You guys, I have a confession to make: I’m obsessed with Pilates. It’s my absolute favorite workout. I feel great after Pilates class, and when I go often, I see definite results. There are lots of gorgeous Hollywood ladies who credit their toned physiques to Pilates – Kate Winslet, Sandra Bullock, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, Chelsea Handler, Liv Tyler, and True Blood stars Anna Paquin and Rutina Wesley. (When people who have to take their clothes off for their job love a workout, you know it has to be good!)

Pilates is most famous for its focus on core strength, but a full class works the entire body. Pilates moves are also great for small spaces. Since I’m not a certified Pilates instructor (yet!), I thought I’d let you learn about Pilates from the experts. This video, led by an instructor with many years of experience, will take you through a basic Pilates ab series. The video covers a lot of important alignment information, so make sure to watch it all the way through! The moves are simple, but trust me, you’ll feel it. Read More »

It’s hard to believe when you’ve got snow melting into your Uggs, but Spring Break is just around the corner. For me, a girl who has a countdown to the next Spring Break starting the day Spring Break ends, that news couldn’t be better. But for those of you who are having that “OMG I HAVE TO BE IN A SWIMSUIT IN 6 WEEKS?!” meltdown, this is less than a pleasant realization.

If you fall into the latter category, you’ve probably gone into workout/diet overload.

“I’m going to exercise every day and eat salad for breakfast/lunch/dinner so I can look like a Vicky Secret model in Cancun!!”

Optimistic? Yes.
Realistic? Uh, are you kidding?

Our society has always had this huge obsession with quick fix diets and weight loss plans. Unfortunately, they don’t work. The truth is, there’s no one thing to eat or one exercise to do in order to get your dream body. And all those plans that promise you to “lose 10 pounds in 10 days!” might work, but they’re not permanent and they’re definitely not healthy. So if you’re trying to get 6-pack abs and thighs that don’t touch by the time you’ve got to wiggle into that bikini in March, stop. It’s not gonna happen.

Instead, let’s work together to set some more realistic fitness goals that you can actually attain between now and the 24/7 happy hour we like to call Spring Break. Read More »

He’s cute, he’s single, and he JUST asked you out to dinner on Friday night. Unfortunately, access to that 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffet in the caf has left you with the beginnings of a not-so-attractive muffin top. And you barely have time to breathe between classes and activities let alone trek over to the campus rec center.

Have no fear, my friend! You will be sporting that black mini in no time.

Let me introduce to you Pop Pilates, only the best thing to happen to your body since Lululemon hit the U.S.A. Pop Pilates is the product of Cassey, a 23 year-old Pilates instructor who knows her stuff. She makes 10-minute sweat-inducing workouts on YouTube that 1) are free, 2) are private and 3) will leave you feeling sore the next day. And yes, that’s sore in a good way!

From toning up those arms to strengthening your core muscles (hello, six pack that isn’t Miller Lite!), these videos cover it all. And the best part: you can pick and choose the ones you want to customize the best workout for you!

If you didn’t know, Pilates is good for both physical appearance and mental stability. I know we haven’t exactly hit midterm season yet, but stress can become a constant in any college woman’s life and Pilates is a great way to deal with that while also giving you an amazing workout. It’s a core strengthening, flexibility enhancing, and full body toning kind of exercise. And with Cassey, it all happens when and where and how you want. Read More »

I basically live my life by the phrase “go big or go home.” I’m an extremist in every way. I either love something or hate it, am obsessed or utterly disinterested. So after last week’s Rollerblading success during spring break, I returned to campus with the goal of exercising EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Now, for someone who hasn’t exercised consistently in four years, that’s quite the lofty goal. I would venture that it’s relatively impossible. But my intentions were good–I wanted to come out of this One Month Challenge with exercise as part of my daily routine, a regular part of my life, rather than a series of one-time attempts at athleticism.

Needless to say, I didn’t exercise every day this week. I exercised one day. So I’m going to throw my “go big or go home” philosophy out the window right now, because I’ve found that in exercise, sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference. Maybe this is just an elaborate attempt to prove to myself that I didn’t fail this week, but let’s just go with it for now.

Following the tips of fellow College Candy writer Jill, I set out this week to make a series of small changes to my lifestyle. I stretched every morning when I woke up and every night before I went to bed. I ate breakfast every morning, bypassing the Reese’s Puffs for fat-free yogurt, a bagel and veggie cream cheese, half a grapefruit, a banana, oatmeal. I took the stairs instead of the elevator at work. And I set a more reasonable goal: to attend a fitness class in our campus rec center. Read More »

I get it. Trust me, I get it. It’s getting nice out and the last thing you want to do is spend an hour or two inside the gym. Who wants to sweat indoors when eating ice-cream by the lake is so much more appealing (and yummy?) But on the flip side, you’ll be donning a bikini before you know it (like, ahem, next week) and you want to look h-o-t.

If only you could snap your fingers Sabrina-the-Teenage-Witch style and have your workout completed and your body looking Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition ready.

Well God is great, but he’s not that nice. Instead, he leaves us messages and makes us feel a little guilty, like the other day when I was waiting for my nails to dry (instead of working out) and I found this pamphlet next to the drying station: “14 Tips and Tricks for Looking Great in Your Swimsuit.” I flipped through the list, somehow managing not to smudge a nail, and now I will share these really great tips with you. (Don’t thank me, thank God. God or the nice Vietnamese people who placed these pamphlets on their drying station).

Brought to you by “Pilatesyourway.com” Read More »

Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month we followed Lauren from University of Michigan as she successfully went 100% sober. This month we’re following Norah on her quest to bring exercise into her life.

I am quite possibly the least athletic person you will ever meet.

When I was 12, my mother asked me not to run in public. “It’s embarrassing,” she said. “There’s something about the way you run that’s just…weird.”

Once I started college, my friends quickly diagnosed my problem: I run like a dinosaur.

Here’s why: When I was 4, I started taking Irish dancing lessons. Yes, like Riverdance. And in Irish dancing, you’re not allowed to move your arms—they have to stay straight at your sides. So when it came time to run, I didn’t know what to do with my arms. With no better ideas, I just pulled them up by my armpits and “took flight.”

Add in some exercise-induced asthma and a fear of flying sports equipment and it’s clear that I was never meant to be an athlete.

I’ve been accused of being lazy, of not really trying, of not being committed enough to get in shape. But I know that’s not it. In elementary school, when the rest of the class couldn’t play on the playground until the last person was done running the mile, I remember trying so hard to finish so my classmates wouldn’t hate me (fourth graders are fickle, fickle creatures). If the anger of my peers wasn’t enough to push me to physical fitness, I don’t know what is.

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 »

I love boys. I love boys so tall they might hit their heads when they walk through a doorway and boys so short they’ve probably never entertained fantasies of basketball stardom. I love boys as dark as the blackest coffee, as white as the snow that I am not looking forward to this winter, and every shade in between. Give me a boy, any boy, and I’ll find something I love about him.

This is why even I wondered if I was slightly insane when I decided to completely abstain from boys this summer.

The decision (The Vow, as I now refer to it) was something I really had to think about. I knew that going home to Miami would mean I’d have options for a summer fling. Beautiful, jacked, sun-god-like options that seem to only exist in dreams. But, having been single for over three years, I needed a break.

I think that relationships, as amazing as they can be, sometimes just aren’t worth it. I’m incredibly busy, as are most college students, so I only want to make time in my life for someone if we have something I can’t imagine giving up. But while being single right now is best for me, it can be so exhausting. From wondering if the attractive guy digs me back to whether or not to be physical with a guy I may not have emotional connections with, I was just sick of it. So, to the surprise of my friends, I decided that for summer, I’d basically be like one of the nuns that taught me in grade school. Except I’d still curse and wear bikinis and stuff.

When people would ask my why I was doing this, I usually said something new-agey like “I just need some time to really be alone. I need to focus on myself.” And focus on myself I did. I took a mini road trip with one of my best friends to an amazing art exhibit. I re-read one of my favorite books that I haven’t read since junior year of high school. I started doing Pilates, which completely rejuvenated and calmed me. I surrounded myself with the carefree joy of children, and picked some of their confidence along the way. Read More »

There are days when not even a new playlist, the latest issue of Glamour, AND Tough Love on VH1 could make my 45 minute elliptical sesh fly by. My mind is bored, and so is my body. And when my body is bored, it’s not burning as many calories. The human body is designed to be efficient so when I do the same exercise day after day (which gets boring), my body uses fewer calories to do the same amount of work on day 30 than, say, on day 1.

The same goes for you, people.
If your mind is bored, your body is bored.

As college students, we’re bored enough sitting in lecture each day; our workouts should be something that we look forward to! And at the risk of sounding like your mom, college is the time to try new things, so why not new methods of exercise? Cross-training (varying different types of exercise or activity), also helps you burn more calories by tricking your body with new and unfamiliar movements. It can also prevent exercise-related injuries, as you’re working different muscle groups and using different parts of your body for each activity. And, taking group fitness classes is an awesome way to meet people. Studies have shown that exercising with other people increasing the level of endorphins that we release during a workout, keeping us coming back for more!  Some universities even let you take sports or fitness classes for CREDIT! You pretty much just have to show up. Good motivation if you find it hard to get out of bed and to the gym, or wouldn’t otherwise have time to exercise.

If you’ve been doing the same 45 minute elliptical workout for the past few months (or few years!) it’s time to switch things up. Here are a few ideas to add a little mix to your workout: Read More »

So you’re determined to get those rock-hard, washboard, Jessica Alba abs. And you even stepped up the intensity of your workout by increasing those crunches and sit-ups to ensure that your stomach is flat in no time.

Well, its time to stop that.
Right now.

Turns out, crunches are not good for you.

I know you’ve spent your whole life thinking those painful and annoying little exercises were getting you one step closer to a Britney body (circa 2001), but, sadly, the main thing that crunches do is crunch your spine. And yes that really is as bad as it sounds. According to and article in the New York Times, the way to visualize this concept is to “think of the spine as a fishing rod supported by muscular guy wires. If all of the wires are tensed equally, the rod stays straight.” However, focusing only on the deep abdominal muscles can cause the spine to buckle. To avoid this, it is important to strengthen the entire core. Read More »