Your best summer body starts now!

With Memorial weekend a mere 6 weeks away, there is not a moment to lose to get bikini ready. It will take a commitment to both exercise and a healthy diet but I promise it’s worth it. Imagine how it will feel to wear your bikini with confidence. If you start now, not only will you look good, but you will be stronger and have more energy. Maybe this will be the summer you learn to surf, mountain bike or train for a triathlon. Let’s get started.

Valerie’s Top 5 Bikini Body Tips:

1. Decide right now you want it. No, I mean really want it, and be willing to do what is necessary. Nobody gets a hot bikini body by accident (especially if you are over 20).

2. You must lift weights. I know you love your Pilates and yoga but strength training will get you the shapely toned body faster. It doesn’t have to bulk you up. My program Red Carpet Ready is especially designed to keep you looking long and lean.

3. Interval train. It is hard to feel confident in your bikini if you have a lot of excess body fat. To burn maximum fat you need to stop reading magazines on the treadmill and jack up the intensity. You don’t need to start out sprinting but you should not feel like carrying on a conversation. If you find this difficult to do on your own, try a spinning class or one of the new treadmill workout classes.

4. Eliminate fast digesting carbs. This one step is going to help the fat melt off. What are fast digesting carbs? Sugar, white flour and most products made with them such as bagles, cookies, pasta, most bread, and candy. Fruit juice is another carb that needs to go. I know it seems healthy but it is loaded with sugar. What to eat? Lean protein such as fish, chicken, and grass fed beef and lots and lots of veggies with the exception of potatoes and corn.

5. Drink water! At least 80-100 oz every day. Feeling bloated: Drink more water. If your body is not getting enough of this valuable resource it will hold on to all it can as a survival mechanism. This results in swollen feet and a puffy body. By drinking more water, your body will realize it is safe to release this excess water.

Here’s a sneak peak from Red Carpet Ready Abs, my new program coming soon to http://www.blogger.com/www.redcarpetready.com. This sample workout is an intermediate to advanced workout. You are going to do each exercise 1 time without resting between exercises. When you complete the circuit you can rest 1 minute. You want to work up to doing the circuit three times.

Red Carpet Ready Abs – Sneak Preview Workout:
Single leg glute bridge --- Do 12 reps, switch legs
Valslide Mountain Climber on Bosu --- Do 15 reps each side, alternating
Valslide 1 arm slide --- Do 10-12 reps each side, alternating
Modified Turkish get up --- Do 10-15 reps X 5 lbs in 1 hand, switch sides

Do Circuit 3 times.

Single leg glute bridge
Lie on your back with your arms at your side. Extend one leg straight out, inline with opposite knee. Begin by squeezing your glute muscles and lifting them up until your body forms one line from your head to your toes. Inhale as you lower your body back to the floor and exhale as you raise your lower body.
**You will feel this in your glutes and hamstrings.

Valslide® Mountain Climber on Bosu (oblique crunch)
With both hands on an upside-down bosu, assume the push up position, body straight, arms under shoulders, and each foot on a Valslide. Draw abs in and activate glutes. Slide your left knee towards your right elbow and back. Then slide your right knee toward your left elbow and back. That is one rep. Repeat for remaining reps.
**You should feel this in your abs and shoulders.



Valslide® Plank with one-arm slide
Get in push-up or plank position with a Valslide® under each hand. Slowly slide your left hand several inches out in front of you, and then bring it back. Then slide your right hand out and back. Alternate back and forth until you have completed all the reps. Don’t let your hips drop.
**You will feel this in your abs.






Modified Turkish Get Up
Lie on your back with a dumbbell in your right hand, your left leg extended and your right knee bent. Crunch up while reaching the dumbbell toward the ceiling and keeping the leg extended. Lower back down. Repeat for remaining reps and then switch sides.
**You will feel this in your abs.