALIVE WITH THIS [10 MIN] PACE TRAINING ROUTINE

by Kathy Smith

If you feel like you’re in a fitness rut, or you’re getting bored from doing the same ol’ workout routine each week, it’s time to throw your stale workouts out the window!

Pump up your progress with rut-busting tempo training. You’ll pace yourself through an interval burst, followed by active recovery. When it comes to exercise, slow and steady DOESN’T win the race. Instead, think SHORT WORKOUTS, BIG RESULTS! Here’s what happens to your body when you incorporate tempo training into your routine…

• Your belly will get flatter, faster
• You’ll slash your risk of diabetes
• Your heart will get healthier and stronger
• Your body will get more defined and you’ll have more strength
• Your bone density will increase

But the real WOW factor behind tempo training is its ability to reverse the declining ability of our cells to create energy. A recent study conducted by Mayo Clinic found that in a group of older volunteers, pace training boosted the ability of the mitochondria within cells to generate energy by 69%.

This is important, because as you age, your mitochondrial activity declines, which can diminish the size and ability of your muscles to burn excess blood sugar… putting you at risk for diabetes. But, this study found that after three months of interval training, participants experienced the mitochondria functions found in young people.

Ready to beat boredom, save time and up the ante? Check out this [10-MINUTE] Tempo Training routine!

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.

10 Science-Backed Ways To Feel Euphoric

by Kathy Smith

1 – Set Your Oven to 350 – Science shows that watching a treat rise in the oven is emotionally therapeutic. Plus, it boosts your confidence and you feel more accomplished when your goodies are ready to eat. For a double boost of happiness, share your creation with coworkers or neighbors. Where to begin? Try a few of my favorite recipes…Protein Brownies or Frittata Muffins

2 – Walk or Bike to Work – Traffic can be a real drain on your happiness. If changing your commute is possible, try walking or biking to work, because research shows that you’ll arrive feeling more cheerful! If it’s not in the cards for you to avoid traffic, then try listening to a podcast on your way to keep your brain stimulated during the drive.

3 – Cha Cha! – Shake it baby, shake it! A study from the University of Derby showed that depressed patients who took salsa lessons improved their moods. Click here for a 5-minute salsa video from my Latin Rhythm workout!

4 – Take It In – At the top of every hour, try this simple breathing exercise to lower your heart rate… Breathe in through your nose for four counts, hold your breath for one and exhale through your mouth.

5 – Pay It Forward – Treating the person in line behind you at the coffee shop can give you a bigger happiness boost than only paying for your own tab. Spending just $5 on another person can make a significant difference in your mood…and it will make them happier too!

6 – Do A Shot – Take a shot of my favorite ginger tea to stimulate the body and wake up on the bright side! Ginger root has been used for centuries to aid in better digestion, plus it’s a natural anti-inflammatory. Simply boil a cup of hot water, squeeze in a lemon, and add in a few few cubes of freshly-chopped ginger. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper!

7 – Walk Barefoot – Before breakfast, I enjoy a nature walk barefoot in the grass (I call this “grounding”). As silly as it sounds, studies have shown that grounding has remarkable health advantages, such as increasing antioxidants and reducing inflammation.

8 – Put On Your Party Pants –  Dressing up and making yourself look polished tells your brain that you’re valuable. So take out those heels and go out for a girls night on the town!

9 – Get It Om – According to Harvard, “Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, even improve immune function.”

10 – Take a Wonder Drug – I call cardio a “wonder drug,” because it is proved just as helpful as anti-depressants. And, cardio activities such as running, cycling, rowing, using an elliptical, or hiking outdoors release a whole flood of endorphins and feel-good chemicals into the brain. When you do cardio, you activate the same parts of the brain that are involved when you fall in love, or when you listen to music that gives you that “chill” feeling of euphoria.

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.

3 Meditations To Nourish Your Heart

by Kathy Smith

In the simplest sense, meditation can help banish negative thoughts by clearing your mind entirely. One popular meditation technique is to focus on a positive idea or happy moment. As soon as a negative thought bubbles to the happy, calm surface you created, think of it as a duck that is paddling away from you and return your focus to happier thoughts. It’s not always easy to erase negative thought patterns, but meditation can at least help you become more conscious of them, and that’s the first step.

As if happier thoughts aren’t enough of a benefit, research is showing that meditation can help restructure the brain in ways that lead to more enhanced concentration, boosted immunity, and increased compassion. Even the most basic attempts at meditation have been shown to have immediate positive results.

If you haven’t begun a meditation practice, or are looking to take your practice to the next level, then stay tuned. Today, I’ll guide you through three meditation styles to enhance your life and recharge your batteries.

1. Nature Meditation

One of my favorite ways to change my mental state is to meditate deeply on a part of nature. Take five minutes to look closely at a flower. Study the details of its texture and the structure. By observing the smallest features of a flower or any object, you develop a sense of reverence. The flower becomes a little miracle. You begin to see how complete and fully alive the natural world is at all levels. Meditating on nature can be calming, fascinating, and inspiring all at once.

2. Gratitude Meditation

I love what Oprah said about gratitude, “I know for sure that appreciating whatever shows up for you in life changes your personal vibration. You radiate and generate more goodness for yourself when you’re aware of all you have and not focusing on your have-nots.”

Every morning, I start my day by making a gratitude list. It gets me moving on a positive track!

So take a few minutes today meditating on all the things in your life that you’re thankful for. You might even think about taking out your phone, opening the notes, and writing your daily list.

3. Breathing Meditation

Slow, deep breathing is one of the best stress busters there is. Focus your attention on the breath entering your body, your breath flowing out, and the spaces in between the breath. Several minutes of this can lower your pulse, reduce your blood pressure, and relax much of the muscular tension in your body.

This popular breathing method is one of the easiest and most effective forms for the uninitiated to attempt. Try it during stressful situations throughout your day. Within minutes, you’ll see how it helps you stay present in the moment, and yet separated from the situation that created stress in the first place.

Remember, as you work through these three meditations negative messages may surface. It’s o.k. (and very common) if they do. Your meditation practice will become more profound as you turn your focus back to nature, what you’re grateful for, or your breath. Like anything new, the more you practice, the easier it becomes to switch your mindset.

Here’s to your health and happiness!

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.

5 Kettlebell Moves To Develop A Strong Core

by Kathy Smith

If your abs are ready for a new beginning, it’s time to get swinging! This video of 5 kettlebell moves challenges your core by forcing it to stabilize. If you’ve never used kettlebells to target your midsection, these unfamiliar exercises encourage you to burn even more energy because you’re not efficient at them. Focusing on this routine is the best plan for stronger abs.

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.

Yuletide Arms

by Kathy Smith

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.

New “Fit Forever with Kathy” Blog Now Posted!

The latest blog from Kathy Smith is now posted!

You can read it HERE!!!

Thanks!

Light Your Fire!

by Kathy Smith

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.

2 Moves To Improve Your Posture

by Kathy Smith

The saying “practice makes perfect” applies to everything in life…including POSTURE! Having a straight posture doesn’t just make you look thinner, but it also can help prevent headaches as well as shoulder and lower back pain.

So if you find yourself slumping while sitting, or looking down at your phone often, it’s time for POSTURE PRACTICE! Today’s 2-minute video will show you 2 moves to do when you wake up in the morning to help you stay upright. All you need is a pair of dumbbells!

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.

Chocolate Cherry Protein Shake

Yields 1-2 servings

Ingredients
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 cup spinach or kale
1 cup frozen cherries (pitted)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup blackberries
2 Tbsp plain Greek or Icelandic yogurt
1/2 cup ice

Blend all ingredients together.

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 | | Kathy Smith, Recipe, Weekly Blog, womens fitness, womens wellness | 0 comments | Read more

Don’t Resist The Resistance Bands!

by Kathy Smith

What’s long, can stretch from head to toe, and will help you look fab in your summer tanks? That’s right…a resistance band!  You already know that they’re one of the best ways to increase your strength, because they’re inexpensive, small enough to travel with, and they make it easy to target specific muscle groups.

But what you might not know is that unlike dumbbells, tubes also provide what’s called linear variable resistance. Basically, this means that as you increase a move’s range of motion, the tension of the elastic also intensifies.
Imagine you’re doing a bicep curl. As you curl your arms up to a ninety-degree angle, the resistance provided by the tube gets stronger. Because the tube is made out of elastic, it provides more workload as it stretches. This can’t be done with dumbbells or other forms of free-weights.
Another reason linear variable resistance is so beneficial is because the elastic tubing better mimics the way a muscle’s strength changes throughout a movement. Until a certain point, most muscles increase in strength over the range of motion. For example, during a bicep curl, the muscle is weakest at the beginning, and at the halfway point the muscle is the most strong.

When you perform a bicep curl with a dumbbell, you’re limited to how much tension you can use based off of how strong your muscle is at the weakest point. This hinders the strongest part of your muscles from receiving adequate training.

But, try this same bicep curl with a tube, and the workload increases as the strength of your muscle increases.
Moral of the story…don’t resist the resistance tube!

To get started, try this 5-minute video designed to strengthen your lower body with a tube!

 

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.

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