Feature: How To Exercise In A Small Apartment

I spoke with Rent (of Redfin) the other day and gave them some of my super simple tips on how to build out your workout space in a small apartment! I did this for years and honestly got in great shape when combined with hitting my protein and steps. You do NOT need a lot of space but you also need to make sure you don’t waste the limited amount of space you have with the wrong equipment.

Check out my advice on Rent. for space-saving workout tips:

How to Exercise in a Small Apartment.

EQUIPMENT FREE HIIT WORKOUT

Holy crap, I just realized that it's been so long since i've given you guys a at home workout to do! LOS SIENTO!

I have been doing a lot more workouts at home lately because I have class pass as of right now which is great but I also only get a certain amount of classes per month so on the days in between I have been doing either hikes or some kind of at home workout that gets me to SWEAT. 

This has been my latest go to because I've been trying to work on toning my legs more so this is great for:

• TONING YOUR ASS
• INNER THIGHS
• HAMSTRINGS
• OVERALL FAT BURN

DO 3 ROUNDS:

10 BURPEES WITH A PUSH UP

2. SPLIT LUNGES 15 X'S EACH SIDE 

3. 15 JUMP SQUATS

4. 20 TRICEP DIPS

5. 15 JUMP LUNGES

6. 15 INCLINE PUSH UPS

7. 10 STEP UPS ON EACH SIDE 

Prepare to sweat, get an instant booty pump, and tone those legs! Keep your mind on those fitness goals baby girrrrl!

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HOW TO GET TONED, SEXY ARMS

I get that it's December and everyone's in sweaters but STILL is there anything better than getting inside, taking your sweater off and being able to show off your super toned, sexy arms?

Unfortunately, my job missed the memo that it's WINTER so we're forced to wear sleeveless dresses, at night, every night, in 60 degree weather SO I've been a little more on my game in the upper body department. 

Thanks work...I guess.

But my arms fluctuate like a motha so when I actually start to work on them, people notice pretty quick. 

I've realized that it really doesn't take much for us girls to show off some lean arms, it's just that we never really give them enough work for them to change.

I mean, it makes sense right? We can't keep complaining that we don't like our arms and then admit to everyone that we only do spin class, you know? Doesn't really make sense. 

So in three weeks I've managed to tone up thanks to a few exercises twice a week + my MRM supplement L-Carnitine....!!

Alright, start doing this 30 minute arm workout twice a week plus some cardio in between and you'll notice sexier arms in less than 2 weeks. 

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ARM WORKOUT:

PART ONE (set your timer for 7 minutes and continue to do these exercises until the timer goes off).

- 20 Push ups

- 15 Squats + Overhead press (10-20 pounds)

- 20 Triceps Dips

- 15 Burpees + a push up

PART TWO (set your timer for 7 minutes and continue to do these exercises until the timer goes off).

- 30 'Girl Pushups' (keep your feet lifted above your bum and your elbows in tight next to the sides of your body).

- 16 Commandos

- 50 Mario Carts (Hold a 10 pound weight directly out in front of you and rotate it from side to side like your steering a wheel. You will start to feel a burn in your shoulders).

- 15 Side lateral shoulder raises.

NOW...go back and do part one again, then move on to do part 2 a second time. The whole workout should take about 30 minutes. 

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HERE'S TRICK NUMBER TWO...

L-CARNITINE. This is a product that I SWEAR by from MRM-USA. I take a cap full every morning before I hit the gym and I TOTALLY notice a difference in my focus and energy, as well as how fast I tone up. 

L-Carnitine is meant to basically start allowing your body to use your fat sources as FUEL during your workouts. This way you start to burn way more fat which allows you to slim down. 

I've been taking it religiously for a few months now and I just started taking a cap and a half, but start with one for a while and notice how much different you feel!

If you want to get the MRM L-Carnitine that I use, then you can get it here for 40% off when you just use my code CHELSEY at checkout! 40% off! That's amazing!

TRICK NUMBER THREE:

As much as I know we want to just do a bunch of sit ups and get abs, I know people assume the same thing when it comes to arms, or getting a bigger ass. We want to think that we can do what is called "spot tone" which means we like to think that we can just do a bunch of squats and get a whole new ass or do a million biceps curls and get new arms. 

BUT, as much as it does help FOR SURE, we still need to incorporate cardio. Cardio allows us to burn calories ALL OVERA OUR BODY. This will reduce fat in our arms, abs, and ass, all at the same time. Winning right?

So start doing 45 minutes of cardio every other day. You can run outside, swim, ride a bike, walk uphill on the treadmill, do the elliptical...whatever you want. 

Monday - 45 minutes steady state cardio.

Tuesday - 30 Minute Arms Workout

Wednesday - Rest Day

Thursday - 45 minutes Steady State Cardio

Friday - 30 Minute Arms Workout

Saturday - 45 Minutes Steady State Cardio

Sunday - Rest Day 

Let me know how it goes! XOXO

4 OF MY FAVORITE FAT BURNING, ASS BUILDING, OUTDOOR EXERCISES.

This post is for everyone out there who is like me and thinks working out your legs and actually making them thinner is maybe the hardest thing on the fucking planet.

Luckily, after about a million episodes of trial and error, I've been able to pluck out the exercises that ACTUALLY lift my ass and ACTUALLY made me feel like the workout was worth my time. 

There's gotta be around 9 jillion exercises that you see, or try, or hear about but there's only a few that you really need to lock down.

Then, all you need to do is do 3 rounds of them X amount of times, 4-5 times a week, and you'll start to see that line that separates your quad from your hamstring, and you'll reduce the signs of a mom butt. Sound good?

Let's get into it. 

1. STEP UPS

Do 20 reps on one leg, then move to the other side. If you want more of a challenge, hold a dumbbell in each hand. TIP: Make sure that you lift your foot that's on the bench UP just an inch or so before you go for another rep. If you keep weight on that foot all the time then you start to use your floor planted leg more and don't get as good of a booty pump.

2. CRAB WALK

Do a regular squat then stay low and step out to the right, squat again, step back to the middle, then step out to the left and squat. Yeah bish. Do 20 reps. Each squat is 1 rep. 

3. JUMPING LUNGES

Lunge so that both legs are in a 90-degree angle (make sure that your knees don't go over your toes). Jump up, switch your legs and land in another lunge. Do 20 reps.

4. 180 Jump Squat

Do a squat, then jump up and twist, landing in a squat facing the other way. From here I personally like to jump back up and twist the same way, but you can twist whatever way you want. I feel like going the same way is a little less of a dizzy disaster. 

TIP: Pick a thing to catch your eye in each direction, also helps from falling over.

Do 20 reps. 

7 LOW IMPACT EXERCISES FOR THE BOOTY

A lot of you are looking for booty exercises, because duh.

Someone specifically though asked for booty and leg exercises to do if you're someone that has weak/bad knees so I wanted to show you my favs!! I also have SUPER bad knees. 

Iv'e already had surgery on one knee and i'm pretty sure I need it again in my other knee considering it hurts all the time. 

TIP : Try foam rolling your IT band (outer part of your leg in between your knee and hip). Sometime if this is really tight, which it is on most of us, it till start to pull on your knee which obviously causes discomfort. 

Alrighty, so actually good knees or bad knees, these are some of my FAVORITE booty exercises. To really get the most out of these you need to SQUUUUUUUEZE your glutes and think "small, controlled movements" Not fast and sloppy and all over the place. A lof of this is inspired from barre classes to think ELEGANT, STRETCH, CONTRACT. Lets go. 

PS, this workout steez is from YOGASMOGA, and it's suuuuper effing comfy. Like the comfiest. Can't wait to get more of their stuff because it's also super cute!

1. Inner Thigh Squeezes

Put one foot in front of you and one foot behind you and bend your knees so that both legs are at a 90-degree angle. 

From here, keep your back foot still and pointed forward while you use your inner thigh muscles to squeeze your back leg in. 

30 TIMES ONE SIDE THEN GO TO THE OTHER SIDE. 

2. Goblet Squats 

Start in a "chair" position, keeping all your weight in your heels.

Slowly lower your booty towards the ground ALWAYS making sure that your knees don't go over your toes. Keep them over your heels as much as possible. 

When you raise up make sure that you push through your heels which will trigger those booty muscles!

DO 20. 

3. Pulsing Lunges

Step into a wide lunge so that your back heel is off the ground. 

Bring your hips straight down keeping your weight even between your front heel and back toes (NOT YOUR FRONT TOES)!

Make sure that when you go down your knee is directly above your heel.

Going up and down is 1 rep. DO 20 ON EACH SIDE. 

4. Diagonal Leg Lifts

While you do this I want you to picture someone pulling your foot towards the back corner of the room. STRETCCCCCH your entire leg by pointing your toe as hard as you can.

GO SLOW.

Raise your leg, squeezing your glute at the top, then lower down slowly, barely tap the ground then slowly raise up again. This will feel like nothing if you don't angle your leg and point your toe so DO THAT. 

Up and Down is 1 rep. DO 20 ON EACH SIDE. 

5. Fire Hydrants

Cute name right? lol. You'll start with both of your knees on the ground but once you start you don;t put your knee back on the ground until you've finished all your reps and switch to the other side. 

This exercise along with the last one is going to build your gluteus medius which gives you that bubble butt. HOLLA. 

Keeping your knee bent, raise and lower your leg, SQUEEEZING your booty at the top of each rep.

Make sure you're not swinging your hips. Keep them still, let your booty do all the work.

DO 30 ON EACH SIDE. 

6. Single Leg Glute Bridges 

Keep one foot on the ground while you raise your other leg to the sky. 

Use your planted foot to raise and lower yourself. Just tap your booty on the ground when you lower, don't lay your whole back down. No breaks here, sorry!

DO 20 EACH SIDE.

7. Baby Donkey Kicks 

Get your leg in a 90-degree angle behind you and raise your knee so that it's in line with your booty. I like to do these in front of a mirror so that I can see if I'm lined up.

Pulse your leg up and down 1 INCH. It's a very small movement but it's great for building those little tiny muscle fibers that will give you a great plump up! Squeeze when you pulse up and slightly relax when you go down.

DO 60 EACH SIDE!

Do all the exercises back to back! Take a 30 second break after the baby donkey kicks then do the circuit again! I recommend doing it a total of 3-4 times!

xoxo CR

15 MINUTE LEG BLASTER - The Resource Girls

We’ve all been there - It’s Saturday, you’re running errands, cleaning house and trying to catch up on your DVR while laundry is going.

The time of your dinner reservations is looming closer and closer. You had every intention of working out but with minimal time to shower and straighten your hair the chances that a workout will happen are decreasing by the minute. Fear not, the Resource Girls have your back.

We hate anything over complicated and expensive and our workouts are no exception. We’ve put together a little fifteen minute leg burnout that will have you feeling like a million bucks in your skinny jeans and still have you making that dinner reservation on time. 

What More Could A Girl Want?!

For this fifteen sweat sesh you’ll just need a clock, cell phone timer or some kind of stopwatch. There are five moves you will do for one minute each then repeat two more times for a total of three five minute blocks. Every minute on the minute you will change exercises.

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1. Left Leg Dip

Wide squat position, rotate your left knee towards the ground while keeping shoulders and hips square and facing forward with hands behind your head. Once you come back to squat position dip right back down.

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2. Right Leg Dip:

Same as number one but use your right leg this time.

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3. Air Squats

Feet hip width apart, sit back so butt and legs are parallel to the ground. Make sure head and chest are up and your weight is in your heels. Keep your arms straight ahead and simply squat up and down for the full minute.

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4. Ballet Squats

Keep heels glued together and balance on your toes with heels lifted. Bend over so hands are touching the ground, if you can’t reach the ground use a yoga block, hand weights or even your heels if you’re doing this in your bedroom. Then simply squat down and back up with legs straight, always keeping on your tip-toes and keeping your heels locked together. Tell yourself you have the winning lottery ticket between your heels and you cannot let go!

Step One

Step 2:

Step 3:

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5. Lunge With A Kick:

Alternating legs lunge back and kick forward. Make sure to keep shoulders and hip square and try to keep your kicking leg straight and extend all the way through the kick.

Step One:

Step Two: (Don't Forget The Facial Expressions)

Again, do each exercise for one minute and then repeat the entire set two more times. Thanks for sweating with us. We hope this mini leg blaster has your night off to a kickin’ start!

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Cat and Lauren are two best friends who have a lifestyle blog, www.theresourcegirls.com. They blog about what they like to call their 5 F’s - fashion, fitness, finance, food and friendship. How perfect is that?! Their goal is to empower women to be the best version of themselves while embracing the qualities that make them unique and never spending a fortune while doing so.

Be Resourceful. Be You. XOXO

HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING "GAME"

This is my version of a game :) The point here is to work for TIME. Throughout this game you will run for a total of one mile and you will be doing strength training.

Make sure you record your time every time you do it and challenge yourself to improve.

You will run as far as you can for 2 minutes. As soon as you hit 2 minutes you will pause the treadmill or you will stop at that point on the track – this way you don’t lose track of how far you’ve ran. Then you will go into the circuit strength training and when you’re done with that you will pick up where you left off with running and run for another 2 minutes. You will continue this cycle until you complete one mile of running. SO if you run really slow for 2 minutes then it is going to take you longer to finish the mile meaning that you’re going to have to do more circuits. Get it?!

THE CIRCUIT

10 push ups

20 box jumps

30 mountain climbers

 

USE A BOSU BALL TO WORK YOUR ENTIRE BODY

Try this exercise for the next two weeks!

Warm up on the stair master for 10 minutes, level 6

Bosu Ball Alternating Taps

(Start standing to the left of the bosu ball with your left foot on the ground and your right foot in the center of the bosu ball. You will stay low the entire time like you’re in chair pose, so bend that left knee and stick that butt out so that your knee is ALWAYS above your ankle. Now quickly do a 2 step shuffle across the bosu ball – staying low -and tap your right foot on the ground keeping your left foot in the center of the bosu ball. Quickly go back and forth.)

20 reps

Bosu Back Lunges

(Start with the bosu ball in front of you and get in a proper lunge with your left foot on the ball and your right foot on the ground behind you. Use your legs to push yourself up towards the bosu ball, taping your right foot on the ball then returning your right foot back behind you straight into a lunge. You should really start to feel this in your left glute. Keep your upper body up, don’t let your chest move towards your thigh.)

10 reps each side

Bosu Around the World

This is like cardio so move fast! Alternate toe taps on the side of the bosu ball as you move around the bosu ball in a circle.

100 reps

Bosu Squats

(Flip the bosu over so that the ball is on the ground. Now carefully stand on the flat part of the bosu ball. This will strengthen your entire body and improve your balance quickly over time. Spread your feet to about the width of the handles and squat down. It will be tough the first few times, just make sure you keep proper form)

10 reps

Bosu Arms

Grab 2 5lb dumbbells and step back onto the flat part of the bosu ball. Stand with your feet hip width apart with a slight bend in your knees.

15 Biceps Curls

15 Side Lateral Raises (Shoulders)

Bend slightly at the waist, keeping your back flat, Do 15 Triceps Kickbacks

Bosu Push-Ups

Keeping the ball side down and the flat part up, grab the sides of the bosu ball and knock out some push ups

5 reps

Finish with 20 minutes of cardio, your choice.

YOU LITERALLY CAN, BUILD A BOOTY.

I’m excited for this week with you guys because I’m going to fill you in on a little something that I learned about two years ago. Ready? Okay. So get this…you can actually build…your butt.

I know, I know, groundbreaking news. Why I never considered this as an option up until then is beyond me. 

Now I understand that this concept is so obvious but it wasn’t until I saw some before and after pictures of my friend that I realized the difference a girl can make for herself. Since then I have adopted some prime booty moves into my workout 3-4times a week and it has definitely paid off. 

So your butt has three main muscles  - gluteus medius, gluteus maximus and gluteus minimus. The gluteus maximus is the biggest and strongest muscle in your body which means that there is a lot of room for growth there! It makes up the main squishy party of your bum while the gluteus medius builds the upper portion and the gluteus minimus is what creates that lift in the lower half.

Try to do this full booty workout 3-4 times this week and from here on out be sure to add it to your weekly routine!

If anything is too easy make sure you grab some heavier weights! The last 3 reps of each exercise should be difficult if you are using an appropriate weight. 

You got this

- 1-LEGGED SQUATS X 20 (GLUTEUS MAXIMUS)

Put one or both hands on a bar or a wall. Put all of your weight on your right leg and lift your left leg off the ground and extend it straight out in front of you. 

- Keeping your back straight and your shoulders back, squat down into your right leg making your thigh parallel with the ground.

- Squat back up keeping your left leg off the ground and extended out

- Repeat 20 times on the right then switch to the left.

- For more of a challenge – hold a weight in the opposite hand of the leg you are squatting and get LOW!

- SIDE HIP ABDUCTORS x 20 (GLUTEUS MINIMUS AND MEDIUS)

- Start out lying on your left side with your legs straight, your feet stacked and use your left hand to support your head.

- Keeping your leg straight, lift your right leg into the air making sure that you keep your toes pulled back.

- Bring it up to a 45-degree angle then slowly lower back down towards your left leg but don’t set it down all the way until you have done all 20

- Repeat for 20 on the other side.

- 1-LEGGED DEAD LIFTS x 20 (GLUTEUS MAXIMUS)

Put all of your weight on your right leg.

- Grab two dumb bells or one barbell and start off standing with all you weight on your right leg. 

- Hold the weights down and in front of your legs and lift your left foot slightly off the ground.

- Then slowly hinge at your waist bringing the weights down towards your feet and your left foot back and towards the sky.

- Keep your shoulders back and your back flat

- Slowly move back up to the starting position keeping your left leg off the ground until you have done all 20 reps. Then switch legs.

- DIRTY DOGS x 20 (GLUTEUS MEDIUS)

- Get down on your hands and knees and start by lifting your right leg out to the side

- Keep it bent in the same position the entire time! (It’s as if you’re using a fire hydrant like your pup, hence the name of this exercise) Sounds silly but it kills.

- Bring it back in to the starting position but don’t set your knee on the ground until you have done all 20 reps! Do your best to get your inner thigh parallel to the floor when you lift it out to the side.

- FRONT/SIDE/REVERSE LUNGES x 15 (GLUTEUS MAXIMUS)

- Hold a weight in each hand OR grab a barbell and rest it on your shoulders. 

- Stand with feet hip distance apart and start by stepping forward with your left foot into a lunge putting both legs into a 90-degree angle.

- Push through your left heel back to the starting position and immediately step out to the left for a side lunge.

- Push through the left heel again back to the starting position then immediately step the left foot backwards into a lunge.

- Return to the starting position and continue into the forward lunge.

Repeat this process of forwards, side and back for a total of 15 reps on each leg.

- CLAM EXERCISE x 20 (GLUTEUS MEDIUS AND MINIMUS)

- Start by lying down on your left side with your legs stacked and slightly bent in a 90-degree angle so that your feet are close to your bottom.

-  Use your left hand to support your head.

- Keeping your feet together and your knees bent, lift your right knee

up, hold for a second then lower back down.

- Repeat this for a total of 20 times then switch sides.