Get Fit for the New Year

The holiday office party and the New Year's Eve festivities with family and friends probably did nothing for your figure. But don't fret. Here are five simple exercises you can do at home, or even at your office, to help you lose belly fat and look spectacular in the New Year.

Dancing:- Dancing is an excellent cardiovascular exercise and it doesn't require a lot of work to do. Get your "Happy Feet" this year by putting on your favorite tunes, then move your feet, and swing those arms and hips.

Lower Body Exercises:- These exercises are simple to do and don't require fancy equipment. Just make some space, grab a chair, and let the lower body toning begin.

• * Squats are an excellent exercise because they strengthen the front of your thighs, tone the back of the legs, and they firm your glutes, which gives your derriere its nice shape.
• Lunges are another great exercise to tone and strengthen the muscles of your legs and glutes.

Upper Body Exercises:- If you're going to be showing those arms, these exercises are crucial.

• Overhead arm extensions with a medium sized weight will take that wiggle off the back of the arm. This will get the underside of your arms toned and tight. Good-bye flabby. Hello firm.
• Side arm lifts work your deltoid muscle and gives your shoulder its nice shape. Arms are great to tone and sculpt because you can incorporate a lot of simple moves for great results.
• Don't forget to tone your chest and back with a few push-ups.

Stretching:- You can do some basic stretches at home that will give you the same calming results. Try this first thing in the morning or after a long day. You'll love it.

• From a standing position, take a few deep breaths. Drawing in your stomach, take in a deep breath while bringing your arms out to the side and then overhead as if reaching for the stars.
• Take another deep breath, then lower your arms out to the side while cascading downward with a slight bend in the knee, just like a swan diving down into a calm sea.

Abdominal/core exercises:- There are so many ways to work your mid-section, but the following exercise is perfect for flattening your front.

• Lying on your back, bend your legs with the soles of your feet on the floor. Now, lift your feet with calves parallel to the floor. Place your palms behind your head, then take your right elbow toward your left knee, and straighten your right leg parallel to the floor, toes pointed forward. Hold for a count of four. Now switch sides with left elbow toward right knee, holding again. Hold for two, then do singles, or go back to a count of four, and you will feel your mid-section crunch and tighten.
• Remember: always begin any exercise by drawing in your stomach. The benefits of the “draw in maneuver” cannot be over emphasized as this stabilizes the body, brings your core into alignment, and over time, helps to flatten the abdominals.

It's never too late to begin to change your life, so start today by adding these simple moves to your routine and jump-start your new year!

The Fittest Year Of Your Life

It's time to build a great new body and lose belly fat. There are great ways you can achieve this, season to season. By exercising three to five times a week for at least 30 minutes, you can have the body you want in no time.

Winter: Base-Building and Boredom-Busting

You have to build a solid foundation of strength and cardiovascular health before you can move on to more intense and more fun activities. Start here.

Be Spontaneous - You can do anything you feel like, for 30 minutes to an hour. For cardio, follow the guidelines outlined above. For strength, keep your weights low, or just do one set of each exercise, mixing them as you please without thinking about what's coming next.

Schedule Breaks - Avoid burnout. Every 4 weeks ease up during the last week. That will give your body time to absorb the work you've been doing. Your muscles get time to repair themselves, and you'll be more ready for the workouts to come.

Spring: High-Intensity Fat-Burning

The party starts when winter is over. Now you can kick your program into gear by increasing your intensity. Here's how to ramp up your routine.

Climb High - Try pyramid intervals to push your body to new levels of intensity. You can do them as running sprints, on a treadmill, bike, or elliptical. Warm up, then do a short burst of 15 seconds, and slow down your intensity for 30 seconds. Next, sprint for 30 seconds, then jog for 45 seconds, sprint for a minute, then jog for a minute. Then take the time sets back down again. Repeat for 15 to 30 minutes.

Speed-Up Sets - Alternate between cardio and strength training in 5-minute bouts. Use a different cardio machine each time and alternate between two different strength exercises for 5 minutes. For example, do 10 to 15 reps of a bench press and then 10 to 15 squats. Without resting, head back to the bench press for another set. After 5 minutes, get on the elliptical machine for 5 minutes before tackling two more alternating strength exercises.

Summer: Maintenance

This is when you make time for those long, leisurely outdoor workouts by cutting out one or two heavy sweat sessions. It's fine to cut back on your frequency, but to maintain your fitness level you have to maintain your intensity with at least two high-intensity workouts a week.

Take 10 - Ten minutes may not be enough for staff meetings or back massages, but it's all you need if you want to jog on the beach, because you can burn twice as many calories working in the sand.

Fall: Preholiday Prep

As the season changes, you'll want to step up your routine by adding at least another day of exercise, so you're training 3 to 5 days a week again. You also might want to add some intensity before the holidays eat up all your time.

Pump Out Those Endorphins - Multiple studies show that aerobic exercise helps beat and prevent depression because it causes you to release endorphins. So squeeze in at least three good cardio workouts each week to stay happy.