Tone. It. Up! — Weight Off My Shoulders

So one of my goals for 2012 was to work on my weight training. I love the cardio, but am frightened of the weight floor at the gym. I just think people are looking at me (which I know isn't really true) and judging my lack of upper body strength. I also wanted to work on tonining up some of the excess skin I now have around my stomach after dropping the significant amount of weight.

Thankfully my friend Melissa is a personal trainer. She owns her own company Bodified By Melissa here in Chicago and makes house calls. So she came over to my house on Saturday morning and set me up with a greating "toning" workout that I can do in the comfort of my own home, which put me more at ease.

She came up with nine different exercises (three times each) that I can do at home with just a FitBall and a set of weights (for me 3 lbs & 10 lbs). Thankfully I had all these things at home so I already felt ahead of the game. :P

I ran through the set once - took a water break - ran through it again - took another water break - then did the set one last time. It definitely gave me a workout in both my arms and in my midsection. Especially since I am not a crunches type of person. This was a great way to use my own body weight and avoid the machines.

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I wanted to share a couple of the exercises she thought of...

1) Rows on FitBall - 10 lb weights - 15 per rep ... one knee leaning into the FitBall, same side hand on top of the FitBall, other leg back, keeping your back flat and weight down to the side - pull the weight back squeezing your shoulder blades together.

2) Twisting Shoulder Press- 3 lb weights - 20 per rep ... sitting on the ball, feet together, back straight, stomach in tight, hold the weights in front of your shoulders palms facing in - twist and press the weights up.

3) Lunge Twists- 20 per side per rep ... have one foot back, the other with the knee bent, hold the FitBall in front of your chest, keeping your posture - lunge and twist over the bent leg.

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Hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into what Melissa is having me work on to help tone me up. ;) I am excited to get to Boston and start knocking this program out three times a week. Check out her twitter or website if you are interested in setting up a meeting with her...