Check out Celebrity Trainer Valerie Walters workout for Women's Health Magazine

I'll admit it, I've fallen off the exercise wagon.  I've never been an excited to go to the gym kind of girl.  I even use to dread PE in school.  But last year my number one goal was to find a realistic routine I would actually do that would get real results (meaning better overall health by increasing activity and building more muscle).


I started with pilates videos with blogilaties the beginning of last year than moved on to dance cardio.  I learned later that the dance cardio was not only very challenging to learn but was probably making my low metabolism worse by shocking my system (too much exercise can be seen as stress on your body and cause you to produce to much of the hormone cortisol which causes you to keep your fat especially in your tummy).  It also had the possibility of causing unnecessary wear and tear on my body.

I finally found my grove last spring after I started working out at a gym once a week.   At the gym I would warm up for about 5 min on the elliptical machine and then I did just weights, followed by 5 min on the elliptical.  In the summer while my gym is closed (I work out at a community center that closes every summer), I  did  Jillian Micheal's 30 day shred level 1 video with cardio and weights twice a week and went on a lot more walks with my husband.  In the fall I went back to the gym and felt really confident about it.    But in the winter I don't sign up for the gym I go to because I only have a 2 hr once a week chance to go and chances are the roads will be bad and I won't be able to go.  Plus I try to limit my driving in the winter here in MN.

I planed to work out at home via videos like I did in the summer.  Since I stuck with it in the summer I wasn't worried about sticking with it in the winter.  But I think I was truly unmotivated due to the lack of having good videos. I no longer was excited about the Jillian Micheal's video I was using before.  I realized after learning more about fitness that it's a good video to get some cardio and a little weights but I don't feel it's very efficient at building muscle in a short period of time which is what I need.  Big results for little time.  I'm not saying the Shred video is bad.  I'm likely to still use it, but it's not good enough to be the only work out video I use. 

I really need a video to work out with to motivate me.  It's like my gym buddy.  Some people do fine doing a set of movements on their own.  Not me.  Luckily I discovered celebrity trainer Valerie Walters has some pretty kick ass videos on You tube in conjecture with Livestrong Women.   She is officially my new exercise crush.  She has trained many celebrities (Cindy Crawford and JLow, just to name a few). I like that her exercises use very few pieces of equipment and the ones she does use are very common, small, and inexpensive.  I like to fit as much of my exercise equipment as I can in my closet and under out TV counsel.
She also incorporates exercises that get your heart rate up, are low impact, and  build muscle alongside traditional free weight exercises. My kind of work out!

If you plan to follow Valerie's videos you'll probably want to either buy her Valslides or furniture sliders.  Basically what I think happened is she had some furniture movers and realized that they are great for workouts so she had some made and marketed as valslides.  I'm sure her's are made a little better for working out but at 4X the price of furniture sliders probably not worth it in my opinion.  So I bought these furniture sliders on Amazon for $12.50 for 4 (you can workout with a friend or spouse or give the other pair as a gift or just keep it around for moving furniture) and they work just great.  Best part about it is you can also use it to move furniture.  There are also a ton of exercises videos on you tube using furniture sliders so your sure to find inspiration on how to use them. 

" Most people confuse stretching for is actually what is referred to as “passive insufficiency.” And if you watch most people that are doing a “hurdler’s stretch,” for instance, you a “tugging” sensation in the hamstring muscle but this is not really true stretching. You’re just placing that muscle in a very extended position where it cannot actively contract because the opposing musculature is placed in a position of full contraction. And that produces a sensation of tugging that most people mistake as “stretching.” If you watch people stretch their lats – they’ll raise their arm over their head and bend to one side – it produces a stretching sensation, but you’re not actually stretching the lat. What you’re doing is externally rotating the scapula, so that the point of the shoulder blade is digging into the belly of the latissimus muscle and producing a sensation of pulling or tugging, which is mistaken as stretching. But it’s not stretching – you’re just taking a pointy bony prominence and pushing it into the belly of the muscle."

 So warming up is something I am still learning about I am by no means an exercise expert yet), but I do know the old ideal of streatching is not only a waste of time but could make you more likely to get injured.  That doesn't mean you don't stretch out you just do in a different way then was previously thought.  The most likely best way to warm up is to do dynamic streatching.  Valerie has a warm up video (which you can view below) She uses yoga moves for her warm up and then moves on to some other exercise/streaching moves, which I believe would be dynamic streatching.  If I'm incorrect please let me know.  The cool thing is if you don't know yoga you can learn some poses and if you do it should be really easy and familar for you.  I do the following video below before each work out wich is what she says she has her clients do as the warm up for their session.

Ultimate Warm-Up Exercise | A-List Look With Valerie Waters (15min)

Equipment needed:

• Chair
• streatchy band or towel
• mat or good rug

• 5 lb dumb bells 
• 8-10 lb dumb bells (depending on your level)

I hope this post helps inspire you in creating your own workout.  Make sure to consult a doctor or trainer if you have any medical conditions or injuries first!

Disclamer
I am not a doctor. I have ZERO medical training and NO formal nutritional training.  The information provided on this site, such as text, graphics, images, is for informational purposes only. It is not to be construed as medical care or medical advice and is not a replacement for medical care given by physicians or trained medical personnel.  Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider(s) when experiencing symptoms or health problems, or before starting any new treatment.

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