Jun 26 2012

3 Weeks To Awesome – 10 Minute Leg Workout

This is day 2 of the 3 week program to hit your fitness goal. We’re going to hit legs and challenge your balance to burn fat, boost your coordination, build your base strength and rev up your metabolism.

This workout is designed for beginners, but the 3 week program is designed for beginners AND advanced exercisers. If you are more advanced, you can choose from any one of the killer leg workouts here at BPM.Tv.

The program focus will be the same over the next 3 weeks no matter what level you are at currently. The workouts will be different depending on your ability.

I was recently in a car accident so I am regressing my workouts while I recuperate. This beginner level is where I truly am at currently, until I heal. I am doing these workouts in real time right along with you. If you are getting back into exercise after an injury or after a period of being inactive, then the workouts I am creating specifically for this program are for you.

Starting a new fitness routine can be intimidating, but I want you to overcome the fear and find the strength to try. I am guiding you through it over the next 3 weeks. I will be doing all the reps and sets with you in real time. This workout requires no equipment – all you need is a chair or ottoman of some sort.

Get moving!

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You – Fitness Program Day 2

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You – Fitness Program Day 2

If you are more advanced, choose another workout from BPM.Tv that focuses on the same muscle group. Today we are hitting legs, so if you are more advanced pick a workout from the Tighten & Lighten: Top Exercises for Your Glutes section or the Press On: Thigh Trimming Exercises section. You could also choose any of the workouts from the Hams and Quads sections.

This is one of my personal favorite advanced leg workouts: Body Work – Working Girl Leg Workout

In addition to the workouts I am posting for this program, you will also have a super power to develop each day.

Reaching a fitness goal, no matter what goal it is, is going to require you go above and beyond your capabilities. You are going to need to challenge yourself. You are going to need to invoke your super powers. This 3 week program will help you identify what your super power are, then go beyond that to help you to develop them.

This 3 week program isn’t just going to train you physically. This program will be training you mentally and emotionally as well. It really is for all levels, not just for beginners. Even advanced exercisers can benefit from understanding how things like form, nutrition, hydration, rest, flexibility, time management, stress level and attitude affect their goals.

It is these important parts of fitness that will help you to integrate fitness into all aspects of your life. Focusing on making fitness your lifestyle, not just something you do, will result in you living this way organically for the long haul. In time, you may even find yourself teaching others how to embrace this same lifestyle.

We will go over nutrition in more detail during the program, but to truly maximize the results you really should back it up with smaller portion sizes and more frequent meals. I know you have heard that before. That’s because it works. I want you to really try it. Not just for a day. Not just for a week. I want you to really try it for the entire 3 weeks, then see if you can keep it going long afterwards.

Eating small portions 6-8 times per day will have a dramatic impact on your metabolism. Take a few minutes to go through the food and diet section of the site to read about nutrition.

Also, make sure to develop the super power I give you during this program each day. No matter what level you are at currently, it truly will be your focus on these seemingly smaller things that will supercharge your fitness efforts.

Finally, if you know anyone who would benefit from this workout – family, friends etc I hope that you will share it with them.

xoxo ~ Cori

Workout Breakdown

	Time: 10 minutes.
	Workout Type: Time challenge.
	Workout Exercises: 3.

Get your gear:

No gear needed. Just your own body and a decision to get it done.

Buy the same nutrition products as me:

	PROTEIN Get your protein here
	SUPER GREENS Get your super greens here
	Peanut Butter Get your PB2 here
	EGG WHITES Get your egg whites here
	Tea Get your tea here

Invoke Your Super Power: Hydration

Yesterday you learned about hydration and maybe you started to take action, or thought about taking action. Today I want you to really take action. Learning about it is the first step. Putting that knowledge to work is the next step. Today it is time for you to do more than just think about it. Today I want you to do it.

If you haven’t already, read and watch this post on hydration: How Much Water Do You Drink Each Day?

This is going to be the first super power that you invoke over this 3 week process. You are going to make this a part of your lifestyle every day. You are not going to just hydrate properly for these first few days, then go back to your old ways. This is a turning point. From this point forward you are going to change the way you hydrate your body. Permanently.

I drink a total of 2 gallons each day. That doesn’t mean that it is the right amount for you, but I do want you to make sure you drink at least 1 gallon each day. It is very likely that you need more than 1 gallon of water each day while you are exercising. Read through the post, define an amount of water you can commit to, then do it.

Follow Through

I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.

Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.

Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.

You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?

Cardio

I recently cut my cardio to a minimum of 30 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio 5 days per week.

When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day, but one session is really more like light activity and less like cardio.

I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it.

The pay off is that I feel awesome. It might take me a little longer to build muscle because I do love my cardio, but it’s the cardio that helps me to keep focused and positive for the long haul. It’s important to know what keeps you motivated for the long haul too. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.

Post Workout Nutrition

When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.

When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.

I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.

Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.

Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.

You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.

Cori Ann’s Prepping Fat Loss Diet:

You can click on the image above to link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.

This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.

My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.

My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).

That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.

I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.

Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!

Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!

Try to come up with a way to make the exercises even more challenging! Try to have better form than me! Let’s inspire each other.

By Cori Ann Lentz • Workouts • 15 • Tags: Hams, Legs, Lunges, Press On: Thigh Trimming Exercises, Quads, Squats, Tighten & Lighten: Top Exercises for Your Glutes, Workout