New WEBSITE - It's About Time!

Hi Guys!

So after all the hype, I have finally launched my new site, if you already haven't had the chance, I would love for you to check it out. My goal was to make it easy to navigate and highly resourceful, informative and interactive.

More than anything, I truly value your feedback, as it is my mission to make it the BEST site for YOU! So any insight or ideas on programs, topics or workouts you would like to see- please contact me anytime!

In the meantime, check it out and help me pass it along to friends or family - we could all use a 'pick-me-up' every once in a while :)

http://www.amandarussellworkouts.com/

Amanda

NEW WEBSITE COUNTDOWN!

Hello My Friends,

I just wanted to let you know that I have been working on a totally NEW and IMPROVED website platform which I'm so EXCITED ABOUT!!

It's actually more like an application that you can use than a website! There will be new and different features and easier navigation. AND - in response to several requests, I have decided to take on clients personally for a holistic one-on-one fitness/nutrition and lifestyle coaching.

I will be doing a soft-launch over the weekend!! For all the new workouts and FREE subscription go to http://amandarussellworkouts.com and sign up for your free account. I will then automatically put you on my friend/newsletter list!

Have a great YOU day!

Amanda

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Five Tips to a Flat Stomach Fast

Need a flat belly for your party tonight? But thanks to your diet soda with lunch and gum in the afternoon you now have a nice stomach bulge? Abdominal bloating not only looks bad, but can cause physical discomfort. The good news? Experts say stomach bloating is a condition you can avoid pretty easily.

We're not talking about extra pounds of stomach fat here, but the temporary abdominal distention that plagues most everyone from time to time. Unless your stomach bloating is because of a medical condition, such as liver or heart disease, the only real cause is intestinal gas - not "water weight," says Michael Jensen, MD, an endocrinologist and obesity researcher at Mayo Clinic.

“It is a myth that bloating in the stomach is from fluid accumulation in healthy adults, because the abdomen is not a place where fluids accumulate first," Jensen says. "Instead, you would see it in your feet or ankles as long as you are upright."

So here are a few tips to reduce bloating and skinny down your tummy!

Flat Belly Tip No. 1: Don't Overdo Carbonated Drinks.

The fizz in carbonated drinks (even diet ones) can cause gas to get trapped in your belly, Blatner says.

Instead, drink water flavored with lemon, lime, or cucumber. Or just reduce the number of fizzy drinks you consume each day. Try some peppermint tea for a soothing beverage that may help reduce bloat.

Flat Belly Tip No. 2: Don't Overdo Chewing Gum.

Chewing gum can also lead to swallowing air, which can cause bloating.

If you've got a gum habit, alternate chewing gum with sucking on a piece of hard candy or eating a healthy, high-fiber snack like fruit, vegetables, or lower-fat popcorn.

Flat Belly Tip No. 3: Watch Out for Sugar-Free Foods.

"Many of my patients suffer from bloating because they consume too much sugar alcohol in artificially sweetened foods and drinks," which can lead to bloating, Blatner says.

Experts recommend consuming no more than 2-3 servings per day of artificially sweetened foods and drinks.

Flat Belly Tip No. 4: Limit Sodium.

Highly processed foods tend to be high in sodium and low in fiber, both of which can contribute to that bloated feeling.

Get in the habit of reading food labels. When buying processed, canned, or frozen foods, shoot for no more than 500 mg of sodium per serving in any product -- or a total of 2,300 mg of sodium per day

Flat Belly Tip No. 5: Don't Eat Too Fast.

Inhaling your food in a matter of minutes and not chewing your food well can cause you to swallow excess air which leads to bloating.

So slow down and enjoy your food. Your meals should last at least 30 minutes. Also, keep in mind that digestion begins in the mouth, you can decrease bloating just by chewing your food more.

There's another benefit to slowing things down: When you take your time to thoroughly chew and taste your food, your snack or meal becomes more satisfying. And studies have shown that if you eat more slowly, you likely end up eating less.

Try these tips for some relief from bloating purgatory!

Speak Soon!

The ‘BUTT-LIFT’: Get rid of your SAG and follow these steps to building your NEW BUM

It IS possible to build the perfect bikini bum. But how many of us can dedicate ourselves to a strict, clean diet along with working out 6 day/week for 90 min or more/day? Exactly. So today’s article focused and requires discipline, but it’s not so intense that you’ll give up after one day.

In all honesty, a perfect butt cannot be acheived overnight, especially if you’ve spent the last 20 years or so just sitting on it all day, what with all the desk jobs, post-work drinks and great TV and movies we have these days.

However, Rome wasn’t built in a day and your perfect butt won’t be either, but if you follow this workout, you will feel sore at first, but you will see results in six weeks, without question!

It’s not just the exercise

What you put in your body is so important that it dictates the way you’ll ultimately look, with or without exercising. This definitely does NOT mean starving yourself– which is actually the worst thing you can do and will actually hinder your ability to build muscle and dramatically slow your metabolism.

1. So the first thing I’d like you to do is start eating more often throughout the day, but cut the portions of your meals in half. So instead of eating three times a day, you’ll eat six times a day, although it seems counterintuitive to weightloss and toning, it will help keep your metabolism supercharged and force your body to use fat for fuel. And keep in mind that six is not set in stone. If you’re hungry – eat!

2. Second thing I’d like you to do is cut down the amount of simple carbs you eat every day. That is, sugar, baked goods, white bread, white pasta, potatoes, etc. You know what they are. Key words are ‘cut down’ not ‘cut out’.

3. Third thing you need to do is eat more protein in the morning, this will increase your metabolism by 20%, I kid you not! So, whether it is eggs, peanut butter, yogurt, or cheese, add some protein to your morning meals. I actually add whey protein powder to my morning smoothie and I can’t tell you the difference it has made in my body and my energy levels. (I have some great smoothie recipes –I will post if you’re interested).

4. Lastly, load up on water. It is one of the most important parts of any diet. How much water? Well, divide your weight by 2, your answer is how many ounces or water you should be drinking per day. (Example: 130/2= 65 ounces of water)

Cardio training

In order to drop the fat and allow your muscles to shine on through, you need to do cardio exercise at an intense enough level to sweat and have trouble holding a conversation!! And in order to keep the focus on your potentially perfect butt, I want you to opt for butt-focused cardio exercises like walking/running uphill on a treadmill or walking/running stairs. I know many women are scared of biking in fear of ‘bulking up’ – disregard that thought – biking has given me the best butt and legs I’ve had in my life.

Your aim should be to complete about three to four hours of cardio exercise per week.

Perfect butt exercises

There are a few mainstay exercises in the buttocks world that you will incorporate into your workouts for good. However, because the body, the fantastic specimen that it is, manages to adapt quickly, you will need to switch up your workout every four to six weeks in order to continue seeing results.

The changes could be as simple as switching up which exercises you do first to switching how you execute the actual exercises (more slowly with heavy weight, more quickly with light weight, changing # of reps). I will explain this more in-depth in future articles.

Dumbbell Squats

Holding a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Keeping your back straight and your heels planted firmly on the ground, bend down as though you’re going to take a seat in chair until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Be careful not to let your knees surpass your toes. Return to your original position.

How many: 3 sets of 10 – 12 repetitions

Lunges

Holding a dumbbell in each hand, take an elongated step forward, ensuring that both of your feet are pointing in the same direction as your body, with the heel of your back foot off the ground. Lunge down so that the upper thigh of your front leg is parallel to the floor and your knee is aligned with your ankle. Return to your stance and continue until you complete the reps with this leg before switching.

How many: 3 set of 10 – 12 repetitions (per leg)

Hip Extension

Lie on your stomach on a platform or a balance ball with your hips on the edge of it. Keep your legs straight with your toes lightly touching the floor. Balancing yourself with your hands, lift your legs into the air until they’re above your hips. Remember to squeeze your glutes and hamstrings with each repetition.

How many: 3 sets of 20 (per leg)

Kickbacks

Using a mat, get on your hands on knees with your back parallel to the ground. Lift one leg in the air with your knee bent and your thigh in line with your butt. This is your starting position.

With controlled movement, thrust your foot into the air as though you are going to step on the ceiling. Return to your starting position.

How many: 3 sets of 20 (per leg)

Enjoy building your perfect butt

Eventually, I will discuss variations of these exercises and will help you perfect the deadlift, an exercise that requires perfect form but very effective in the battle against the saggy butt.

Until next time, perform your own ‘’butt-lift’!

Cross-Training: Does It Work??

People often associate cross training with the non-impact exercises they are forced to do when they get injured (which is usually the result of running or another high impact sport). I have to be honest, I started cross training for this reason exactly. I had the mentality that it was the second best thing to do if I couldn’t run. It made me feel ‘better than doing nothing at all’.

However, I cannot scream it loud enough: Cross-Training is one of the best things that ever happened to me!!! In fact, I no longer refer to it as cross training, now it is simply part of my workout routine, but for the purpose of this article I will call it CT (cross-training).

I used to think there was nothing that would make you more ‘fit’, lean, toned or FAST than running. To me, it made sense that the only way to get faster in running was to run, AND what could possibly burn more calories –leading to a better body, right? WRONG!

When I was running, I was constantly injured, I fought plateaus in my speed and endurance; I was skinny as a rail with chicken legs and no tone or definition (think coat hanger) – attractive? Not quite…. However, when I got badly injured, I was forced to not only find temporary CT solutions, but I had to make CT a part of my life. In fact, during this time, I learned and mastered every possible type of CT I could find. At first I hated it, thinking, “I’m not really getting a workout.” “I’m never going to be as fit doing this.” “I’m going to be so much slower.” Instead I had a revelation! Here is what I found:

• Cross Training Burns just as many calories as Running – in the end it’s about your intensity, your energy expenditure, trust me! (Some of you may ask why I put calorie-burn as my first point but I know many men and women who use this as a gage for exercising)

• Incredible Tone and Definition: The variety of exercise you do target a greater variety of muscle groups and so you see fast results

• Avoids/Decreases Overuse Injuries: Varying your workout so you aren’t constantly pounding your body the same way decreases your likelihood of injuries such as stress fractures, tendonitis etc.

• Beats Boredom: Adding variety to your workout keeps you from getting tired of the ‘same old thing everyday. Try something different each day of the week. For example, you may do strength training Monday, cycling Tuesday, swimming Wednesday, kickboxing Thursday, yoga Friday, rollerblading sat etc.

• Break Through Plateaus: If you do the same thing everyday – plateauing is inevitable (both in terms of weight loss and fitness level). One way to break a plateau is to increase intensity, but another way is to cross train with different activities. This helps strengthen other muscles and make you a stronger overall individual, plus keeping your body guessing is the best way to get into the shape of your life. I did my best running with the most cross training.

If you are reading this article, I’m sure you have your own thoughts and perception of cross training, but I ask you to give up your routine for just a short time – unless you have already achieved your peak level of fitness and perfect body - try it! I wouldn’t be screaming this message from the treetops if I didn’t believe it gets results! ;-)

Amanda

Are You Natural?

I used to think that being natural pertained to aesthetics. Living in New York City, I am immersed in the height of image-obsession. So, to me, ‘natural’ meant being free of restructuring bodywork, from nips and tucks to inserts and pulls. However, the past few months have led my life on a new journey, both in terms of my health and my career and have drastically altered my perception of the term ‘natural’ and what it means to my life. I truly believe (as cheesy as it may sound) that God only gives us what we can handle, and for every seemingly ‘bad’ thing that happens, there is always a ‘good’ that comes through- trust me, I have learned first hand...


For those of you who follow my blog, you have probably gathered that I have had to postpone production of my first video series. I have had some health problems and was recently told the reason was likely due to a version of celiac disease. The lamens definition for this disease is: “A chronic nutritional disease, caused by the inability to metabolize gluten, which results in malnutrition, and causes a host of other problems in the body. The disorder can be controlled by a special diet that emphasizes the elimination of all foods containing gluten. In the beginning, people with this disease must also eliminate all refined sugar and dairy from their diet”.


Let me tell you, everything I ate up to this point contained one if not all three of these things – so the diet I must now adhere to is traumatically life changing and difficult to follow. Going through this I have seen some of the best western and eastern doctors in the world, along with top nutritionists. Not only did I want to learn how to eat this way, but I wanted to know everything I could about our bodies (celiac or no celiac) and how nutrition plays a direct role. At first, I thought “no dairy, sugar, sweetner or gluten?? My life is over, I might as well live in a cell, and even inmates probably have more to choose from”. However, I have learned that it basically means everything I eat must be true whole, natural food. If you think about it, this is what our bodies were originally meant to eat in the beginning. Hundreds of years ago, humans did not eat processed foods, refined sugar etc. They ate whole fruits, vegetables, grains, lentils and meat. Eventually I will be able to add back in dairy and sugar, but I am no longer having withdrawals, I have a new way of eating and cooking which I enjoy and makes me feel better than ever. I’m not going to lie, I still have my cravings and it’s not always easy, but it’s a discipline just like anything else and it’s one with a positive outcome. Keeping my eye on the goal is what keeps me motivated and eating ‘clean’ really does make you feel different – I urge you to try it even just for a week!





Above all, this journey taught me more than just nutrition, it changed my state of mind, I learned that natural is not just physical & aesthetic, its also what you put IN your body. It’s all about mindset and the way you live your entire life, which includes how you eat, how you train, the way you carry yourself and how you treat the world, the environment and others. Bill Lange, VP of Marketing at ZICO Premium Coconut Water put it best when he said: “It’s about believing in the value of “being natural” and having the discipline to act that way in almost everything you do”.


My connection with ZICO has been fateful to say the least. I have recently taken over the face of their ‘natural enough’ campaign, while simultaneously going through one of the scariest health problems of my life. The ironic part is that aside from water, almond milk and seltzer I don’t have many beverage choices… but ZICO is the one brand I can still drink. I actually got into ZICO last January when a friend introduced it to me as an incredible recovery drink, then I started drinking it after flights to rehydrate and restore energy, now with this disease I’ve had to eliminate anything unnatural or remotely unhealthy – GOOD NEWS: Zico is all natural!


In working with ZICO I have met some of the best quality people. When I told Bill about my condition we had a lengthy discussion about it and how the team at Zico could help. Being natural in every aspect of life is truly what they are all about which is why I see Zico has having a completely different brand personality and value than any other beverage choice. I am proud to be working with them and enlightened on how the combination of my condition and working with ZICO has turned me into a healthier, more natural person. For more Zico benefits visit: http://zico.com/products/benefits

Behind the Scenes

The Crew





Hello!

Wow, I know I've been talking about news to come for quite some time, and to be honest, I jumped the gun a bit and wanted to spread the good news as soon as I could, but needed to hold off. However, the information was released publicly today, so I will be soon to follow on my website with the full details of everything. It has been an incredible experience and I am so thankful to everyone I work with and also to you, the readers who follow my blog. I want you to know that I personally read all emails and try to respond as quickly as I can to any questions you have.



I have recently been asked a lot about a couple of the new pictures I have posted on my facebook page and website. Yes, I do modeling, mainly swimsuit and fitness but have been branching into other areas. I decided to start sharing some of the work that I do, and will put up a few galleries. The modeling industry is something I have been fortunate enough to get to know and has been an incredible experience. Most of us only see the finished product so I thought it would be interesting to see a glimpse into what goes on 'behind the camera', and what a typical day on set looks like. I had someone take pictures at one of my recent shoots and will get them online as son as I can, in the mean time here are a few! Thanks to everyone at this shoot!

Cheers,

Amanda