Women's Fitness: Fast, Fit & Fulfilling

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

10 Oct 2006 10:30 AM

EDiet's Chief Fitness pro, Raphael Calzadilla has designed a great fitness program for the busy woman. This fitness outline is a series of exercises that get you up and moving in as little as 12 to 15 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. For many of us, this sounds almost too good to be true. When you're busy as hell and constantly on the go, moms are more likely to leave themselves out of the equation to make sure that their kids and their families are taken care of.

Calzadilla's workout may be just the thing for you. In short form, his routine should be performed in succession and you shouldn't take any breaks between exercises. Try to max out at 20 repetitions. Calzadilla also recommends that you perform this routine in the morning - most of us can make fifteen minutes in the morning and it's only later in the day when we start to run short on time.

The routine includes:

• Bent Knee Push Ups - Performed with your hands and knees on the mat, hands shoulder width apart and your legs, hips, neck and head are in a straight line. Do not arch your back as you lower your body down and pause just before your chest touches the ground and then push back up
• Lunges - Stand with your feet together and use cans or dumbbells in your hands. Step forward with your right le and lower the left leg until the knee almost touches the floor. Push back up and return to standing, alternate to your left leg
• Abdominal Bicycle Maneuvers - Lay flat on your back with your hands touching the sides of your head, bend your knees and begin pedaling the air, touching alternate elbows to alternate knees
• Bench Dips - Use two chairs, sit on one and place your palms on the edges of the chair and place your feet on the other chair - make sure they are on secure ground so they don't slide away, the idea is to lift yourself up slightly and then down controlling the motion with your arms - this works your triceps and your biceps
• Double crunches - Lie down and bend your legs at 45 degree angle with feet on the floor, perform your crunches by raising your head and legs towards each other and then laying back down again

For more information on this and other Calzadilla workouts, pay a visit to eDiets.com - they've got some really good ones there.

Have you ever tried a routine like this? I'll be checking back in with you in a couple of weeks as I plan to do this for the next two weeks on an average of 4 times a week, every other day. Who's going to join me?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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