Whether or not you’re one to make resolutions, January is the best time to get in shape. Summer is now only a short six months away! Bring on the bikinis and shorter than short-shorts – it’s time to look and feel great. In my past blogs, I’ve showed you how to tone up and strengthen your muscle groups. Now, it’s time for me to explain how cardio workouts can really get that six-pack and those toned legs to show.

You can do as many crunches as you want, but your sleek muscles won’t show through unless you burn the layer of fat covering it. That fat is made up of long term energy that has not been used and compensates by staying around your body. Remember that late night fast food run? Well, by eating that delicious burger and letting the 500+ calories sit, you maintain extra unhealthy energy until it has a reason to exit your body. By engaging in cardio activity – any workout that gets your heart racing and sweat pouring – you are finally burning that fat off and putting those calories to use.

So, what is cardio exercise? It includes (but is definitely not limited to) kickboxing, running, dancing, biking or swimming. For those of you who have a gym membership, I highly recommend looking into group fitness classes. It’s a great way to have a fitness expert provide a guaranteed calorie-burning workout and force 1 hour of exercise on you. You can even switch up your routine by taking a strength training class one day and then Zumba the next!

But for those of you who don’t want to trek all the way over to the campus gym in the brutal snow, I have good news! It’s easy to get your fitness on right in your dorm room. My favorite iPhone app is Nike Training Club. You can choose from 15 to 30 minute plyometric workouts that definitely get your heart pumping – it’s like having a personal trainer on your phone!

And for those of you who don’t have a gym membership or an iPhone app, you have me. Here are some easy ways to get rid of that super extra cheesy concoction from the campus diner. Read More »

It's time to try something new. And that includes wearing an actual shirt to the gym.

If magazines like Women’s Health or Fitness are considered a part of your required monthly reading (or, really, as long as you haven’t been living under a rock), you have probably learned that switching up your workout routine is vital. In addition to being a surefire way to speed up weight  loss by ensuring that you’ll burn more calories, varying the things you do at the gym will ensure that your body is up for any challenge.

Now, if only I had listened…

Last week, I returned home from school for the long-awaited Christmas break and was informed by my mom that I would be accompanying her to her training session. She works out once a week with a nice (and semi-attractive) man who seems to be pretty un-intimidating, and seeing that she is a 52-year-old mom and I’m a 22-year-old rock star in pretty good shape, I figured that it would be a piece of cake. I can run on the treadmill, right? I can do bicep curls with ten pound weights! Bring it on!

Instead, I was forced to endure pull ups (I cannot do these), lunge and squat around the entire room while carrying crazy weighted sticks, lie down on that squeaky medicine ball while doing sit ups, fling around little black weights that looked like cowbells and bruised the inside of my wrists, and lower myself into numerous machines while I pushed and pulled and panted until I could barely breathe. Meanwhile, my mom was just humming to herself and completing her tasks without a word. Read More »

If there is one man who knows fitness and health it’s Patrick Murphy.  We found him on Twitter, Tweeting away helpful advice snippets for the taking. And why should you do what this man says? Maybe because he is the man responsible for getting both Eva Longoria and Olivia Wilde their #1 spots on Maxim’s Hot 100. And did I mention that he was willing to sit down and talk to you?

Well not talk to you personally, but he did spend a long time on the phone with CollegeCandy telling us about the importance of switching up our workouts, why it’s crucial to stay hydrated and all the other tips and tricks he uses to get his clients into tip-top shape. Although be forewarned; this man is serious business when it comes to seeing results (i.e. opting for apples and green tea for dessert), so getting in shape his way is no easy task.

And there’s more! (I know!) His new website www.murphyfitness.com is launching today, July 1st, and members can download workouts, videos and keep a food diary where Patrick will give personal feedback to ensure success! And he’s giving away a FREE membership to one very lucky CollegeCandy reader. You (yes, YOU!) can look like Olivia Wilde for FREE. Get to know Patrick a bit and then find out how you can be one step closer to that banging bod…

5 Questions We Ask Everyone:

1.    What is your most ridiculous college memory/most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
I disappeared with a bunch of friends to Mexico without telling my family for like, almost a week. I just disappeared for like five days, that was really bad. I was just starting college so I was just experimenting and partying my ass off.

2.   What are five things you can’t live without?

Exercise, my wife,  my eyesight, contacting my mother every week, and I can’t live without staying hydrated… You’re gonna find out in this phone call that I’m kind of a fitness fanatic. I live and breath my job. I love it.

3.    What’s your motto/advice you live by?
Well, I say many things, but one of the things I like to say is that the root of all evil is the lack of circulation. So, everything – every problem that we have, mentally and physically with our bodies – is a lack of circulation.  That is the cause and root of all evil. That’s why cancer happens, why we have eye problems, why we have skin problems, why we have all types of problems. So,we gotta keep moving. Read More »

Happy National Bike week, everyone!

Sound like a holiday you’d like to celebrate? Did I just hear a “hell no!”?

Ok, I get it; biking is an acquired liking. Some argue their butts don’t fit on the seat; others say it’s just too hard. But the butt pain (and trust me, there will be butt pain) is well worth all the benefits of taking up biking. Bikes not only provide great exercise, but they are also an incredibly practical piece of sporting equipment because they can be used for exercise or transportation. Extremely cheap transportation.

Why ride a bicycle to work or class? The most immediate result you will see is the money you will be saving when you don’t have to pay for gas or parking meters. And who can forget the fresh air you can breathe in by eliminating all that carbon your car would have dumped into the air? Read More »

Katrina doing the Fitness Model Circuit Workout

Do you ever look at pictures in Shape or Self magazine and wonder how the models get their perfect bodies? Well, most likely they have been Photoshopped to perfection, but in real life, they are not far from it.

When I was in California recently, I was lucky enough to have Karena Dawn, a fitness model, show me and my pal Katrina the workout she used to get in shape for a recent shoot with Shape Magazine. It’s a total body fat burning circuit workout you can complete in just 20 minutes! Try this routine three days a week and you will have a magazine-cover body in no time.

Self Magazine Fitness Model Workout

This workout is 20 minutes, and includes a resistance move followed by 30-60 seconds of cardio, like running up stairs, jumping rope, running, or even jumping jacks. Best part: you do not need any equipment or a gym membership to complete this workout. You have no excuse not to get in shape! Read More »

Now that daylight savings is behind us, we can look forward to longer, warmer days! To celebrate the wonderful season of blooming flowers, running outside, and the warm weather, get started on that bikini body with a new “Spring Into Swimsuit Season!” circuit workout.  It’s a 30 minute circuit workout you can do anywhere, even your dorm room!The best part is that this workout not only blasts calories, but it also ignites your metabolism burning fat all over your precious body!

Have an iPod or iPhone? You can now download this very workout for less than a dollar! For just $0.75 you can buy the video and save it on your iPod. Next time when you go to the gym, instead of trying to remember what you saw on YouTube, you can just watch it again on your iPod along with tons of other helpful fitness videos.

It’s like having a personal trainer at the gym for a fraction of the cost. (Take that, recession!)

You can even do these videos at home and you don’t need to buy the equipment. Here is a breakdown of alternatives: Read More »

“Wanna see what happens when people stop being nice and start getting real”? Well if your answer is yes, then you may get your answer by tuning into MTVs 21st season of The Real World. (Yes, it’s been on for that long!)

Most people stopped watching Real World after the fork incident in Las Vegas. I don’t blame you. I, too, swore off the awful drama, but then I found myself with nothing to do and 100 reruns of the first episode showing on MTV. So I watched. And you should too. Since you may have missed the premier, here is a little cheat sheet to get you all caught up. Read More »

[Hey all. It’s your fitness guru here, ready to keep you up to date with this week’s workout tips. I hope you found last week’s Elliptical vs. Treadmill article helpful to your road to a new bodddday! This week I am going to be discussing the pros and cons of working out at a gym, versus buying your own equipment and working on your own, at home.]

Working out at the gym:

Pros: It can be great motivation to see people you know, or strangers, pushing themselves to lengths that you want to push yourself too. Creating a sense of unity, a gym can group individuals together that have the same mentality: getting and staying healthy. You can even make gym dates with your friends or spouse as a way to bond, workout, and push each other. Additionally, there’s more of a variety at a gym; you can take classes or use machines that really work for you.

Cons: The competition can get to you. Some people go into gyms to flaunt their bodies, while sizing up the other men and women, making you, say a less healthy or thinner individual, feel inadequate. Some people view gyms like sororities; you have to look a certain way to fit in. Also, there can be lines for specific equipment, which can cause a time constraint. Depending on where you join, a gym can cost you an arm and a leg; the local gym by me is $100 bucks a month – yikes!!! Too rich for my blood.

Working out at home:

Pros: You can work out when you want, however you want, in your sweats or in your undies. Yes, buying equipment is expensive, but the lump sum you pay will add up to less than a annual gym membership. I splurged three years ago on a treadmill for the holidays, which ON SALE, cost me $500 bucks. However, three years down the road, it’s still alive and kickin,’ which is more than I can say for my uber expensive monthly gym membership. Read More »