However, doing a lot of squats and lunges can bulk up your legs more than you’d like.

If you don’t want to grow your leg muscles, then you should avoid these exercises, especially if you’re an endomorph or mesomorph body type since they can both grow muscles pretty quickly.

If you’re not sure what your body type is, complete our quick quiz and never have to worry about doing the wrong exercises for your body type!

WANT TO KNOW YOUR BODY TYPE?

• Complete the quiz in 2 minutes
  
• It’S free
• You will get 3 nutrition and workout tips for your body type

START THE QUIZ NOW

We get a lot of requests from girls who aren’t sure what exercises to do instead of squats and lunges. So we’ve gathered the top exercises you can do as an alternative that will get your legs toned without getting too bulky for your liking.

RELATED POST: How to Slim Down Muscular Thighs

Exercises to do Instead of Squats and Lunges

1. Resistance Band Deadlifts

2. Single Leg Deadlifts

3. Prone Leg Lifts

4. Donkey Kicks to Fire Hydrants

5. Three-Legged Dog Press

6. Feet Elevated Glute Bridges

7. 45 Degree Leg Lifts

If your goal is to slim down your legs, but you don’t know where to start, we suggest checking out our Lean Legs Program 1 which is perfect for beginners.

This is an 8-week workout program designed to slim and tone your legs. It’s also tailored to your body type, so you won’t have to worry about doing exercises that could bulk up your muscles unless that’s what you want.

Love Rachael and the Femme Nativa Team

BEFORE AND AFTER PIC OF OUR COMMUNITY MEMBER

GET THIS PROGRAM

The post Top 7 Exercises You Can do Instead of Squats and Lunges appeared first on Rachael Attard.

And especially you mamas out there who are struggling, I know how you feel! Taking care of our kids is always our priority, but we shouldn’t forget to take care of ourselves too.

That’s why I want to make working out a little bit easier for you. This quick couch workout will take you only 15 minutes to complete! And the best part? You can even do it in your pyjamas. :)

How to Complete This Circuit

• Do each exercise for 45 seconds without any rest.
• Complete 3 rounds in total.
• Wear either gym clothes or pyjamas, we won’t judge :)

Try This Quick Couch Workout

Exercises

1. Shoulder Elevated Glute Bridge

2. Elevated Tricep Dips

3. Sit Ups

4. Single Leg Glute Bridge

5. Elevated Push Ups

If you enjoyed this quick workout, make sure to check out my workout library or my Instagram where I regularly post new and quick workout routines!

Love Rachael Xx

[optin-monster-inline slug=”myqkxvwzii1r8i9qv3pa”]

The post Quick Couch Workout for Women appeared first on Rachael Attard.

As you probably know already, practicing yoga regularly will help you tone your body and get stronger. Also, if you follow our blog, you know that yoga is a powerful ally if you want to lose weight. However, you might be surprised to find out to what extent it can improve your mental state.

Yoga Improves Your Focus

Yoga has a way of narrowing your world down to a series of movements. You have to focus on performing and holding each position, and that’s beneficial for your mental acuity.

After doing yoga for a while, you may notice that your focus at work, at school, or at home has improved!

Yoga Creates Self-Awareness

Doing yoga gives you some down time, and some much needed breathing space, literally. While you’re doing yoga, you can’t check your phone, review emails, work on projects, or do any of the day’s busywork.

You’re simply— you. Existing. Breathing. Thinking.

And in today’s fast-paced society, that’s huge.

Yoga Calms Anxiety

You know that “fight or flight” response you get when there’s stress in your life? Staying in that mode for too long can really wreak havoc on your mental state. (Not to mention your hormones and your weight!).
When you do yoga, you move the priority from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system. This is a more relaxed state, in which your body resets and resumes normative functions instead of exhibiting the signs of anxiety.

Yoga Teaches You Balance

In yoga, the movements and breathing exercises are all about balance — push and pull, in and out. It mirrors the light and dark, solar and lunar, yin and yang concepts of nature and philosophy.

So as your yoga improves, your overall sense of balance also improves. And even if you don’t expected, that improvement can have a wonderful ripple effects in your life. You may find that your perspective on a particular relationship becomes more equitable, or you may discover a healthier work-life balance.

Yoga Enhances Mental Flexibility

We’ve all seen those yoga experts twisting into all kinds of crazy poses! You may not be able to do all of that physically, but the more you practice yoga, the more flexible your body becomes.

With all that additional mobility, you may find that your mind and emotions become a little more flexible too. Your new-found calmness, focus, and balance can help you adapt to life’s stressors more easily.

Yoga Soothes Mental Illness Symptoms

Yoga is definitely not a cure-all, but various studies support the fact that it helps those with mental illness. People suffering from bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, or anxiety disorder show improvement after beginning yoga.

Also, if combined with other treatments or medication, yoga helps mentally ill individuals cope with their conditions and find fresh hope for a healthy future.

Now that you’ve seen how yoga helps the mind, why not try it? If you’re already a firm believer in the benefits of yoga, share some of your favorite poses and practices in the comments!

The post How Yoga Helps the Mind appeared first on Rachael Attard.

These imbalances can lead to a host of problems that can have long term effects on your body. That is why it is important to understand why yogi’s need more than yoga and hence why you should do more than just yoga when planning your workout routines.

Strength Training Is Key

While certain forms of yoga, like vinyasa, can have a great benefit to overall strength, these postures that build strength are done with bodyweight only. While that is a great place to start, neglecting proper strength training and weightlifting can lead to body imbalances that can lead to injuries down the line.

Adding in twice weekly strength based workouts or weight lifting sessions will not only improve your body, it will improve your yoga practice as well. A strong body is a healthy body, so try to find a balance between strength and flexibility in your workout routines!

Cardio Needs

This goes beyond long boring runs on the treadmill and has a bit more to do with the cardiovascular system itself. The body requires sustained cardiovascular output in order to remain healthy! Yogi’s need more than yoga as yoga simply doesn’t offer enough sustained output to properly exercise the system.

While you get plenty of cardiovascular benefits from moving through a yoga class, if you really want to keep the system running in tip top shape, you have to stress the system a bit with exercise. You can get cardio in a variety of ways, if running isn’t your thing, try out the stair climber or even the rowing machine at your local gym.

You Can Be Too Flexible

It is possible to become too flexible! The body is set up with a system of muscles, tendons, and ligaments that help to hold the joints together. When you only stretch, you can overstretch and weaken your muscles which can lead to torn ligaments, joint deterioration, and even muscle tears.

Being too flexible can also lead to simple overuse injuries which can make keeping a regular fitness routine extremely hard to do. Little injuries can take longer to heal which will leave you off your mat and out of the gym for longer than you might like.

The Body Needs Variety

Whether you’ve tried to lose weight or meet a fitness goal, you have likely experienced the dreaded plateau. You may have made some great progress, but now it feels like you can’t progress no matter what you do!

When you only do one thing, your body adjusts to that. If you want to see changes in your body, you have to make some changes. Giving your body a variety of workouts and movements will allow for it to find its best shape!

While you may love your daily yoga class, your body will thank you if you mix things up a bit. Creating a well balanced workout routine should be what you are seeking when building your fitness plan! I hope this has helped you understand that yogi’s need more than yoga, and instead should have some variety!

The post Why Yogis Need More Than Yoga appeared first on Rachael Attard.

Before Your Cardio Workout

If your workout is first thing in the morning, I recommend not eating anything (if you can). Your body is already depleted of carbohydrates after a long period of not eating. This means that your body will use more stored fat for energy rather than carbohydrates. This is best for low to moderate intensity cardio such as power walking or light jogging.

If you are doing high intensity cardio such as a long distance run or sprints, it may be better for you to eat something small. This is because without the carbohydrates, you will have less energy so it will be more difficult for you to train hard. If you don’t care about training hard and just want fat loss, don’t eat (it will be tough). But if you are training for an event or really want to push yourself during your workout, eat something high in carbohydrates such as a piece of fruit.

Before Your HIIT / Weights Workout

Before this type of workout, I recommend eating something small. This type of workout will use up stored carbohydrates (glycogen), so if you haven’t eaten anything before hand, this workout will feel very difficult. Again, I recommend something small and high in carbs such as a piece of fruit.

After Your Workouts

After any workout is the absolute BEST time to eat carbs. Your body has used a lot of stored carbohydrates (glycogen) during the workout, and will use the carbs you eat to replenish the glycogen in your muscles, rather than store it as fat. This is the only time of the day that you have this opportunity. You have about 90 minutes post workout to eat these carbs to get the best benefit.

I also recommend eating protein post workout to help your muscles recover. Ideally, carbohydrate to protein ratio should be 3:1. My favourite post workout meal is a protein smoothie with fruit and protein powder (in the morning), or BBQ chicken with roast sweet or white potato and green vegetables (at night).

The post #176 What To Eat Before And After Your Workout appeared first on Rachael Attard.

CORRECT PUSH UP TECHNIQUE

Having correct technique is IMPORTANT! The majority of girls I see doing push ups, do them wrong. This is the correct technique.

1. Hands just outside your shoulder width
2. Body to remain in perfect plank position the entire way down and up
3. When you bend your elbows to lower yourself down, your elbows should be pointing backwards
4. Chest should almost touch the floor (if you can touch the floor, you’re awesome!)

1. REGRESSION: WALL PUSH UP

The further away from the wall you are, the harder it gets (and it becomes more of an incline push up).

2. REGRESSION: INCLINE PUSH UP

Push ups with your hands on an elevated platform. The lower the platform, the harder it gets.

Try to avoid doing push ups on your knees. It is better to do push ups on an incline to get your body used to being in the plank position.

3. FLOOR PUSH UP

Make sure you’re following all the correct technique tips above!

4. CHALLENGE: DIAMOND PUSH UP

Your hands should form a diamond. These are pretty tough on your triceps!

5. CHALLENGE: DECLINE PUSH UP

Taking it to the next level! Push ups with your feet on an elevated platform.

6. CHALLENGE: HANDSTAND PUSH UP

Holding the handstand position is already tough enough. Place a pillow or something soft under your head. Get into the handstand position, with your body being supported by the wall. Lower your head down and then push yourself back up.

The post #132 Push Up Challenge appeared first on Rachael Attard.