Favorite Workouts for Spring

Over the last month, I've really started to notice that sitting all day in class and at home studying is starting to show in how my back and legs feel. It's become clear that I'm going to have to step it up and do more walking, stretching, and exercising this month! Here are five of my favorite workouts that I've found lately. 

The Ultimate 30-Minute Cardio Pilates Workout!

This workout is a doozy! It makes your arms, legs, and abs burn and gets your heart rate up. My goal for the month is to make it through whole the workout. Right now, I do well until the last ten minutes and then I turn to jello! This is perfect for when you want to work everything, but don't want to spend forever or do a bunch of different workouts to get it done.

How To Yoga Stretches for Low Back Pain & Sciatica Relief by Jen Hilman

The last couple weeks I've had issues with one of my legs going numb from sciatic entrapment. This video is short but seems to be helping loosen my tight muscles and relieve the pressure on that nerve.

4 Back-Strengthening Moves | The Yoga Solution With Tara Stiles

Last week in my classes we learned about transfers and about the kinesiology of our back muscles. I never realized before how important it is to protect our backs from injury! Little back strengthening workouts like this one, along with using good body mechanics, can help keep you and your back happy and healthy.

Yoga for Women - Yoga For Cramps and PMS

Love my Yoba with Adriene! We all need this sometimes.

Little Black Dress Boot Camp - Total Body Sculpting Workout

I haven't tried this workout yet, but I tried a fitness blender workout this week and love it! The videos are very straight-forward and tell you at the beginning how many exercises you'll be doing, how long you'll be doing them, and how many rounds. You will need your own music though since there's none in the video. I've been in a dresses and skirts mood, so I thought this workout would be perfect!

Get Fit in 2015 using Youtube

At the beginning of January, most of us make New Year's resolutions. For some of us these resolution have to do with losing weight or getting healthier in the upcoming year.

This year, one of my resolutions is to not just to get skinny but to get healthy.

Since learning almost all the muscles in my OT school anatomy class and being a nutrition major in undergraduate, I have such an appreciation for our bodies. I don't want to just be slim, I want to take care of myself and live well for a long time.

That means strengthening my heart with cardio and doing strength training to strengthen both my muscles and my bones. My plan is to exercise for 30 minutes every day that I can, and if I can't work out for 30 minutes to at least do something even if it's just for 5 minutes. Hopefully that'll help me make taking care of my body part of my lifestyle.

If you're like me though, you get bored doing the same workout video or exercise machine for thirty minutes. My solution the last couple months has been to break it up using fitness videos from youtube. My favorite are from popsugar, and they last 5 to 10 minutes. I combine a few videos, and before I know it my workout is over.

Here are a few of my favorite videos for beginners. I like to work out by focusing on one area a day. For example, I'll have an arms day, legs day, abs day, back day, and flexibility day, so I've tried to structure the list by areas. I also try to throw in at least one cardio video everyday, but you can structure your workouts however works best for you!

Warm-Ups

•  Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Ultimate Warmup

•  Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Cardio Warmup

Cardio

• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Jump Rope Workout
• My favorite
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute At-Home Cardio Sweat Workout
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Cardio Tai Box Workout
• This one is great if you want to work out some frustration!
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Bombay Jam Bollywood Dance Workout!
• So I don't have the coordination for this one, but if you love to dance this one is for you!
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Become Beyonce Dance Workout
• Because who doesn't want to be Queen Bey?

Arms

• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Tightest Arms in Town 
• This one is my absolute favorite! Perfect for beginners.
• Popsugar Fitness: 5-Minute Sexy, Sculpted Arm Workout 
• Since this one is only 5 minutes I usually do it twice along with the first arms video. You could also do it with heavier weights if you want to challenge yourself but only have 5 minutes.

Legs/Butt

• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Pilates Butt Workout
• My favorite. I can feel it working!
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute The Ultimate Inner Thigh Workout
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Leg and Butt Toning Workout

Abs

• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Abs and Core Without Crunches Workout
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Pilates Ab Workout, Define Your Midline
• This one is challenging for me! It's definitely effective though.
• Popsugar Fitness: 5-Minute Crop Top Workout 

Back/Shoulders

• Popsugar Fitness: 6-Minute 6 Exercises to Strengthen Your Back
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Bikini Workout, Arms and Shoulders
• Shoulders can be tough! It's definitely ok to start with smaller 2 or 3 pound weights.

Cool Down

• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Full Body Stretching Exercises
• I'm so inflexible. I need a good stretch at the end of my workouts.

Flexibility/Yoga

• Tara Stiles: 10-Minute Basic Breathing Beginner Yoga
• If you've never tried yoga before this is the video to start with. What I love about yoga is the focus on breathing and the slower pace of movement. Afterwards I always feel very calm and focused.
• Tara Stiles: 10-Minute Flexibility and Range of Motion Beginner Yoga
• Popsugar Fitness: 10-Minute Vinyasa Flow Workout

So obviously I'm a little obsessed with the Popsugar fitness videos! These videos are just what I like though. With all the videos out there on youtube you're sure to find fitness videos that work for you. If you want something a little different, Greatist has a really interesting, fun list of the best free workout videos on youtube. Hopefully, this gives you some ideas to get you started on your way to a fitter 2015. I'd love to hear what your favorite youtube workouts are!