Bikini body fitness DVDs

Looking for the fastest way to get fit for summer? The latest release of home fitness DVDs from Shape, Get Ripped trainer Jari Love, and Flexxation fitness expert Amy Cheryl, feature a combination of muscle toning moves and fat-burning cardio that will effectively – and efficiently – give you a bikini body that begs to be seen at the beach.

Looking for the fastest way to get fit for summer? The latest release of home fitness DVDs from Shape, Get Ripped trainer Jari Love, and Flexxation fitness expert Amy Cheryl, feature a combination of muscle toning moves and fat-burning cardio that will effectively – and efficiently – give you a bikini body that begs to be seen at the beach.
Bikini DVDSShape’s Ultimate Bikini Body Workout

The Ultimate Bikini Body Workout features acclaimed fitness trainer Dominique Hall, a USA weightlifting coach and the creator of Shape’s 2009 “Bikini Body Countdown” program, who provides a dynamic easy to follow 30-minute cardio and strength training workout as well as three 10-minute mini-workouts that further target bikini trouble zones, like abs and glutes. Hall says, “The length of the workout depends on you. If you only have 30 minutes or as little as 10 minutes you can still get a great guided workout on this DVD…the mix and match aspect of the DVD let's you get a different workout every time so your body never plateaus.”
Shape’s 20-Minute Makeover

The 20-Minute Makeover is a 60-minute program created by celebrity fitness trainer Elise Gulan that features 20 minutes of interval training designed to deliver full-body fitness in a time crunch, and four 10-minute targeted toning workouts to sculpt arms, flatten abs, firm lower body and burn fat. The workouts can be customized so participants can mix and match routines any way they want. Gulan says, "I choreographed and created this workout series to be the most efficient, effective and versatile on the market. It is designed to save time by combining safe, high-energy cardio intervals with deep strength training for a quick, full-body makeover in 20 short minutes. It will help inspire people of all ages, sizes and shapes to just have fun, move organically and express themselves while getting fit and fierce!"

The release of Shape’s new DVDs coincides with Shape’s Bikini Body Tour Event that will take place in Miami and Southern California from May through June 2009. The event will be hosted by Shape fitness experts and feature live bikini workouts, a bikini fashion show and bikini body cabanas. Visit Shape.com for more information or to purchase the DVDs. Shape’s DVDs are also available at Gaiam.com and in retail stores nationwide.
Jari Love’s Get Extremely Ripped!

Fitness enthusiasts know Jari Love for her lean, mean physique and popular Get Ripped! fitness DVD series. Her latest release Get Extremely Ripped! features two 30-minute workouts that combine heart rate raising strength training exercises scientifically proven to be the most effective in burning calories in the shortest amount of time. The result is a constant calorie burn and revved up metabolism during the workout, and for hours after the workout. From beginner to advanced, Love’s exercises are very simple and easy to follow, have modifications for all skill levels, and give you a home workout that is as effective as going to the gym. For more information on the Get Ripped! fitness series or to order DVDs online, visit JariLove.com.
Amy Cheryl’s Flexxation Exxtasy Through Exercise

At the forefront of the hottest fitness trend of combining exercises that target the mind and body, Cheryl’s signature Flexxation sculpting system gives home exercisers the ability to experience Exxtasy Thru Exercise. Flexxation is scientifically proven to cut workouts in half while providing twice the results. The reason? Cheryl, a former award-winning body builder and 20 year veteran in the fitness industry, takes participants through movements that work opposing muscle groups at the same time while providing cues for participants to actually feel the muscle activation in the body. That means profound results with fewer repetitions. Flexxation also features two additional techniques: Free it Up!, an exhilarating cardio routine that gets the heart pumping, and YOGAFLEXX, a yoga flow routine that shapes muscles using Flexxation principles. The Exxtasy Through Exercise fitness DVD is now available online at Flexxation.com and includes two complete workout routines and a personal FlexxBand.

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Self-confidence in just five days

Believe in yourself

Self-confidence is essential to success in many aspects of our lives, yet so many women struggle with it. Below is five-day plan to help free you from self-doubt.

Day 1: Self-Confidence is Self-Love

As women, we spend far too much time criticizing and comparing ourselves to others in the name of self-improvement. We never seem to be smart enough, beautiful enough, thin enough, and so on. However, by judging ourselves so harshly, we are destroying our self-confidence in the process. The first step in gaining it back is to spend more time appreciating who you are. Today, your goal is to write down at least 50 things that you love about yourself and then read the list out loud.

Day 2: Look Good, Feel Good

The clothes you wear and how you feel in your own skin can make or break your self-confidence. Too often, we sabotage ourselves by continuing to wear or hold onto clothes that are detrimental to our confidence because it either seems a waste to throw them away or we think they might come back in style. With that in mind, your mission for today is to go through your closet and take out every itchy sweater, pair of too tight pants, and faded blouse you own and trash them, keeping only the items that make you feel like a million bucks. You can even go a step further, if you’d like, and go shopping for something new that makes you feel especially powerful. (Sexy shoes are great for this.)

Day 3: Commit Your Goals to Paper

Actress Cate Blanchett once said that she enjoys making to-do lists for the sheer pleasure of crossing the tasks off her list one-by-one. While you may or may not feel the same way, (sometimes to-do lists can feel overwhelming!) there is still something to be said about how accomplishing a goal can dramatically boost one’s self-worth. However, you can’t reach a goal without identifying it first, so, today, write down at least a couple of goals that you want to accomplish by the end of the week.

Day 4: Take Risks

When faced with a new opportunity or challenge, do you tend to shy away? Although the possibility of failure is always present, building self-confidence means accepting the occasional defeat while not allowing it to deter you from your goals. As long as you approach each occasion as an opportunity to learn, realize that there can be no real losing. For today, try something that you’ve never done before or even better, try something that scares you.

Day 5: Fake it until you make it

Even if you’re not feeling one hundred percent confident, today, act as if you are. Sometimes the best way to deal with any lingering fear or self-doubt it to just confront it head on.

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Breathe your allergies away

For many people, spring means one thing: Allergies. From grass to dust, nose-foes are everywhere. But new research suggests the simplest treatments can be the most effective. Just learning how to breathe and keep your nasal passages clean can decrease allergy symptoms dramatically. World-renowned yoga instructor Gwen Lawrence shows us how with her must-do breathing tips.

The importance of breath work

SheKnows.com: Breathing is a core element of yoga, whether you’re performing various poses or simply meditating. Why is it so important?

Gwen Lawrence: With every breath, we inhale particles such as dust, germs, smoke, dander and pollutants (all of which can cause allergies). The nose acts as a natural air filter, protecting the body from these impurities.

Breathing through the nose, as is required in the Ayurvedic and yoga traditions, promotes a calming effect, whereas breathing through the mouth is in sync with hyperventilation (and, therefore, our fight-or-flight response system).

Breathing can heal the body

SheKnows.com: Why is breath work a unique way to heal the body?

Gwen Lawrence: Among all-natural self-healing techniques, breath work is unique because breathing is the only conscious means of improving, maintaining and repairing the body’s other systems.

Heartbeat, heart rate, blood pressure, circulation, digestion, hormone secretion and mental and emotional states can all be controlled, regulated and healed through proper breathing practices. Once the body is healthy, nourished and calmed through proper breath work, the body can concentrate on reaching its full potential.

Breathing technique to improve nasal and lung health

SheKnows.com: What can we do to improve our nasal passages and lung capacity?

Gwen Lawrence: Here is an amazing yogic breath you can do at work, in the car or any time you feel the need to step back and take a breather:

1. Inhale through your nose to your fullest capacity.
2. Hold the breath.
3. Take in a little more; keep holding.
4. Take in a little more; keep holding (this stretches the lungs and the intercostal muscles, the muscles between the lungs that help with breathing).
5. Hold for the count of 10 (only if you can… work up to a 10-count if you feel like you’re struggling).
6. Slowly exhale through the nose, using your stomach muscles to push every bit of air out.

Nasal rinsing can reduce allergy symptoms

SheKnows.com: Outside of proper breathing techniques, what tips and tricks do you recommend to clear the airways?

Gwen Lawrence: Before you can even think of starting to breathe through your nose, you must, as I recommend to all of my students, get into the habit of nasal rinsing.

Even with proper breathing, many particles remain in the nasal and sinus passages and can cause irritation or allergies. During nasal rinsing, a saline water solution is inserted into the upper nostril while the head is tilted, flushing out impurities not naturally filtered by the nose.

I fully recommend, and use myself, a great new product called Afrin PureSea. Being a very health-conscious person, I never recommend a product that I do not trust and use myself. This product is an all-natural nasal rinse made of 100 percent purified seawater to cleanse your nasal and sinus passages of mucus, pollutants and irritants so you can breathe free.

In a product like Afrin PureSea, the concentration of salt is reduced to prevent discomfort and stinging, but the trace minerals and elements are preserved to better match the composition of the human body. It is a sterile product and does not require any mixing.

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