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]

And so it is, just like we knew it would be. The end of the road for this 30 day exploration and experiment to accomplish a great feat of discipline for one as undisciplined as myself: 100 push ups per day. Did I make it? You damn skippy I did!

Week 4 presented all new challenges in the form of temptation. My schedule’s actually beginning to have slower moments in it, and that’s provided some flexibility in terms of when I’ve been choosing to do my reps of 35-40. I’d have thought more time would provide more opportunity, but the real opportunity was the opportunity to procrastinate.

When my schedule was more rigid, I knew I had a set window of time to do this in, so I didn’t f*ck around. However, with the wiggle room to negotiate with myself, “I’ll do it after re-watching the season finale of ‘Justified’” or whatever other awesome (or not so interesting) things I occupy my time with, I found myself getting down to the wire a couple of nights this week.

But I persevered. I kept up the clapping and the 3-point stances. I continued to vary the wideness of my arms positioning. I’m doing an average now of 105 push ups per day. More than the goal I’d set for myself! That’s a pretty fantastic feeling. Now the real question, do I look and feel any different? Well, you can check out my “After” pic and video below to judge for yourself.

The pecks are coming back! There’s more definition as well as tone as well. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to notice a stronger core and even the lightest of outlines of a budding 4-pack (if I keep this up and add some crunches, a 6-pack might just be in the cards!).

All in all, this challenge was incredibly inspiring for me. I didn’t know how much could be gotten out of 1 simple exercise. It goes to show that the only thing that stands in our path of finding ways to maintain and improve our health, is our own mindset. Once you know it’s possible and see the benefits, the motivation becomes stronger. You see the rewards of the work and the motivation becomes stronger. And you know what? I don’t care if my 30 days are up. I’m going to keep doing this, every day, because I know that I can, and I know I feel better for doing it.

Challenge Completed!

Dude Stinson

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.

Bikini season is fast approaching, and already we’ve seen plenty of celebrities flaunting their summer bods. If only we all had personal trainers! With so many girls focusing on getting their midsection “swimsuit” ready, we thought it would be fun to make a ‘Guess The Celebrity Abs’ game. Hopefully it’s more inspiring than depressing! Not sure about you, but when my roommate puts up pictures of Victoria’s Secret models on the fridge, I just feel defeated every time I reach for leftover pizza. Motivated? Not so much. Have fun with the game, and let us know in the comments if anyone really surprised you!

Click thumbnails to reveal full image

Week 3. Week. F*cking. 3!! Life’s been throwing my schedule curve balls left and right. I can’t even keep track of what day it is right now I’m juggling so much. And that’s really the challenge isn’t it? It’s not about how many push ups I can do, but that I can find a way to maintain the discipline to continue doing them at all.

Life is rarely constant. Especially in an economy where you may be forced to work odd and inconsistent schedules to make ends meat. For some of us that involves working multiple jobs, and for others it’s just a matter of working a job where the hours vary from week to week. Consistency and routine are two of the rarest commodities we’re afforded anymore. That’s one reason it can be tougher than a vibranium shield to stick to the plan to stay healthy.

So, pondering aside, let’s get to the review of how things have been going: Pretty damn good!

I’m now actually doing MORE than 100 push ups per day. Not a lot more but in the neighborhood of 110 to 120. Because…I can do more at a time!!!

When I started, I was barely able to get 30 out of my body before meeting the floor face first. Now, I’m in the 35-40 range, and last night I made it to 42 for my final set.

I’ve started the clapping push ups. OUCH! Holy f*ck balls, ouch. It’s that kind of divine pain. I can get somewhere from 12-15 per set of them. I’ve also been doing 3-point push ups, which is where you put one leg over the other, thus you only have 1 toe supporting you. It’s kind of like upping the incline on the treadmill.

Despite experimenting and integrating the new kinds of push ups into my routine, I’ve also been making sure I have one set that’s still the good ol’ fashioned, as much to keep up my morale as anything else. Staying motivated by feeling like progress is being made, that’s as important as any other aspect.

Still breaking them up into 3 sessions throughout the day. However, due to exhaustion, my first set is usually around noon in my office and my boss gets some entertainment out of it. Because he’s a cool boss that is amused by randomness.

1 more week and the challenge ends. Can I keep up the momentum? Can I add more claps? Will I be brave enough to attempt a 1 arm? Tune in to find out!

Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel,

The Dude