Fat Chance (34 page)

Read through each of the workouts that follow, and then select the one that seems most doable for you today. Over time you’ll want to give each of them a shot, I assure you. Margie doesn’t mess around: The options that follow will rock your world!

To keep up with Margie’s goings-on, I encourage you to check her out online at
spidergirlfitness.com
. Oh, and to sort out how many calories you’re burning during each of these workouts, visit
calorieking.com
and click on Resources & Tools > Interactive Tools (on the drop-down menu) > Exercise Calories. With specificity I can’t offer here, their estimates factor in the duration of your exercise, your gender and your current weight, height and age. Fantastic!

This high-intensity, low-impact workout will kick every last ounce of stress out of your system. For all moves, use your knee as a fulcrum and kick through your heel instead of leading with pointed toe. Execute all kicks using one leg—thus achieving full burnout on that side—before switching to the other.

Repeat all kicks fifteen times; thirty for advanced.

Stand with your feet together, knees slightly bent and your arms bent at the elbow and pulled up alongside your face, with fists balled (you’ll look like a boxer). Step your right foot back slightly, then kick out in front of you as high as you can, but no higher than your waist. Return to starting position. (For left-side burnout, you’ll execute the same motion using your left leg.)

Stand with your feet hip-width distance apart, knees slightly bent, and your arms bent at the elbow and pulled up alongside your face, with fists balled. Kick your right leg to the side as high as you can, but no higher than your waist. (For left-side burnout, you’ll execute using left leg.)

Note: Keep your eyes on a side-facing target when kicking to the side.

Stand with your feet hip-width distance apart, knees slightly bent, and your arms bent at the elbow and pulled up alongside your face, with fists balled. Leaning forward from the waist and looking behind you as you move, kick your right leg back as high as you can, but no higher than your waist. (For left-side burnout, you’ll execute using left leg.)

Note: Look behind you when kicking backward.

Begin in forward lunge position (page 211). Come out of lunge position and
then using the opposite knee as a fulcrum, immediately kick forward with the leg that is in front of you, as high as you can. Your other leg should be slightly bent at the knee.

Note: Be sure your knee stays behind your ankle when in a lunge.

Begin in a squat position, with feet hip-width distance apart and knees slightly bent. Be sure your knees stay well behind your toes (you should be able to look down and see all of your shoelaces while in squat position. If you can’t, stick out your butt further and rotate your hips backward until you can.) Ball your fists, bend your elbows, and pull your arms up alongside your face. Kick your right leg to the side as high as you can, but no higher than your waist. Return to squatting position and repeat. (For left-side burnout, execute using left leg.)

Note: Stay in your squat position throughout this entire series. Also, shift your weight to the ball of the opposing foot as you rise into your kick.

Stand with your feet together. Bend the right leg and lift it up, so it makes a ninety-degree angle with the floor. From this starting position, take the raised right leg and kick it back behind you into an extended-leg position as you simultaneously lean your torso forward (so you are no longer standing straight up but bent slightly forward at the waist). As you return to starting position, immediately raise up the left leg into high-knee position, giving the entire rep something of a hobbyhorse motion. (For left-side burnout, execute by kicking left leg back and doing a right-side high knee.)

Maximize your playground time with this fun and energizing routine!

Designate a “starting line” and place a bucket or shoe box for each person participating a few feet apart on that line. Give you and your child (or a friend, if your kids are occupied) five tennis balls each and sixty seconds to hide them under the slide, in the crook of a tree limb, behind a fence post, etc. Return to your designated starting point and yell “Go!” Race each other to see who can find the most balls—one ball at a time before heading back—and place them in his or her bucket the fastest.

Find two swings that are adjacent to each other. With one hand positioned on each seat, ease yourself down into bent-arm plank position (about five to ten minutes) until your body forms a straight line that is at a forty-five-degree angle to the ground. Using a push-up motion, straighten your arms and lift your body away from the swings, and then return to bent-arm plank. Repeat twenty times.

This move is best executed on a straight slide, not a curled one.

Using the sides of the slide for balance, run up the slide and walk yourself back down backward, completing twenty reps in a row. For added intensity, find side-by-side slides and race your child.

Sit down on the bench and scoot all the way forward. Keeping your elbows bent and your hands placed on the bench and as close to your body as possible, ease your legs out until they are straight in front of
you. Dip your rear toward the ground twenty times, keeping your back as close to the bench as possible. For added intensity, raise a leg for five reps and then switch legs for the next five reps.