Everybody is built differently. Some people are naturally stronger in their upper body, and others tend to be stronger in their lower body. I’m definitely a lower body person – I have long legs with lots of power! I’m proud of my toned legs, but because my arms are weaker, I’m always looking for great arm workouts to build some upper body tone. I came across this one and I had to share it. I tried it and loved it! It’s a basic set of arm strengthening moves, but sometimes basic is exactly what you need.

Check it out and tell me what you think!

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

1. One legged plank

Start in a plank position. Pull your right knee in toward your chest, as far up as you can, and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat, holding the left knee in toward your chest. Make sure to think of pulling your bellybutton in toward your spine to engage your abs, pull your leg in farther, and support your back.

2. Toe touches

Lie on your back, and extend both legs straight up into the air. Curling your head, neck and shoulder blades off the ground, reach your hands toward your toes. Pulse 3o times, without lowering your head down until you are finished. If your back or hips feel strained, bend your knees slightly. To increase the difficulty, lower your legs down toward the floor a little bit, but do NOT do so if it hurts your back.

Repeat the entire series 3-5 times.

What I’m wearing: top by Zobha, pants by Soybu, shoes by New Balance.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

Question?! Answer: Ask Tuffy Luv. Email Aunt Tuffy at tuffyluvCC [at] gmail [dot] com

Dear Tuffy Luv,

I’m fat. I hate my body. Now what?

Fatty

Dear Girl,

That’s right. I refused to call you Fatty. Because–what the floop?! Girl, you have got to address these issues now before they eat you whole–literally. Look, sometimes people gain weight. But people also lose weight, right? Right. So here’s what you do:

Figure out what’s making you gain weight. Is it the types of foods you’re eating? The amount of food? Or are you not exercising enough?

If it’s a food issue, start reading up on what’s healthy and what’s not. If you know what is good for your body, you’ll want to give it food that makes it run better. Vegetables, whole grains, lean protein–these things can be prepared deliciously, and they’ll make you feel great.

For amount of food, think portion control. At the beginning, weigh your food. I’m not kidding. Read up on portion sizes (from nutritionists and health experts, not crazos) and weigh it until you know what the right amount looks like. Limit yourself to eating only that amount. You might feel hungry at first, but within a week or so, your body will adjust. Most of us are used to overeating–you’ll feel much better when you’re actually eating the right amount.

Exercise is good for everyone. You want cardio AND weights. Find something you like to do (dancing, running, whatever) and make a schedule that has you doing it four times a week. And then stick to it!!! And do NOT reward yourself with food–reward yourself with the knowledge that you’re taking good care of yourself and starting better habits for the future.

And in the meantime, girl, seriously lay off. I’m sure you’re absolutely beautiful just the way you are. It is not healthy to be significantly overweight, but that doesn’t mean you should feel unattractive for it!!! Lots of men like a little extra meat. Don’t slim down for that; slim down because you’ll feel better, and you’ll have fewer health problems as you age. Do it for yourself. And in the meantime, always, always love the body you’ve got. Because that’s you, baby!

Hearts & Skulls,

Tuffy Luv

[lead image via Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock]

You wake up early to the sound of an alarm for class or work on weekdays. But you follow a totally different sleep schedule on the weekends, sleeping in and going to bed later. Does this sound like you? Sounds like almost every college student I know, myself included!

But it turns out that this habit might have some seriously negative effects on your health, beyond just the rude awakening on Monday morning. Scientists call this condition “social jet lag” – the practice of following a different sleep schedule on the weekdays than on the weekends. Essentially, social jet lag means that your body’s clock, or your circadian rhythm, is out of sync with your weekday sleep schedule. Which is why, when you have the chance, you sleep in later on days off. In some cases, it’s the equivalent of changing time zones for the weekend, and switching back on Monday. That’s what led researchers to compare it to jet lag.

So what’s so bad about social jet lag? A recent study has shown that adults with differences between their weekday and weekend sleeping habits had triple the odds of being overweight. And that’s not all. The BMI, or body mass index, of overweight people tended to increase as the gap between their weekday and weekend sleep schedules broadened. So if you’re working on eating well and exercising to stay healthy, you might be undoing a lot of that effort with your different weekend “time zones.”

Past studies have linked sleep deprivation and irregular sleep schedules to higher BMI. There’s no exact answer as to why this is the case. Scientists suspect it’s because irregular sleep habits lead to irregular meal times, and changes on the cellular level that affect how we digest and store nutrients.

So what’s a college girl to do? It seems like social jet lag is almost unavoidable with a college schedule. And students aren’t the only ones who experience social jet lag – two-thirds of the participants in the study reported some differences between their weekday and weekend sleep patterns. The researchers who conducted the study actually think that employers should allow personalized schedules, so that workers can tailor their workdays to their natural clocks. Hmm… something tells me professors wouldn’t be so into that.

For now, it looks like daylight might be the best solution. The body’s internal clock is affected by exposure to light. So if you’re looking to fall asleep earlier at night and wake up earlier, you should try to get some sun in the morning. On the flip side, if you want to go to bed later and wake up later, you should try for more daylight in the afternoon and evening.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

I don’t know about you, but I’m in the midst of finals and I’m going stir-crazy. I’ve been sitting for long periods to study and write papers, and I’m feeling stiff and cramped. Unfortunately for us students, sitting in chairs isn’t great for your physical health. The human body isn’t built to sit in chairs for long periods of time – it’s actually built to be in constant motion.

Spending lots of time seated leads to general muscle tightness in your entire body, but for most people, it’s worst in the lower back and hips. So this week, I’ve demonstrated a few stretches that are great for relieving tension in those areas.

Stretching is an important part of building muscle tone that is often overlooked. All muscles have an optimum length. If all you ever do is contract your muscles, through weightlifting and other forms of exercise, you actually shorten the muscle. This decreases your range of motion and makes the muscle less efficient, which is exactly the opposite of what you want! Relieving muscle tension is also a great way to reduce stress over all. Moral of the story: make sure you stretch every time you work out. And if your back is killing you, get up and stretch it out! Here’s how.

1. Runner’s lunge

Make sure your front leg is bent at a 90 degree angle, with your knee directly over your heel. Keep your back leg as straight as possible. The runner’s lunge is a great stretch for your hip flexors. The hip flexors are responsible for lifting your leg off the ground, but also for holding you upright in a seated position. This lunge also stretches your psoas, a very deep muscle that begins at your lumbar spine (lower back) and attaches up at the very top of your leg. It’s a long muscle, and one that tends to hold a lot of tension. When you feel lower back pain, it’s often caused by tightness in the psoas.

2. One-legged forward fold

Lengthen one leg out in front of you, bending your other knee and placing your foot next to the inner thigh of the lengthened leg. Sit up straight, and then fold over your lengthened leg, reaching for your foot. The slight twist in your lower back will release tight muscles there, even if you don’t feel a huge stretch. Plus, this will stretch out your hamstrings, which tend to get tight from lots of sitting.

What I’m wearing: top by The North Face, pants by Soybu, shoes by Nike.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

For years, trainers and athletes have said that to build lean, toned muscles, you should lift light weights and do lots of reps. To build big, bulky muscles, you lift heavier weights and do fewer reps. Some studies have called that philosophy into question lately, suggesting that lifting heavy weights doesn’t necessarily make you look like the Hulk.

So is there still a value to the light weight, high rep workout style? A recent study says yes. The study, conducted in the Netherlands, showed that lifting light weights can be just as effective in building muscle tone as lifting heavier weights. What really matters is that you work until the point of exercise-induced fatigue – that means that the last two or three reps should be hard.

This is great news for people who’d like to tone up, but don’t often lift weights. The heavier the weight, the more you risk injuring yourself. With a lighter weight, you can get the same results without the danger. Light weight exercise is also perfect for people who are recovering from injuries, as a way to ease back into exercise.

Doctors say that if you really want to stimulate muscle tone (and save yourself from boredom) the best thing to do is to change your exercise routine up. Alternate between lifting heavier weights and doing fewer reps, and lifting lighter weights and doing more reps. The moral of the story? If you want to get into great shape and have the muscles to show it, you don’t have to grunt and struggle like that obnoxious guy at the gym.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

[Lead image via Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock]

With summer right around the corner, the “omg get the greatest bikini body EVAR” crash diets are all over the place. But as we all know (I hope!), crash dieting is not the way to get the body you want. In fact, starving yourself is actually going to make you gain more weight down the road, because you’re more likely to overeat after a period of depriving your body of the nutrients it needs.

Eating right and exercising daily is what’s really going to get you the “bikini body” you want. One of the body parts that’s most exposed in a bikini is your stomach, so I decided to focus on ab exercises this week. This video promises “sexy yoga abs.” It’s a bit cheesy, but take a look at that lady’s stomach! I want what she has. Check it out:

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

Most people think of their obliques as the “side” abdominal muscles, on either side of the “six pack” (actually called the rectus abdominis). That’s sort of true – your obliques are visible on either side of the rectus abdominis. But they’re actually a deeper layer of muscle – two layers, in fact – situated underneath the rectus abdominis. And those two layers of muscle wrap around your waist, kind of like a corset.

Blah blah blah, but what does it all mean? Here’s the thing: as you tone and strengthen your obliques, they actually pull in, making your waist smaller. Like a corset! But without whalebone and pain. And because I don’t advocate pain or the killing of whales for their bones, here’s an oblique workout that will slim your waist the natural way.

1. Bicycle

You know this one! An oldie and a goodie. Lift your head, neck, and shoulders off the floor. Bend your right knee and twist your upper body toward it, then switch and twist toward the left leg. Repeat without stopping for one minute. Imagine pulling your bellybutton toward your spine the entire time, so your abdominals are scooping in, not bulging out.

2. Side Plank

Hold on the right side for 30 seconds, then switch and hold on the left. While this might feel like a big arm and back workout, your obliques are really what’s supporting you here. Think of the same idea – your bellybutton pulling in toward your spine – to maintain the alignment of your back.

What I’m wearing: top by The North Face, pants by Soybu, shoes by Nike.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

Would you work out in a 105 degree room? How about 110? Hot workouts are all the rage in gyms across the country, especially in New York and Los Angeles, where some gyms are adding heat to just about every class.

You’ve probably heard of Bikram yoga, or some of the other hot yoga styles that have been popping up over the past few decades. But now, you can take classes in Pilates, the Bar Method, cycling, martial arts and more — all while roasting in a room that’s 100 degrees or even hotter.

Devotees of these classes love them because they leave every workout dripping with sweat. They see quick weight loss results, and think that all the sweat is helping them detox. But are they really doing that much good? Or are these benefits outweighed by the possible risks of exercising in extreme heat?

Experts have debated the safety of Bikram and other hot yoga styles for years. Bikram is practiced in a 105 degree room, with at least 40 percent humidity. First of all, doing intense exercise at temperatures that high puts you at risk for severe dehydration, or even heat exhaustion and heat stroke. In order to remain properly hydrated during a Bikram class, you would have to drink 4 ounces of water every 15 minutes. However, hardly any students drink that much water during class. Most of the weight loss experienced by people who work out in the heat is just water weight. And that’s not the kind of weight you want to lose. It isn’t uncommon for students to faint during hot yoga classes – I don’t know about you, but that scares me.

The other problem with exercising in extreme heat is that it makes it very easy for you to overstretch. The warmer your surroundings are, the more flexible the tissues in your body become. So, in some ways a warmer room can be good for your muscles. Heat allows you to stretch more fully and deeply. However, when the temperature is extreme, it becomes too easy to push your muscles too far. This is a serious problem, because your muscles work like levers. It’s good to be flexible, but the more you stretch, the more your muscles literally lengthen. When a muscle gets too long, it becomes weaker and less efficient.

Even more dangerous is the risk to your ligaments, the tissues that connect bones to other bones. Once ligaments are stretched, they don’t return back to their original shape. In normal temperatures, your ligaments would hardly stretch at all. But in the heat, they become more pliable. If you stretch out your ligaments, it can lead to weak, loose joints, which put you at a serious risk for injury.

There are some benefits to exercising in the heat. It’s true that hot workouts are more difficult, and make you work harder. Dr. Douglas Casa, a professor at the University of Connecticut and an expert on heat and athletics, told the New York Times that the benefits stop past 100 degrees. Any hotter than that, and you’re only increasing your risk for illness or injury, not getting a better workout. Dr. Casa also called the detox claim a “hoax,” saying that there are no proven benefits from sweating more.

I don’t do hot workouts. I hate feeling desperately overheated, so a hot workout class sounds like a nightmare to me. But I know lots of people who swear by Bikram yoga.

What do YOU think? Are hot workouts worth the risks?

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

[Lead image via Peter Bernik/Shutterstock]

Next time you’re in a classroom, look around. You’ll notice that there are very, very few people who always sit with perfect posture. Especially students. We spend such long hours sitting in class and studying that it’s really tempting to slump. I know I do.

So for this week’s workout, I’ve put together a few exercises that will engage the muscles in your core and back that contribute to your posture. You don’t need much room, so if you’re really daring, just do them right in the library. No shame.

1. Tripod Balance

Begin on your hands and knees, with your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees directly below your hips. Engage your abs to support your lower back, and imagine your shoulder blades gliding down your back as opposed to hunching up toward your ears. Lift your right arm off the ground and hold it in line with your back. Hold for 30 seconds, then do the same with the left arm.

2. Contralateral Balance

Lift your right arm and your left leg off the ground. They should be in line with your back, making a long straight line from your right hand to your left foot. Really pull your bellybutton toward your spine to maintain the alignment of your back. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

3. Moving contralateral balance

Start the same way as in exercise 2, lifting your right arm and left leg off the ground. Next, pull your right elbow and left knee in toward the center of your body. Imagine drawing them in toward your bellybutton. Then, extend your right arm and left leg back out into a straight line. Do this 10 times and then repeat on the other side.

What I’m wearing: top by Zobha, pants by Soybu, shoes by New Balance.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter.