Two Body Sculpting Exercises for Busy Moms

*Disclaimer: I am not a licensed fitness coach. Please consult your doctor before starting an exercise routine.

When I carve out time four days a week to exercise I have a goal in mind and that's to get fit. I want to maintain weight, keep my body healthy and stay in shape.

My routine typically takes an hour and a half to complete, but there are days when my mornings are too busy for that.

On those mornings, I don't have time to get a full workout in, but there are two exercises I can do that will feel like I worked my whole body.

These two exercises target my chest, back, biceps, glutes, hips and hamstrings. 

5-Minute Office Workout

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. All opinions are mine alone. #StopPainNow #CollectiveBias

My husband is my man crush every day and a big reason behind why I got back into exercising after having our fourth child.

He is super motivated, loves looking and feeling great. He exercises to keep his endurance up and keep his body in tip-top shape.

So when he was plagued with chronic Sciatica, it really took a toll on him physically. Sciatica is a pain that extends from the back down through the lower leg. It usually goes away in about six weeks with rest, but my husbands lasted and worsened for three years. He drives for a living so he's sitting a lot and we think that and maybe lifting heavy weight brought on sciatica.

4 Ways to Be Your Best from the Inside Out

People are often surprised by my age and think I'm younger than I am. I don't mind it now, but when I was in my twenties I hated looking young. I think the assumption is derived by observing my height (I'm 5,1) my build (I weigh 120 pounds), my hair, skin, and nails. 

In my early twenties, self-care became very important to me. Taking time to do things that made me happy and nurtured me from the inside out was a normal part of my routine. This got a little harder when I became a wife and mom. In all honesty, it fell by the wayside for some years. When our kids were little, self-care was put on the back burner. As my kids got older, I didn't naturally resume self-care habits. It wasn't until one day when my husband forced me to stop putting everyone first all of the time and to take time for myself. He noticed I was often unhappy and tired. I didn't realize, the kids had gotten older and it was okay to not give them every bit of my time and energy.

When my youngest son was eight years old, I put me back on the priority list. I set a goal to cultivate a habit of pampering myself with quality products, food, and healthy habits again. Five years later, I am glad I did. I just turned 40 years old and I feel amazing. Here are some of the main habits that contribute to my youthfulness and overall inner peace.

How to Set Fitness Goals You'll Actually Reach

1. Be Realistic.

Don't try and obtain the same results in 30 days of someone who has been working out for years. When setting your expectations, be sure to aspire to not just someone who is where you want to be, but also someone who is at your next level. 

If you're trying to loose your baby bump, don't saturate your mind with images of 25 year old and younger, childless women who workout. Instead, seek out groups and social media accounts of women who have had children and figured out the best exercises for moms. 

If you want people to follow, I'm a fit mom of four who's figured out how to find time to exercise while racing a family and look amazing while doing it. There's also another great blogger, my friend De who shares fitness inspiration and challenges on her blog Faith Fueled Moms. 

5 Tummy Flattening Exercise Tutorials

These 5 tummy flattening exercises, protein shake recipes and shopping trip have been compensated by EAS Sports Nutrition. #easbrand #PowerinProtein

Being a wife and momma is the most challenging work I do. It takes a lot of sacrifice that I willingly give even to my own detriment. 

Sometimes I've given so much, that I didn't leave enough for myself. My husband saw that, which he admired, but he felt it wasn't healthy to give everything to the family and not take care of myself. I wasn't eating like I should, dressing up or exercising. 

We sat down and made some changes so that I could take care of my health and well being. This included planning meals I liked and exercising. When I started eating better and exercising, I began feeling better mentally and physically.

If you're struggling in they area, I want to help you just like my husband helped me. First, I'm going to show you how to prepare a simple protein packed workout shake using EAS® 100% Whey Protein. Then I'll show you my favorite tummy flattening exercises. After having four children, it's one of the areas that's hardest to keep toned. I used to wear girdles to hide my bulge, but I got tired of that real quick. Instead, I decided to find a routine that targeted my stomach and fit into my busy schedule.

4 Ways to Make Morning Workouts Simpler

Today I'm sharing 4 Ways to Make Morning Workouts Simpler. The post and my shopping trip is sponsored. All opinions are mine alone. #ListerineBOLD  

Do you want to be the fittest YOU this summer?

If so, I’m going to help you. We're going to start by putting together a game plan to make sure you get to the gym a few days a week.

Exercising is one of the best ways to feel good from the inside out. If you’ve been considering working out, you should do it. I don’t know of too many things that will make you feel energized from the inside out other than exercising.

One of my biggest struggles with exercising consistently was the time it took to get ready and actually get to the gym.

One day, my husband and I sat down and I told him all of the things that were holding me back from going to the gym, and we came up with practical solutions for them all.

One of my biggest hurdles was getting out of the house early without waking everyone. I told my husband everything I needed to do each morning before leaving. After looking over the list, we came up with practical solutions to make sure I could eat, do my hygiene and have everything I needed to exercise without making too much noise.

Sun's out guns out fitness update

I'm so glad the weather is warming up again. It makes it so much easier to get up and go to the gym when it's bright and sunny outside. 

I've been switching up my routine a bit and becoming more focused on muscle building versus muscle definition. So I've been doing less reps with heavier weights when weight training. I'll probably continue doing this for about another month and then go back to toning the muscle I've built over the summer. 

I had loss some muscle and my strength decreased during November and December because I wasn't exercising as much. It took about eight weeks for me to get back my strength and lose a few inches around my mid section, I'd gained over the holiday.

What I love about juicing plus an Energy Drink Recipe

I started juicing about four years ago and I love it. If you watched my LIVE Periscope chat, which I share at the end of this post, you can really tell I do. Juicing did for me what exercise alone wouldn't. I had just completed a 90-day workout plan but was not happy with the results around my belly. 

I was already exercising before starting the plan and hoped to finally get some abs. I was really disappointed and started looking into reasons why my momma belly wouldn't budge. I was in great shape, but had extra skin and fat hanging around from giving birth to four children.

4 Ways to get your family back on track after the holiday season

You all know I’m typically a creature of habit, who relies heavily on schedules, meal plans, consistency and routine. But did you know, during the holiday season I ditch structure and go with the flow?

From October through December, I eat what I want and don't feel guilty when I don't exercise. 

The only challenge with ditching routine for the holidays, is getting back into it after the holidays. The good news is, it only takes changing one thing at a time, to get back on track.

I'm sharing my plans to get back on track over at SheKnows. Click here or on the image below. 

6 Ways Moms Get Motivated About Exercising

I'll be the first to admit that I don't like going to the gym. In fact I don't like exercising. 

Lifting weights and building muscles hurts. When people say, "no pain, no gain", they mean it when it comes to exercise. If you aren't feeling any pain while exercising you aren't going to get great results.

Now let me clarify. The pain shouldn't be excruciating. It will be more like uncomfortable. If you're lifting weights and doing cardio for results, the goal is to push your muscles a little bit harder incrementally. 

For me it's a no brainer. While I don't like exercising I do like the results. It's part of what keep me motivated about exercising. 

Anytime I talk to women about exercising I encourage them to find their motivation.

Your personal motivation is what's going to keep you giving your all with each workout. Here are some things that may get you started, but I challenge you to add on to this list. In fact, start a health and fitness journal where you track things like food intake, exercising that are working and personal health statistics.

10 Ways Women Can Get Motivated About Exercising 

1. Find a Friend.

The first thing that may come to mind is to invite an existing friend, but I encourage you to befriend women at the gym who closely resembles what you want to look like physically. Look around and find you a #WCW -- Woman Crush Wednesday and strike up a conversation about fitness. 

6 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health

1. Eat whole grains.

Eating whole grains will improve your digestion, make you feel fuller after meals and provide more of the nutrients your body needs.

If you're feeling sluggish on between meals it can be directly related to your food choices.

Ever since I started eating whole grains I've felt more energized and less bogged down throughout the day. Having the energy I need allows me to be a better wife and mom because I'm not cranky from feeling tired.

2. Exercise.

This is a no brainer but hard to do. It's taken me years to convince my mind and body to desire exercise and even now it's a daily decision.

I'm not sure if I'll ever be at a point where I don't have to talk myself into working out but what makes it easier are the rewards I put in place.

Since I like to shop, I treat myself to something exercise related whenever I reach a goal.

Set a fitness goal, find something that motivates and reward yourself when you reach your goal.

3. Drink a gallon of water a day.

One of the easiest ways to track your water intake is by using a dedicated bottle. The best option is a gallon sized jug. On the jug you should make three equal marks.

mark #1 - Drink by 11 a.m.
mark #2 - Drink by 3 p.m.
mark #3 - Drink by 7 p.m

Taralynn's water bottle above is another example of how to mark a water bottle.

Water hydrates you, improves digestion and the quality of your skin. The easiest way to determine if you are taking in the amount of water your body requires is by looking at the color of your urine.

A fairly healthy persons urine will range in color from clear, to pale yellow to a deep amber. The lighter your urine the better.

4. Eat raw and whole foods.

In a nutshell, begin eating more foods that haven't been cooked. These would include fruits and vegetables as well as raw nuts.

A salad with olives, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, broccoli. red onion, artichoke and sesame seed is one of my favorite raw food salads.

If you have a blender or juicer, it will be easier to incorporate more raw food into your diet in the form of juices and smoothies.

5. Get 8 hours of sleep.

This is one of my favorite tips. I don't know when our society began thinking less is more when it comes to sleep. 

The lack of sleep leads to many problems that can be avoided by just getting more sleep.

There are some instances when this is not possible, however if you have a schedule that allows you to get eight hours of sleep take advantage of it.

A rested body is a calmer body.

6. Schedule a monthly mental health day.

There's nothing wrong with taking a day to plan something non work or family related. Your mental health day should involve activities that leave you feeling rejuvenated.

The goal of mental health day is to take connect with things that bring you joy. When you are joyful it changes your outlook on everything else in your life.

The health decisions you make today will determine your quality of life in the future.