During the school year, eating well and exercising can feel like a real challenge. Going out with friends or sleeping in late is often so much more appealing than dragging yourself to the gym, and at 2:00 a.m. after hours of reading, that bag of chocolate chip cookies is just…so…tempting!

We’ve all heard that we should try to avoid the dreaded “Freshman Fifteen” (which is actually more like the “Freshman Seven”), but there are other important benefits to maintaining a good nutrition and exercise routine. The better you treat your body, the better you will feel. The better you feel, the more successful you’ll be in school and the more energy you’ll have for the really fun stuff. Read on to learn how you can use the latest discoveries in health and fitness to stay healthy, happy, and motivated this school year.

1.     Cut down on time at the gym with interval workouts.

Intervals have long been an important part of many exercise routines. But a new study has shown that intense interval workouts may be just as effective as time-consuming endurance training. The study divided its subjects, healthy college students, into two groups. One group rode a stationary bike at a sustained pace for 90 to 120 minutes three times per week. The other group pedaled as hard as they could for 20 to 30 seconds, with short breaks in between, for a total of about six minutes of intense riding per day. The result? The students who rode intervals showed just a much of an increase in their endurance as the students who did sustained training, and showed the same molecular indicators of increased fitness in their muscles. Read More »

Four months is a lot of time to spend doing nothing, which is why more often than not college students find themselves with a lap full of summer resolutions. Now we’re in the last month of summer and some of us, no doubt, have given up on forgotten about those promises we made to ourselves, but it’s not too late to get back on the horse. Here’s a few ways you can still achieve those summer resolutions.

1. Getting a head-start on classes

Okay, maybe you were getting a little ahead of yourself when you bought all your textbooks early and vowed to have at least the first couple chapters read by the end of the summer. Now you have an unhappy stack of overpriced textbooks that are being used as a doorstop. Luckily, there’s still a way to get ahead of the game without even cracking open a textbook. Email the professors of the courses you’re taking and ask for last year’s syllabus. It’s easy for a prof to just attach the file to an email, and then you can use the syllabus to plan an effective study schedule so you’ll be prepared for classes even if you haven’t forced yourself through fifty pages of molecular biology.

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I always have a difficult time staying motivated about working out. The problem is, I’m lazy, so the hardest part is actually just getting out of bed early or getting my butt off the sofa to drive to the gym and work out. Since I have a hard time dragging myself to the gym, I’m trying to stay in shape by running around my neighborhood. I still don’t do that as often as I should, but it works for me, since it doesn’t require me to go anywhere except out my front door.

The only problem with going for a run around the neighborhood is that it’s not as easy to gauge the distance I’ve run as it is on the treadmill at the gym. But that’s not a problem anymore, now that I’ve discovered WalkJogRun!

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Recently, Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times reported some exciting news for the ladies: new scientific evidence is debunking the myth that a woman’s menstrual cycle negatively affects her athletic performance.

Female athletes, especially those involved in collegiate and professional-level sports, have long struggled to be taken seriously and treated as equals to their male counterparts. Many positive advances have been made, but with several universities still finding ways around Title IX – the law that banned sex discrimination in all federally funded education programs – it’s clear that the fight isn’t over.

The “mystery” of menstruation has been an integral part of the argument against women in sports. Many coaches, and even athletes, still believe that women are unable to perform to the best of their abilities at certain points in their cycle due to hormone fluctuations. However, there is disagreement about exactly what time of the month a woman will experience her athletic low, and past scientific studies on the issue have been contradictory and inconclusive. Female athletes are also often told to either begin using birth control pills or stop using them in order to alter their hormone levels.

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Since I basically live in workout clothes, I’ve had to revamp my closet to make room for $100 couture spandex. It gets pretty ridiculous paying so much for fitness clothes, but this is how I see it: when you look good, you feel good and you perform even better! Wearing booty lifting shorts and accentuating tops motivates me to go 110% at the gym.

Jockey Person to Person® has come out with a new line of active-wear for women and to be honest, I’m pretty surprised. They sent me a shirt to review (shown below) and I took it out for a 6-mile run along Venice Beach. What did I think?

Let’s start with the cons. Jockey sizes tend to run bigger than normal and I’ve never been able to figure out why. I normally wear a size Small or 4, which usually fits quite perfectly. Mind you, I like my fitness clothes tight because I hate when there’s extra fabric flapping around as I’m doing squat jumps. I received a size XS and it was a lot looser than I’m used to. The cut of the shirt was very conservative – it covered all of my chest and extended below the hip. Read More »

If you’re at all like me, when it’s 90 degrees outside and I have the choice to go for a run or lay by the pool, I choose the latter. Or if it’s scorching hot, I choose to sit on my couch blasting the AC, sipping on iced tea…and since we can be honest amongst friends here, these days a workout is the furthest thing from my mind.

It’s usually around mid-summer that I lose that amped-up, I’m-going-to-look-bootylicious-in-a-bikini-damn-it! attitude and my motivation starts to dwindle. After all, stores are already selling boots and sweaters- it won’t be long until I can bury myself in an over-sized sweater right?!

So since this week I hit a bit of a workout slump (anyone else?) I decided to dedicate this Monday’s body blog to four things that will help to revitalize and re-motivate us all to hit the gym and keep working towards that beach bo-dizzle! Read More »

Okay, okay. I didn’t mean this kind of planking. And no, I didn’t sit there flipping through all of the pictures and laughing. Although this one is my absolute favorite. Umm…anyway. As I’ve mentioned in my past posts, planks are great for strengthening your core. It also uses every single muscle in your body, so you can call it a full body toner!

Since I know you’re an expert at planks, I challenge you to bring it to the next level with this move.

Single leg plank with leg pulses

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Nothing says summer, summer, summertime quite like a refreshing cocktail (or a Will Smith song), but we all know that sippin’ our calories away poolside leads to a not-so-cute looking backside (or all-around side). Many of our favorite friendly cocktails come along with a heaping helping of calories. And with all those hidden, tempting, pink and fruity calories, it sure gives a WHOLE new meaning to drinking responsibly.

But who says you can’t have your Sangria and sip it too?! Not I. Because this weeks body blog is all about finding the healthy balance between keeping cool with fun refreshments and looking bootylicious in your bikini.

Here are a few of my favorite healthier summer cocktails and bevvy’s! Including a delicious sans-alcohol option for a super low cal iced tea! Read More »

I don’t know about you, but I am completely obsessed with arms. On guys, strong arms makes me feel protected and safe – not to mention, it’s uber sexy. On girls, nicely toned arms show a sense of empowerment and look great in sleeveless dresses. So, I’m finally dedicating this week’s workout to getting that sleek arm definition. These are extremely easy to do and they give you great results!

1. Arm Pulses

Bring your arms in front of you, clasp your hands together and keep your elbows as close to each other as possible. Raise your elbows to shoulder height. Continue the workout by raising it one inch higher and then lowering it back down, creating small pulses. This move will tone your deltoids (shoulder muscles). To increase the intensity, hold a weight or textboox in your hands. Pulse your arms for 30-60 seconds. Repeat 3 times. Read More »

Remember the good ol’ food pyramid?

The one that was NOT Atkins friendly with grains at the bottom and sweets at the top? The one we were taught in school that said we need 9-11 servings of grains a day- which I took to heart when ordering soup in a sourdough bread bowl and an EXTRA SOUR DOUGH ROLL on the side thinking it was healthy? Until I developed some (fat) rolls of my own and realized that maybe this pyramid was as ancient as the actual pyramids in Egypt as far as health accuracy goes?

Well apparently me and my bread bowl rolls were on to something because, on Friday, the food pyramid peaced out and “My Plate” was introduced by the USDA. Instead of a pyramid, My Plate breaks up the food groups onto a plate, stressing that HALF your plate should consist of fruits and veggies and about a 1/4 protein. As for our beloved grains? The USDA is suggesting that only about a quarter of your plate is filled with grains (about 6 one ounce servings total for the day for women our age)- and they’re taking the time to point out that we should be consuming WHOLE grains.

So long sourdough bread bowls, it’s been real.

While we all know a lot of this information already, it’s nice to see the food guidelines reflecting healthful choices in an era when so many Americans are drastically overweight. ChooseMyPlate.gov is a totally revamped version of the Food Pyramid guidelines, even going to far as to explain your daily allotment of “empty calories” (a.k.a. cals that add no nutritional value) and outlining how “oils” are their own separate group. They help you take note of the different kinds of good/essential oils (think olive, coconut, walnuts, etc.) and suggest, for women between 19-30, 6 teaspoons as a healthy serving. The website is a huge step towards providing great information for all of us no matter where we are in our healthful eating journey!

Here are some other basic suggestions from the USDA’s My Plate site. Some of this may be familiar, but with bikini season, well…here…it can’t hurt to refresh! For more information check out www.ChooseMyPlate.gov and click around!

● Enjoy your food, but eat less.
● Avoid over-sized portions.
● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
● Make at least half your grains whole grains.
● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.
● Drink water instead of sugary drinks.