A set of smooth, sexy, toned shoulders can be the perfect accessory to the perfect wedding dress. If you’re working hard on toning other parts of your arms, toning shoulders will accentuate all the hard work you’ve been doing — so don’t cheat yourself!

Ladies, I know this muscle group may be easy to forget. That’s why I’m getting you started on the right track with a simple shoulder workout to sculpt your arms for your big day and honeymoon! Fella’s, I also encourage you to check it out so you and your lady can get firm together! Watch my latest podcast to learn the exercises step-by-step. Here are some notes:

1.) Front shoulder raise to press
Hold a set of dumbbells in front of you with your palms facing your body. Raise your arms with your palms facing down until parallel to the floor. While keeping your elbows parallel to the floor, bring the weights to your chest and then press out straight. Slowly lower arms straight to starting position. Keep your core activated for control on the downward movement. Perform 3 sets of 12 - 15 repetitions, resting one minute between sets.

2.) Single arm leaning lateral raise
Find a sturdy wall or beam and rest the side of one of your shoulders against it. Position your feet on an angle opposite the wall. Hold a dumbbell in the arm opposite the wall. With your palm down, raise your arm sideways (laterally) until your arm is parallel to the floor. Slowly lower it back down to your hip. Perform 3 sets of 10 - 12 repetitions, resting one minute between sets.

3.) Upright row
Hold dumbbells in each hand with your palms facing your body. While maintaining your hands hip-width apart the entire movement, raise your arms vertically to your chest, bending at the elbows and leading with your elbows. Slowly lower your arms to the starting position. Keep your core activated for control on the downward movement. Perform 3 sets of 12 - 15 repetitions, resting one minute between sets.

Exercise tends to make people place emphasis on being skinny. But as women, we should not expect to shrink our assets to the point where we lose the very accessories that men love most about us, right? I believe that there can be a happy marriage of firmness and curvaceousness.

Speaking of marriage… a wedding dress should show off those healthy assets of a woman. Whether you’re using your dress to accentuate your body or hide it, don’t ignore the power of your own booty! And that goes for your workout program, too.

The legs and buttocks are commonly ignored by many because it’s assumed these muscle groups get enough exercise through cardio. But if those muscles aren’t trained with resistance and weights, they will never look, nor perform, at their fullest God-given potential. So, having trained many a bride, try the following movements in my video for optimum leg and butt firmness and tone. I’ve also added some workout notes below. Don’t forget, though, that the best results are accompanied by a lean nutrition program and consistent cardiovascular training.

1.) Stability Ball Wall Squats-
Place the ball between the small of your back and the wall. Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and with toes further out in front of you. Lower your butt into a 90 degree seated position and stand through the heels. Perform 3 sets of 20 repetitions, resting one minute in between.

2.) Split Squat-
Stand in a deep lunge position with one foot slightly in front of you and the other straight out behind you. Your front foot should be flat, and you should be on the ball of your back foot. Lower your body straight down to make a 90 degree angle with the front leg. Then, stand up through your front heel, but while keeping the foot flat. Perform 3 alternating sets of 15 repetitions on each leg, resting one minute in between.

3.) Single Leg Floor Bridge-
Lay on your back with your feet on the ground and legs bent with knees facing the ceiling. Bring your toes up so you’re on your heels. Raise one leg and keep it straight so it is parallel to the wall. Raise your pelvis by pushing through the other heel that’s on the ground. Slowly lower your pelvis and repeat. Perform 3 alternating sets of 15 repetitions on each leg, resting one minute in between.

For those of you lacking motivation, discipline, accountability, and focus in your exercise life, pair training may be the best option for you. Working out with a partner not only makes the time go by fast, but it can also help you challenge your workout more than by going at it solo.

Having someone there to spot or support you can give you that extra “oomph” you need to get a great workout. Plus, there’s someone there to yell at! Even before we were trainers, my sister Nicole and I would always push each other when we exercised together. She motivated me to lift heavier, run longer, and train stronger — which helped me develop my focus to always push it even if I was on my own.

So, find a partner and check out my podcast for a few movements designed for pair training. Nicole and I show you how to perform a pike throw-down for abs, incline military press for toned shoulders, and body-weight back rows for a strong back!

I’m not going to argue the fact that you may be too busy to stick to your regular health and fitness plan. But, unfortunately, missing a couple days here and there may slowly eat away at your commitment to exercise. And we all know that once we lose consistency in exercise, we lose consistency with our nutrition. That’s a double whammy!

Instead of falling off the wagon every other month, make a plan for when you can’t be as dedicated. One technique I use with some of my clients to make the most of their workouts is incorporating antagonistic supersets.

As superset is performing a set of one movement and then a set of another movement without rest. There are a few different types of superset techniques, and antagonistic in one of them. This particular superset is great for getting in a strength workout in a short time span–which is what you want, right?

Antagonistic supersets are when you’re alternating working opposite muscle groups. Try this half-hour routine:

Cardio warm-up 5 minutes

Superset #1
20 push ups + 12 seated back row (3 sets each)

Rest 2 minutes

Superset #2
12 barbell bicep curls + 15 tricep dips (3 sets each)

Rest 2 minutes

Superset #3
15 leg extensions + 15 hamstring curls (3 sets each)

Rest 2 minutes

Superset #4
12 lateral shoulder raises + 20 jackknife crunches (3 sets each)

Raise your hand if you hate working your abs. Oh, me, me!! Yeah, I admit that devoting time specifically for my core muscles is not my most favorite thing to do, but I get by. How, you ask? I try to mix in different movements to avoid the typical “crunch.”

In case you still don’t really know what your core is, it comprises of basically your entire torso (front and back) under your chest and at your hips. So, we’re not just talking your potential “six-pack!” Think of it almost like a girdle of muscles that wraps around you. Keeping this area strong is not so much about looks (although that’s a pretty good motivator), but about function, stability, and posture. Having a balanced and conditioned core is importance because it allows your body to function at its fullest potential with a lower risk for injury.

So enough of the science behind it. Time for action! In this week’s podcast, I demonstrate a few different exercises that you can try right along with me in your own home. They’re more challenging than the boring stuff you may be used to, but I guarantee you’ll feel and see the difference!

Brides Made Fit makes many friends as it reaches out to viewers and bloggers all over the internet. Because health and fitness is such a broad topic, there is so much information out there to educate and motivate everyone– even brides-to-be! Check out the blog below for the low-down on low glycemic index carbohydrates, courtesy of my fellow blog “Burn Fat ‘n Build Muscle.”

Low GI for Fat-Loss and Muscle Building
Original post by Usman Pasha Siddiqui
http://burnfatnbuildmuscle.blogspot.com

“There are a number of different kinds of carbs – simple, complex, fibrous, low GI, high GI, etc. What do these mean? A number of articles are pointing out that Low GI carbs are lean friendly. What does this exactly mean? Does it mean that carbs help us burn fat or do they helps us gain muscle mass?

In very simple terms, Low GI carbs are the carbs that get absorbed into our system very slowly and at a low rate. GI (glycemic index) determines how quickly a particular carbohydrate increases the blood sugar level. The lower the GI, the slower the rise in blood sugar levels. You may ask the question – Why do we need slow absorbing carbs? Well, basically when the carbs get absorbed very quickly, the amount of sugar is increased quite a lot. Your body tries to lower the carbs, as it doesn’t require that many carbs. The body releases a hormone called insulin which does three things:

- Lowers the carbs
- Stores them as fat
- Tells the body that ‘we already have too many carbs, don’t use the fats for energy’.

The above are not good for you. Insulin is very useful for you right after a workout (as you tend to use most of the carbs and the insulin helps you build muscle), it should not be spiked at any other time of the day. The LOW GI carbohydrates give your body constant energy at a steady rate so that you don’t get too many or too little carbs in your system and you avoid turning carbs into fats. But remember, if you take too much of any kind of carbs (even LOW GI), you increase the chances of converting them to fat.

Tom Venuto once wrote that it doesn’t matter whether individual items in a meal are low or high GI. You should make sure that the overall meal is low GI. E.g. potato on its own is high GI, but if you eat it with a chicken steak, it becomes low GI after mixing with proteins that gets absorbed at a very slow rate. Hope this makes sense.

If you stick to low GI for a fat loss program, you will minimize the chances of converting carbs to fat and also burn extra fat. If you want to build muscle – again, stick to low GI throughout the day, but take High GI with half an hour of a vigorous workout. I hope this has helped you understand what kind of carbs you should eat. Ohh, one more thing. Try not to take carbs after 6 – 7pm or keep them low in the evening/night. This again may increase chances of your storing carbs as fats overnight because your metabolic rate slows down at night and if you don’t use up the carbs (or any other macro-nutrient), it will convert to fat.”

Drinking coffee is like a religion in the lives of American adults every weekday morning between 5:30 and 9:00… and any other time for that matter. Whether it’s from Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Caribou, or Tim Hortons — you’re downing hundreds of added calories and, in some cases, more sugar in just one serving than you should have in your entire day!

These stats, of course, depend on what you’re drinking and what size. Many establishments offer healthy alternatives that contain non-fat or skim milk, sugar-free syrups, and artificial sweeteners (in moderation, folks.) But then why pay the full price when you’re skimping on the ingredients, right?

Make your own iced coffee’s and latte’s for work that are easy on your taste buds, wallet, and waistline! Follow this recipe below and prepare the coffee on a Sunday night so you’re all set Monday morning, and four more mornings after that!

The Perfect Iced Latte
105 calories per serving
12 grams of sugar
8 grams of protein

Ingredients: 3 cups of espresso or strongly brewed coffee, Skim milk, 3/4 cup of Splenda brown sugar blend

1.) After brewed, place espresso or coffee in a heat-resistant plastic container and whisk in splenda brown sugar blend sweetener.

2.) Store in the freezer overnight after scraping the mixture every hour with a fork for crystallization.

3.) In the morning, scrape one-half cup of mixture into a glass or portable coffee mug.

4.) Add 8oz.of chilled skim or non-fat milk, stir, and enjoy! You may add more sweetener to taste. Keep mix in the freezer to enjoy one every morning of the work week.

Tell me what you think in the comments section below!!

The invention of the treadmill, in my mind, is ranked almost as high as the invention of the wheel. What a genius idea to make a contraption that allows you to travel as far as you want without moving! Of course, only a certain population can appreciate them. But whether you walk, run, or trek it up the incline, it may get a little boring after a while. Instead of feeling like a giant mindless hamster on the treadmill, incorporate it into your strength training.

Walking and running are great for your cardio and legs. But if you’re not challenging your muscles with weight-bearing movements in your fitness routine, your legs may actually get weaker and prone to injury — despite your daily 6 mile runs. In my latest podcast, I show you some challenging ways to strengthen and tone your legs right on the treadmill. No more boring squats and lunges for you!

I think the term “back fat” has become the word on many brides’ lips these days. Even when you think you’re in shape, you try on the perfect wedding dress and, oh, there it is muffin-topping out of your corset! Strapless, halter top, spaghetti straps. It doesn’t matter what style dress you wear.

Shrinking this nuisance in time for your wedding may seem like an impossibility; there are no quick fixes! But, here are some simple changes you can make to your daily fitness and nutrition plan to begin tackling this trouble-area.

Bump up the pounds. The only way to firm up your muscles is to challenge them. Period. So, on your lateral pull downs or back rows, choose enough weight where you can’t perform anymore repetitions after twelve. Do three sets and rest one minute in between sets.

Ask for help. The best way for your muscles to respond quickly is to mix up your movements. Ask a trainer or instructor to show you more machines and how they work to target your back. Don’t be afraid, that’s what personal trainers are for!

Create structure. Your wedding is the most important day of your life. Don’t obsess over exercise, but definitely make it a priority in your schedule and set aside time to do it. You’ll thank yourself when you’re showing everyone your Honeymoon photo’s.

Know your own limits. Stop looking at what other people are doing and do what works for you! Just because you see someone using more or less weight than you on the same machine doesn’t mean that’s what you should do.

Food is not the enemy. Starving yourself or eliminating one food group will not burn the fat off of your back. If anything, you will burn away precious muscle and still remain a “softy.” Eat small, balanced meals with carbs, proteins, and fats every three hours to jump start a killer metabolism.

Aerobic exercise burns fat. Weights tone muscle. You need both. Switch up your cardio with an interval workout one day and a recovery (medium level) cardio the next. This way, you’re always changing things up so your body doesn’t adapt and you’ll see faster results.

Take a dance class. Any change you do to your everyday routine at this point (with good nutrition) will practically guarantee physical results. Make it fun and take up a jazz, hip-hop, or tap class. This way you’re not focused on “working out,” and you’ll get a great cardio workout a couple times a week!