I’m sure that you have heard of the latest fitness craze, Zumba® fitness which fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away. This Latin inspired exercise dance is a fusion of salsa, meringue, belly dance, reggaeton, flamenco with an emphasis on abs (core), legs and glutes.

The  goal is simple:  Zumba wants you to WANT to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long-term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exciting hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life!

The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat. Add some Latin flavor and international zest into the mix and you’ve got a Zumba® class!

In the past years, Zumba® fitness has become nothing short of a revolution, spreading like wildfire, and positioning itself as the single most influential movement in the industry of fitness.

As of July 2009, the Zumba® program is being taught at over 40,000 locations in 75 countries, has sold millions of DVDs, and has changed the lives of Zumba® Fanatics worldwide with an astonishing five million participants taking Zumba classes every week.

Why? Because it’s the best party around.

Here are a few local classes in my neighborhood. I have a friend that keeps asking me to join her. I just might join her next week.

Zumba Class 24 Hour Fitness

Zumba Class Aquatic Center

Here is a Zumba class video, although the quality of the video isn’t that great, you can get an idea of Zumba fitness. The guy in the front row is pretty hilarious too!

Naomi Trower AKA
FatLossMama
Club FYM
Quick Mom Workouts

I must be addicted to challenges! I just finished a 12 week fitness challenge and will be joining another one on May 1st. I plan to be in a fitness challenge for the rest of this year. I also joined a 31 day blog challenge to improve my blogs with problogger.com. I’m on day 2 of 31 and I love what I’m learning.

This post is my assignment for today’s blog challenge. This is a list of the most successful factors that have attributed to my 15 lb weight loss and 12 inches in the past 5 months without lotions, potions or diet pills. These great stats have come as a result of working out only 15 minutes six days / week. This is the reason my blog’s focus is based on fat loss tips for busy moms and dads.

5 Fitness Tips For Fast Results

1. Changed my workout every 4 weeks
2. Online Nutrition Planner
3. Club FYM support forum
4. Resistance & Interval Training
5. Eating every 3-4 hours

If you are not real sure what resistance and interval training are about, you can learn more about it at my interval training post. Resistance training is basically the weight lifting aspect of the workout which I love to do both workouts in the comfort of my own home. Be sure to subscribe to my blog and keep up with me as I’m sure by the end of this year, I will have six pack abs!

Naomi Trower AKA
FatLossMama

I have just started to integrate interval training into my fitness plan although I have been an athlete all of my life. My current fitness coach, Holly Rigsby, has really shown me the benefits of short burst resistance training combined with interval training. I have already seen amazing results in a short amount of time.

True Intervals are simply brief, high intensity periods of exercise (where you work out as intensely as you can for your fitness level) alternated with active recovery periods, where you slow down just long enough to catch your breath. Typically this takes place in no more than 10-15 minutes.

I just finished an interval training set which consisted of:

2 minutes of warmup – moving side to side
1 minute of jumping squats at a high intensity
1 minute if recovery movement – moving side to side
1 minute of high knees (running in place but make sure my knees hit my palms at waist level)
1 minute of recovery movement – moving side to side
1 minute of jump rope at a high intensity

Repeat this 1 minute set again, cool down for 3 minutes for a total of a 15 minute workout. It’s also great to change your interval workouts so your body doesn’t plateau. This type of intensity is known for jump starting your metabolism. Here are a few interval training exercises that I alternate with on a daily basis:

Interval Training Options

Jumping Jacks
Jumping Squats
Jump Rope
Sprints – need to go outside for this one
Mountain Climbers
High Knees
Bottom Kickers – running in place but your feet kick your bottom

Even if you don’t have 15 minutes, there is a 4 minute interval that will bring you results due to the intensity called Tabatas. Here is a video of my fitness coach, showing you how to properly get results:

- You will alternate between 20 secs of work and 10 secs of rest
- You will perform this 30 sec interval 8x for 4 total minutes

Holly chose to alternate between DB swings and Mountain Climbers…working at an intensity that matches her fitness level.

Naomi Trower AKA
FatLossMama
Quick Mom Workouts

Everyday chores burn plenty of calories. Moms, the things you do each day-washing clothes, dishes, mopping, and vacuuming (to name a few) provide resistance training and cardiovascular benefits. Performed in moderation, these activities add up to a ton of exercise opportunity.

How about mopping and sweeping the floor? Sweeping works the oblique abdominal muscles and the hips. Sweep the floor the first time using either the left or the right side of your body.

As you sweep, keep your hips stationery and move from the waist. Sweep the floor a second time using the opposite side of your body. I bet you didn’t think you could sweep your way to a slimmer waistline.

Vacuuming works the upper body and the legs. Increase the length of your stride as you sachet across the floor. Bend at the knees to pick up objects on the floor. Actively vacuuming for fifteen minutes can burn forty or more calories.

Washing windows and tubs provides a power-packed workout. The circular motions work the chest area, shoulders, and the triceps. To keep from getting fatigued, use the circuit training method of cleaning. Wash the surfaces of the bathroom and then clean all the windows in a room. Clean the next bathroom and then clean another room of windows.

If you need to mow the lawn, think of it as an exercise activity and make it fun. To work the lower body, take longer strides when pushing the lawn mower. Pushing the lawn mower works the chest and triceps muscles.

Mowing a lawn can burn several hundred calories per hour. If you have any hills in your yard, the extra exertion means more calories burned. After a few weekends of this, you’ll be ready to buy that little black dress you’ve been wanting.

Yard work in itself is a total body workout. You dig holes, pull up weeds, plant flowers, and spread mulch. Be sure to drink plenty of water and not to overexert yourself. Take a rest and re-hydrate before continuing.

When doing yard work and chores remember to protect your back. Lift objects from a squatting position. Instead of bending over to pull weeds, kneel on a soft pad. Use proper posture whenever possible to avoid injury.

I hate cleaning the house. This is a time where I love the concept of outsourcing! My housekeepers are my favorite people. My house is 4,000 square feet so that is a lot of house to clean with my various job titles, a hubbie and 3 kids. So I will stick to my normal exercise regimen.

Who knew housework could put curves in all the right places? Have fun with it. Turn on some tunes and boogie to the music as you clean the house.

Are You a Fit Yummy Mummy?

Losing fats is not an easy thing to do. You will have to make sacrifices with the food you eat or the food that you do not have to eat. You will also have to make changes in your lifestyle. However, following a food plan doesn’t have to be as hard as most plans. There is a computerized plan that allows you choose from a number of items that you buy from your local grocery store.  The plan encourages you to follow the plan for 11 days with 3 days of anything goes within portion moderation. Then you can choose another plan of different items for your next 11 days. I personally have been losing weight at surprising rates so far. I lost 7 lbs my 1st week and 5 lbs the 2nd week.

You also need to work hard with the exercises you have to go through to lose all the unwanted fats you have in your body. In 1999, Billy Blanks, a former tae kwon do jin, developed Tae Bo, which is now regarded as one of the most effective fat loss exercises. Tae Bo is actually a combination of two sports, tae kwon do and boxing. Blanks has also made an acronym about this exercise which went, Total Awareness Excellence Body Obedience (a little cheesy, but it is what you will get as you get into this program). Movements in Tae Bo involve most of the movements you will see in other martial arts such as throwing and grappling. Although it took inspiration from two combative sports, tae bo should not be mistaken as something you can use during a fight. It is purely for exercise and fitness purposes. Tae Bo is a fantastic cardiovascular exercise and it tones your muscles. You sweat a lot while doing the moves in this exercise and you burn your fats. Shaquille O’Neal, Goldie Hawn, and Paula Abdul have attributed their great bodies partly to tae bo. And well we all know how great they look.

Another one of the better-known fat loss exercises is resistance training, which makes up most my workouts. You can do this with the help of friction machines, hydraulic machines, and most importantly, weights. Weights are very essential in this exercise and they should also correspond to your own body weight. As you do resistance training, you develop more muscles, you sweat a lot, and you burn calories and unwanted fats. You also develop better metabolism since you have more muscles in your body now. If you are a female, you do not have to worry about looking like some bodybuilder because of doing resistance training. You will drop the fats, gain some muscles, but the muscles will not be exaggerated in your appearance. Aside from building muscles resistance training has other benefits including lowering blood pressure and build bones, and saving you from osteoporosis.

Definitely one of the most popular exercises is aerobics. Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the San Antonio Air Force Hospital is regarded as the father of aerobics. He developed this exercise to tackle coronary artery disease. He even published a book on this exercise and it became an instant success. It is a fun workout to do, and is enjoyed by a number of people all around the world. It has even become a pop culture phenom as different media like television, movies, and music videos have drawn inspiration from this activity. It has also developed into other forms like dance aerobics, step aerobics, water aerobics, and the most recent, hip-hop aerobics which is my personal favorite. There are even aerobic competitions that are held annually. Which fitness exercise program has worked the best for you?