The Sumo Squat
Have you ever seen a Sumo match? These wrestlers may look funny (and flabby), but they're actually powerhouses of strength and balance. In the beginning of a match, the two opponents face off while performing a special type of squat in slow motion. Lifting one leg while leaning to the side, they use their full weight and power to strike the mat. After repeating this move with the other leg, the wrestlers then sink down into a deep, wide-leg squat.
You'll probably never have to intimidate a competitor in the ring, but doing this Sumo-inspired exercise will strengthen your inner and outer thighs. Best of all, there's no loincloth required!
Sumo Squat
1. Place your feet apart as wide possible while pointing toes outward.
2. Lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
3. Hold for a beat, exhale, press back up to starting position, and repeat.
Remember to keep your shoulders directly over your hips at all times. For best results, don't lean forward or let your knees come out over your toes. Keep your abs drawn in and don't arch your back.
Workout: Thursday
Warm-Up
Circuit 1: Dumbbell Chest Press, Squats, Jumping Rope
Circuit 2: Dumbbell Chest Fly, Wall Squat, Jumping Rope
Circuit 3: Bench Dip, Lying Leg Raises, Jumping Rope
Circuit 4: Military Shoulder Press, Basic Crunch, Jumping Rope
Circuit 5: Tricep Kickbacks, Reverse Crunches, Jumping Rope
Cool Down
Calorie Counting Made Easy
Counting the number of calories you consume daily is a must if you want to reach your goal weight. After all, how will the "calories in, calories out" weight-loss formula work if you have no idea how many you eat every day?
Getting an accurate calorie tally is easy on days when you can measure all the meals and snacks you prepare with the help of measuring cups and a scale. Once you've measured, you can get the right number by adding up the calories based on portion size. But, how can you estimate calories when you can't measure ahead of time?
If you find yourself in a situation where you can't measure your servings, here are some useful tips for assessing portion sizes using your hand:
The size of your fist is roughly equal to a cup-size serving of cereal, wild rice, black beans, etc.
The size of your thumb is roughly equal to an ounce-size serving of cheese.
The center of your palm of your hand, without fingers, is roughly equal to a 3-ounce serving of fish, chicken, beef, and so on.
I told you it was easy! Now you have no excuse to blow your calorie limit for the day!
Avoiding Dangerous Situations
The key to success on any fitness program is having a game plan for any situation that might throw you off course. It isn't brain surgery — it's common sense. Think of yourself as being on a mission: If you take the time to think ahead, you can come up with ways to combat every situation. Here are a few surefire strategies:
Go through your kitchen and throw out all the junk food and processed garbage immediately. (Hey, you can't eat it if it's not there!) Don't buy these foods anymore — just eliminate them from your kitchen entirely. Even if you have to put up with a little whining from the kids or your spouse, they're better off not eating that crap (tell them I said so!). Reacquaint yourself with your local supermarket, find the healthy sections, and try to avoid the foods make you feel powerless.
If you run into trouble at the office, try to make an effort to avoid the high-voltage areas. If there is a vending machine in the kitchen or if the cafeteria features frightfully fattening foods, stay away from these places. Bring healthy snacks and meals from home to stash in your desk. Do whatever you can to steer clear of anything that might throw you off course and hamper your success.
How to Warm Up
Q: Jillian, what kind of exercises do you recommend for warm-up routines?
A: I'm so glad you asked! Warming up is important because it literally warms up your body and gets it ready for the tough workout ahead. If you have any cardio equipment at home — like a treadmill or a stationary bike — jump on there for five to ten minutes.
If you don't have equipment at home, you can still warm up effectively. No excuses! If you have limbs, you're good to go! If It's pretty simple — you can march in place, jump rope, or do jumping jacks for the same amount of time.
The trick is work up a light sweat. If you're not sweating, you're not working out hard enough!
Do What You Love
Doing your first cardio workout can be a little overwhelming, particularly if you're working out at the gym. There are rows and rows of different machines to choose from. So how do you know which kinds of cardio are best? Do you walk, row, step, or climb your way to fitness?
The answer is any of these. You should do whatever you enjoy the most — just make sure you're pushing yourself and keeping your heart rate at 85 percent. Sure, there are machines that are more effective than others. But, if you dread and avoid certain exercises, it will be harder to motivate yourself, right?
Make sure to keep it fresh — if you've been doing the treadmill for a while, switch to the stepper for a few weeks. If you only have access to one type of cardio machine, you can change the way you use it every once in a while so that you are avoiding the workout plateau and keeping yourself challenged and motivated.
When There's No Gym
Jumping rope and jumping jacks are excellent forms of cardio that you can do anywhere. It takes time to build up endurance for this form of exercise, so try it in intervals at first — jump one minute, rest the next, and so on. This is an outstanding form of cardio that burns calories and tones the quads, hamstrings, and calves. Try different types of jumps to target different leg muscles. When jumping rope, try kicking your butt (sounds funny, huh?) or bringing your knees up as high as you can in between jumps. The possibilities are endless with this simple activity.
Tune Into Your Body
Your body is trying to tell you something, but you're just not listening! To win at the weight-loss game, you've got to make some changes. One of the most important ones is to stop listening to anything but your body to establish a realistic weight for your specific build. Forget about what you see and hear from pop-culture sources.
Another thing not to rely on is the body mass index (BMI), which determines the amount of fat you have on your body according to your weight and height. Here's why you're not going to use it: It fails to distinguish between fat and muscle, so the BMI will ultimately give you an incomplete sense of the shape you're in.
Today, the medical industry has set its weight guidelines according to the waist-to-hip-ratio method, which is a much more accurate way of arriving at an ideal goal. Follow these steps to find yours:
Get a tape measure and measure your waist right at the belly-button line.
Standing with feet hip-width apart, measure your hips at their widest point.
Now simply divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. This is your waist-to-hip ratio.
The ideal waist-to-hip ratios are 0.80 for women and 0.95 for men.
Don't Be Another Number
No matter what number you've arrived at after checking your waist-to-hip ratio, don't be discouraged. Beating yourself up is never a solution. As you lose weight and get fit, you will reduce and redistribute your fat, both of which lower your waist-to-hip ratio. Use the information as a way to determine a realistic expectation for yourself, not as another means to judge yourself negatively. Let go of unrealistic notions of what you think you should look like. Start looking at yourself honestly and see what can be done to look and feel your personal best. Then, begin to embrace your unique self.
Retrain Yourself
A key element of changing your attitude is changing your self-talk or internal monologue. Your self-talk is that chattering conversation you have with yourself all day long, whether you are aware of it or not. It's the voice in your head that says, "I'm too fat" or "I'm not good enough." I don't need to go on, do I? You know what I'm talking about!
Well, it's this kind of useless negativity that's keeping you from being the best that you can be. Now it's time to turn it around once and for all. You need to retrain yourself to think positively!
Imagine what would happen if you changed the dialogue so that it sounded more like this: "I can lose weight and be healthy, exercise to the best of my ability, and get stronger and better at it every time I do it." Your self-talk can make the difference between happiness and despair, success and failure. I can promise you that if you start making your self-talk more “positive and affirming” and less “defeatist and self-depreciating” your whole life will change for the better.
Rewrite Your Thoughts
Now that you know how important it is to have the right attitude to reach your goals in life, pull out your journal again. Review what you wrote down last week. Doesn't it feel good to read the positive thoughts? Don't you just cringe when you read the negative ones? Start re-training yourself. Change all the negative thoughts into positive ones. For example, take "I feel so gross when I eat the whole bag of chips" and turn it into "When I eat healthy, I feel great. And when I feel great, I look great." Hang in there — before you know it, you'll be able to "rewrite" negative thoughts in your mind.
Getting Back on the Wagon
It happens — you miss a few workouts in a row because of a late night at the office and suddenly your weight-loss efforts seemed derailed. It's tempting to mentally slap yourself around, isn't it? Well, chill out! Being hard on yourself is the old you, remember?
Now, you know to take setbacks in stride and get right back on that wagon. You wouldn't think of wasting even a minute to beat up on yourself. After all, there are no mistakes, just learning experiences. Weight loss is a process and every process takes time. You will encounter small failures — everybody does! Remember, every pound you gain can be lost.
If you miss a workout, it's not the end of the world! Get to the gym the next day and continue to focus on your short-term goals. Just because you made bad choices today doesn't mean you can't start over tomorrow. I know it sounds trite, but every day is truly a new beginning.
Rescue Me
Let's face it, life throws curveballs. Most of the time we can dodge them, but other times they hit us right between the eyes. You can't avoid every curveball in life. For those moments when you feel one coming, create a "rescue me list." Make a list of healthy things that make you feel better, like taking a bubble bath, going for a walk, getting a massage, etc. The next time you're staring down a crisis, reach for that list, not a bag of chips.
Other Weightloss Posts:
Entrust (verb):
Here are the previous posts on this study:
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And Abner said to Job, "Let the young men arise...and play before us" (IISamuel 2:14) 
I am going to check out the scriptures tomorrow. Johnny Out.
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