Tiny Dancer

For excitement of my Ballet recital today, I would love to share with you the workouts of a ballerina. I have watched my body transform in the last 8 months doing these 2-3 times a week. 

These workouts are from Ballerina Mary Helen Bowers, who trained Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"

1. Ballet Beautiful Bridge
This exercise targets ballet muscles on the inside and back of the legs and butt to build strong dancer’s legs with lean muscle definition.

1. Lie on your back, knees up, feet on the floor.

2. Pull stomach in flat and close knees together.

3. Lift hips and squeeze tightly through your butt. Then lower hips, not quite touching the mat.

4. Repeat 30 times.

2. Ballet Beautiful Attitude Lifts
Try this exercise to tone muscles in your butt, hamstrings and lower abs. Place a cushion or towel under your knees if exercising on a hard surface.

1. Begin on your hands and knees, and extend one leg high behind you, keeping leg straight.

2. Bend the knee, pulling your stomach in flat.

3. Lift the leg higher, then lower it to hip height.

4. Repeat 30 times with that leg, then switch legs.


3. Ballet Beautiful Push-backs
This weightless exercise tones your arms, shoulders, center and back.

1. Sit up straight. Bend elbows and place hands slightly behind hips.

2. Pull in through the stomach and open the chest.

3. Stretch arms straight behind you, palms up. Then bend them again.

4. Repeat 30 times. Then lift arms slightly higher and do 30 more reps.


4. Ballet Beautiful Dips

By targeting muscles in your arms and core, this exercise helps develop ballerinas’ strong yet elegant upper bodies.

1. Sit on the floor, placing your hands just behind hips and feet in front of you with knees bent.

2. Keep your chest open and stomach pulled in flat.

3. Pull in and lift hips and butt off the floor, stretching your elbows. (Advanced move: Go up on your toes, and extend one knee high.)

4. Bend elbows slightly and then straighten them to lower and raise butt and hips (doing a version of a dip).

5. Repeat 30 times. 

4. Ballet Beautiful Lifts in Arabesque
An arabesque, one of the most classic ballet steps, works your back, butt and leg muscles. 

1. Stand tall. Keep chest open and stomach pulled in. 

2. Extend one leg straight behind you, holding on to a chair or wall for support if needed.

3. Lift the extended leg high, pulling in through your stomach, while the knee is stretching straight behind you. Lower it back to the floor and lift again. 

4. Repeat 30 times with that leg, then switch legs.


Lesson: Doing these workouts will improve your posture, core, and flatten your tummy!
Share the Love and Spread the Word(:
hay. sapp


"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31


Info from www.lifescript.com, Feburary 10, 2011

Baby It's Cold Outside

And you know what that means....avoiding sickness at all costs.
But you're around your family for the holidays, trying to avoid germs at the gym but working out during the holidays is a must with all the stuffing, Starbucks high calorie but OH so good drinks we wait all year for (even though they will still make you them year round-it's just not the same!) and your Auntie's famous apple crisp. 

Well here are some ways to help boost that immune system:

• A glass of cranberry juice a day. It is packed with vitamin C, which is vital to a healthy immune system. Also,drinking unsweetened cranberry juice may help reduce your risk of urinary tract infections. (Make sure you're not going for the cranberry cocktail loaded with sugar). 
• Drink lots and lots of pure water. 
• Keep your insides happy and healthy:
• Eat dark-green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits. They're packed with numerous antioxidants, plus vitamins A, C, E, and beta-carotene.
• Regualr exercise:
• You boost your immunity everytime you get your heart pumping 
• Rest up! Get sleep! We need at least 8 hours of sleep each night. 
• Reduce your stress level-I know finals are almost here! Relax, drink some green tea with lemon (good in thinning mucus if you have a clod), and think that break is just around the corner!

Lesson: Stay active and healthy, making sure you wash those hands and strengthen your immune system!
Share the Love and Spread the Word(:
hay.sapp

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

Info from WebMD.com, October 1, 2010

Problem: Why Won't My Hair Grow?!

 long hair Don't Care.

 the lovely Danaan Wilson.

Just about every girl wants to grow their hair to lucious lengths, well, I just discovered some little S E C R E T S ....


1. Without pricey extensions and ruining your hair with glue (which is just killing your poor hair more) take a look at your diet, and realize that you cannot repair your damaged hair, but you can start fresh and grow in healthy, shiny, strong, lucious hair. 


2. Does your diet include fish? Wheat germ? Yeast? Soybeans? It definatley should for healthy hair. 


3. You need a massage. A scalp massage. It will increase circulation in your cells to stimulate growth. That's what men are for eh? (; 


4. You need a protien rich shampoo


5. Here are the secret vitamins I have been taking for about 3 months, everyday, and my hair has never grown faster.


  -Aside from a daily multivitamin (I hope your already taking) include the following into your diet:

•      Essential fatty acids (flaxseed or omega-3 fatty acid) 1000 mg 
• It will prevent dry, brittle hair, and improve texture
• Silica 500 mg
• Keeps hair shiny
• Biotin and inositol 50-100 mg (Sold at any drug store)
• Vital for hir growth
• Coenzyme-Q10 (Costco has a great one)
• Improves scalp circulation
• MSM 1000 mg (Costco has a great one) 
• Thicker and shiner hair
• B Complex 50-100 mg (with folic acid, Trader Joes had a great one that disolves under your tounge tastes yummy too!)
• Essential for hair growth, can help hair retain natural color
• Beta Carotene 10,000 IU
• Assists with B complex to keep hair shiny

Remember: The best way to get these vitamins are through whole foods. "Take with caution! Make sure your reading all of the ingredients on the label and that everything is from a natural source. Recent studies have shown that over supplementing has negative effects and that excess vitamin E has actually shown to give males prostate cancer." Hanna Huiberts, studies Nutritional Science at California State University, Los Angeles. 

Lesson: Enter more nutritious foods into your diet for lucious locks and have your love give you a scalp massage once a week.

Share the Love and Spread the Word(:

hay. sapp

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31










Info from The Vitamin Bible, Mindell, Earl, R.P.h., Ph.D., with Hester Munds