Pin This: Burpees from Hell (not really, but I thought I would be dramatic!)

Burpee/Squat Pyramid

Fun Kat Fact: I just ordered this same bra in black and I'm SUPER excited for it to show up!

Pin Here

Original Post Here

The Breakdown:

9 Burpees: 1 Squat

8 Burpees: 2 Squats

7 Burpees: 3 Squats

6 Burpees: 4 Squats

5 Burpees: 5 Squats

4 Burpees: 6 Squats

3 Burpees: 7 Squats

2 Burpees: 8 Squats

1 Burpee: 9 Squats

Basically by round two I was sucking for air! I thought squats would be the "break" as

my body recoups for the next set of burpees, but your legs are engaged the whole

time so the legs are SCREAMING by the time the squats occur! Great drill! Stellar on its

own or in addition to your regular workout! I'm scared how my body will be feeling tomorrow!

ENJOY!

Pin This: Yoga for Weightloss

Yoga for Weightloss

Pin Here

Website Here

This originally came from an article in Prevention, and I'm telling you, Yoga is great, but these 

moves make it a little more challenging, which I LOVE! Here are my favorites:

Chaturanga Push-ups

Bridge with Leg Lift

Downward Dog to Knee Tap

Reverse Warrior to Side Angle

Warrior III with Crunch

These moves are really great and really engage the core! I love the stretching aspect  the moves also,
and you will feel your muscles go crazy with the challenging moves! Big Fan!

ENJOY!

Pin This: 300 Abs

300 Abs

Pin Here

Link Here

What I like about this abs routine is that it took under 10 minutes (but I took no rests), 

and covers basically all your abs. I would add some back extension to really 

make sure your core is covered though, because you need to strengthen your lower back in addition

to the abs. I will definitely be using this in my classes, probably changing the numbers though!

Here are some helpful images for some of the moves!

Side Plank Hip Lifts

Oblique V-Ups

Reverse Crunch

Toe Touches

ENJOY!

Pin This: Medicine Ball Workout

Today's Pin: Medicine Ball Workout

Pin Here

Website Here

My thoughts: This workout is awesome! Burpees with the ball add an extra torture factor

that makes you core scream! I love Russian Twists, and Sit and Reach's (both of these moves

can be done with no ball or with a weight instead). Planks are stellar for the core, 

but adding the ball adds an extra balance challenge that engages the core as well. 

Toe Taps are honestly just a great way to get your heart pumping. 

This workout is definitely worth the PIN and definitely worth a try!

ENJOY!

Pin This: The Core Challenge

This week I'm focusing on Pinterest Pins. How many of us pin all these cool exercises and then 

NEVER actually try them?! This week I'm putting some to the challenge!

If you have any you would like someone to try out and review, let me know! 

Today's Pin: THE CORE CHALLENGE

Pin Here

Website Here

The Workout:

I actually really do like this. I've done it a couple of times now in my class and you will really

feel it. I've included some of the moves below. Honestly, the first time I did this,

I did something completely different for the bridge, and that is why I'm including pictures!

Try it out!

Bridge

Plank

Raised Plank

ENJOY!

Great Article on Being Happy with YOU!

I love this article because it's a very real discovery of a woman who lost 180lbs thanks to weight loss surgery, but that didn't solve her problems, and it didn't make her happier. She talks about being happy with who you are. I LOVE that! I think a lot of us struggle with ourselves and finding a balance between who we are and what we or others think we need to be or weigh or whatever! Being healthy and happy isn't exactly a certain size or weight. Great read!

What Losing 180 Pounds Really Does to Your Body — & Your Mind

By Jen Larsen, Refinery29 

Jen Larsen is a fiercely real, funny, and honest writer. In her new book, Stranger Here: How Weight-Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed with My Head, she explains how losing 180 pounds and getting skinny wasn't all she thought it would be. Here, in an essay for R29, she explains what it's like to live through surgery - with unexpected results.

The doctor said, "It'll be nice to be able to walk down the aisle of an airplane, right? To fit down the aisle, and to not see that look of horror when someone sees you coming."

He said that because I weighed 300 pounds. He said that because he thought that all I wanted in life was to not be that creeping horror, shuffling sideways to the back of the plane, trying not to make eye contact with anyone because I didn't want to see their relief when I passed by. Trying not to make eye contact with the person in my row because I didn't want to see horror, and I really didn't want to see pity, and I really didn't want someone to lean over and explain to me that I was fat and that there are things I could do about it. Like water and jogging, or carrots and the Thighmaster.

He said that like it was a fact about all fat people. All fat people hate themselves. All fat people know that what's good in life is really only accessible to thin people. Thin is the most important variable in of life's equations. Thin equals happy, thin equals beautiful, thin equals a life worth living.

The most embarrassing fact of my life - and oh, how many embarrassing facts there are in my life - is that it was true. I was angry at him for saying it, for buying into the cliché of the fat person. For assuming that my life would transform immediately. Because he was saying all the things I had secretly thought. He was reinforcing all the secret fantasies I had about the way everything about me would be more amenable and lovable and acceptable to the whole rest of the world. To everyone on airplanes and everyone in my life. To myself. When I lost all the weight. When I got weight loss surgery.

He was my psychological consultant, the doctor who was tasked with clearing me for surgery. He signed off my mental and emotional fitness to get a surgery that I genuinely believed was going to save my life. Not just physically - though I was actually healthy - but emotionally.

And, three months later I got weight loss surgery. Seven months later I had lost over a hundred pounds; a year and a half from my surgery date, I had lost about 180 pounds. I lost a lot of things along with the weight. I lost my sense of self. My sense of proportion. My sense of dignity, of maturity, of control. I was skinny, but my life wasn't suddenly and magically perfect-and that completely astonished me. It sounds ridiculous, having really fallen for the fairy tale of weight loss. But I had fallen for it completely, and then was blinded by the egregious lack of a happily ever after.

The nature of the weight loss surgery I got is that you can completely ignore the things the doctors tell you to do. They say, exercise, don't drink, don't smoke, eat well. And you don't bother to do any of that, but still lose weight. You still lose every pound you want to lose, and then some.

The problem was that I lost all those pounds, but I didn't have to change a thing about my self. I didn't have to address any of the emotional or psychological issues. I didn't have to figure out why I had been depressed - why I was still so, so depressed, despite the fact that the one thing I thought had been ruining my life was suddenly gone.

I was skinny, finally, and I was fascinated by the physicality of it. It was like my skeleton had floated up to the surface from the bottom of a murky pond. I had muscles and tendons and bones and in the shower I'd soap the ridges of my ribs, the knobs of my hipbones, and be amazed to make their acquaintance. It wasn't pretty-I lost so much weight that I didn't look like myself, and then I lost past that, to the point where I looked like a sick stranger. Briefly, I was a size two. Sometimes I was disappointed that I couldn't be a size zero.

It doesn't go away, you see. I thought that my body was wrong when I was obese; I thought my body was wrong when I was thin past the point of health. I thought there was something wrong with my body whatever I looked like, because there's always just one more thing to fix before I look perfect, feel good in bed with hands on my body, feel sexy in a dress or a bathing suit, feel comfortable in my skin.

I felt helpless before. I tried to dodge out of the feeling by getting weight loss surgery, and now I'm angry. That I wasn't fixed, yes. But also that so many people deal with this, this exact and pervasive struggle at whatever size they are, whatever shape, whatever they do. That we're not good enough, with the implication that the best we have to offer to the world is an appropriately sized pair of jeans.

Magazine articles about body image talk about loving yourself despite your flaws. Sometimes they get really radical and they talk about loving yourself because of your flaws, and that is supposed to be empowering. And it makes me mad, because we're talking about flaws here. A body that doesn't look like the body of a Victoria's Secret model is a flawed factory reject. My thighs aren't the thighs of a figure skater, so they're not good enough, but I should love the flubby little things anyway because I am so incredibly self-compassionate.

I want this: I want to say, don't love yourself even though you're not perfect - love yourself because you have a body and it's worth loving and it is perfect. Be healthy, which is perfect at whatever size healthy is and at whatever size happy is. And of course that's totally easy and I have just caused a revolution in body image. Let's all go home now.

Right. So, I don't know what the answer is, and I don't know how to make it happen, and I don't know what to do except keep yelling about it, wherever I can. Saying there's no magic number, and there's no perfect size - and of course you know that, but we have to keep telling each other because it's hard to remember sometimes. We have to keep saying it. We have to figure out how to believe it.

Short on Time?

Ever find yourself short on time but desperate to fit in a workout?! 

Maybe a better question is if you ever DON'T find yourself short on time!!!

Here are three moves that you can bust out even 1-5 minutes and feel your heart pumping

and get your body rockin'! 

(two don't even require any equipment!)

Squat Jumps: Keep your feet hip width apart, squat down and then jump up out of it.

Do 10, rest 30 seconds. Repeat!

Burpees: Love them, hate them, they are effective!

Do 10, rest 30 seconds. Repeat.

Jump Rope: We could do this for hours as kids and now as an adult, I'm overly proud

if I can jump 20 times in a row without tripping up or huffing and puffing!

Shoot for a minute. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat.

Enjoy!

Great Article!

A friend from high school posted this article on facebook and I really like it! Original article found here.

3 Advanced Tips to Accelerate Fat Loss

BY CBATHLETICS ON FEB 18, 2013

3 Advanced Tips to Accelerate Fat Loss – By Kate Vidulich

How can you increase your workout awesomeness without spending more time training or any fancy equipment?

Here are my top 3 advanced tips for accelerating your fat loss results:

1. Manipulate the Time

This tip has two parts – so I guess I’m cheating already…

(a) Minimize Your Rest

Incomplete recovery is one of main principles of metabolic resistance training, so you won’t get the full benefits if you wing it (that is, train without a timing device). The GymBoss timer is my #2 best friend, behind coffee.

Listen, you either deserve to rest or you don’t. You know when you’re slacking off and taking a cheeky rest break in your workout. Hey, I can even tell when my clients are playing tricks. There is not enough time to check Facebook, emails or go to the shop and buy a drink between sets in a fat loss workout.

But remember, it’s very important to monitor how you feel. Pushing hard to the limits and completely destroying yourself are two very different categories. Getting dizzy and throwing up is not cool. End of story.

(b) Use Density Sets

With everyone short on time these days, density sets are the solution. Only have 10 minutes to workout? No dramas. Set up your total body circuit and go hard to complete as many rounds as possible with the time you have.

Just ask my high-profile clients in New York. Instead of a whole one hour session, you come 15 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early, and STILL get a fun, killer workout done that leaves you dripping in sweat and uplifted with positive energy. Please note I don’t condone this lateness.

One thing you must pay attention to is your form. If you get fatigued and become sloppy, that is a big warning sign to slow down or stop and take a quick break. Sorry to break it to you, but this is not the Olympics.

Remember we’re aiming for workout quality. The goal is to challenge and push your limits in a safe environment. Poor form does not help you accelerate fat loss results; it will only send you to the ER.

2. One legged moves

Doing more one-legged exercises in your workout will increase the calorie burn, challenge your stability and get you faster results.

What are my favorite killer one-legged moves? I’m so glad you asked.

(a) Favorite bodyweight exercise: Bulgarian split squats (brutal on your quads but efficient – the pain is only short lived). For extra fun, add in a hop. Good times.

(b) Favorite conditioning exercise: I have two so this is a tiebreaker situation.

- One legged burpees. You can also do this with a TRX for serious fun, fat burning times. 8-10 each side will toast you. Add a push up into the equation if you’re feeling extra adventurous. Total body awesomeness!

- One-legged walk outs to push up. Balance on one leg and do a hand walkout to plank position, do a push up and return to starting position while still balancing on one leg. Tricky, but it’s fun and creates a metabolic flush.

3. Progression

As you do with your strength training, programming and progressing your interval training workouts is very important to see continued fat loss results and not get stuck on a nasty plateau.

Now I don’t mean simply running faster or at a greater incline on the dreadmill.

If you’re looking to change it up from traditional interval workouts on the machines, this is for you. Use metabolic resistance training workouts to replace your intervals and take your conditioning to the next level.

Here’s an effective MRT workout you can try in your workout today. All you need is a pair of dumbbells and a small space. We’ve tested this in crowded New York gyms and it’s a winner for fast fat loss!

Choose a weight you can press overhead at least 10 times. The goal is to use a moderate load for conditioning purposes, not strength. Often when people start MRT they choose weights that are too heavy and can’t finish the reps. Big mistake.

Perform each of the following in order with no rest between exercises. At the end of the circuit, rest for 90 seconds. Do 3-4 rounds.

A) DB Front Squat to Overhead Press x 8
B) Renegade Row x 8
C) X-Body Mountain Climber x 8
D) Romanian Deadlift x 8

How can you progress this workout? I like your thinking folks.

Two options: you can increase the weight you lift each week OR you reduce your rest period. Do one OR the other, meaning you don’t want to change both variables at once.

Week 1 = 90s rest
Week 2 = 75s rest
Week 3 = 60s rest
Week 4 = 45s rest

Incorporate these simple, yet effective tips in your workouts and see your level of conditioning skyrocket and most importantly, watch your belly fat disappear.

You can get more done-for-you workouts to replace your interval training and accelerate your fat loss at fatlossaccelerators.com

Rock on!

Kate

Product Review

Product Review: Jillian Michael's Jumpstart Kit

I am one of those people who does not necessarily agree with diet pills because the jittering bothers

me and I don't think they are really effective. I also don't agree with "fast cleanses" because

you may lose weight, but it doesn't stay off, and you have no energy to live your life (nor should you

be doing a lot of things anyway) when you are eating basically nothing.

I'm AM one of those people that like things that work well with my lifestyle and basically makes me not have to over-think things! That's why I decided to try out the Jumpstart Kit. 

My goal was NOT to lose weight, but to feel a little healthier and lose some inches if possible!

The breakdown: in two weeks you take 3 sets of pills. The first is a "detox and cleanse" pill that you take twice a day for a week. I honestly don't know if this is just a glorified fiber pill or what!

The second week is a probiotic pill and a "fat burner" pill. What I was impressed with the 

second week is the fact that the fat burner never once gave me the jitters (and I'm the type

who avoids Diet Coke after 3pm if I have to wake up early the next day!) and as far 

as I could tell, didn't contain any of those typical diet pill ingredients (green tea, caffeine, etc).

Did I lose weight in this two week trial run? No. But I wasn't thinking I would.

Did I lose inches in this little trial: YES! I lost 1/2 inch around my waist and 1 inch around my hips.

Not bad for just taking a couple of pills during my normal life!

Final Opinion: Not bad. The plus side was it made me drink way more water throughout my day 

(they suggest taking pills with a full glass, and doing that twice, plus the normal water bottle I drink at the gym and I was pretty much hitting the suggested healthy amount!). If you are wanting to start out a diet or healthy 

lifestyle, this isn't a bad way to get you started! And for only $20 and 2 weeks, its worth a shot, right?!

Crossfit Inspired: Katrina Approved

This is one of my favorite Crossfit Inspired workouts!

I found out that I'm subbing a class Resistance Interval Plyo Something-or-other class at 8:30am

  (after teaching a sculpt class at 5:30am),

so this is what I'm going to make THEM do!

(I may sit there and sip some chocolate milk or something!)

*the numbers indicate how many you do per round, so 21 squats, 21 jump . . . then 18 squats, etc*

21-18-15-12-9-6-3

Squat (30+lbs bar)

Jump Jacks or Rope

Deadlifts (20+lbs)

Box Hops

Sadly, this won't fill the whole hour class, so we'll see what else I'll make them do. Try this routine at home! It's great and takes about 20 minutes after a proper warm-up! Add some

abs at the end and you have a stellar workout!

ENJOY!

Plank It

Today's Challenge: Planks!

Simple enough routine, but the benefits are stellar!

Plank (on elbows or hands, on feet or knees): 30 Seconds

Side Plank Left (on elbows or hands, on feet or knees): 30 Seconds

Plank: 30 Seconds

Side Plank Right: 30 Seconds

Plank: 30 Seconds

Side Plank Left: 30 Seconds

Plank: 30 Seconds

Side Plank Right: 30 Seconds

Total Time: 4 minutes!

ENJOY!

Challenge: How Many Can You Do?

I'm not gonna lie. I'm still feeling like crap! Dang allergies!

AND I had to go to the dentist today, so my face is still slightly numb!

(The plus side, my dentist is a hottie! AND I have 3 kids with him!)

As a result, it's 4:30pm and I'm finally posting a challenge for the day!

Today's Challenge: How many PUSHUPS can you do in 3 minutes?!

3 Minutes!

That's EASY, right?!

Try it! And let me know!

(I'm going to go take some more medicine before my lifting class tonight!)

ENJOY!

Spring Break Break

It is Spring Break and my allergies have gone crazy, so I'm not thinking straight enough

to come up with some awesome workout for the day.

But one thing I DID do today was go to the park with my kids.

That IS a workout in and of itself.

So the challenge:

Go to the park and PLAY with your kids! 

(don't just sit and watch like I usually do).

Go SWING, and SLIDE, and CLIMB, and RUN!

See how fast you can get your heart pumping!

Your kids will LOVE you for it!

ENJOY!

Run Like Me (aka like you have A.D.H.D)!

I am TRYING to learn to like running, and pretty much failing at it. My problem is, if I'm

stuck on a treadmill, I don't have the attention span to just keep going.

My solution: Running to my Spin mixes! I speed up and add sprints, I slow it down

to walking if needed, and I sing along . . . a lot!

Here's the playlist:

Here's what we are doing:

1. Warmup

2. Nice Pace that you should be able to keep for 10 minutes

3. Speed up. RUN! (6+ for me)

4. Back to a happy tempo (I am usually at a 5-5.5)

5. Speed! Run FASTER than #3 (6.5-7 for me)

6. Happy Tempo

7. Maybe add some incline or speed!

8. Happy Tempo

9. Speed up (6) and then Sprint for Chorus (7.5)! It's short!

10. Cool down/Catch your breath!

This should be about a 5k if you run at a tempo of 5 or more! 

ENJOY!

Going Back to a Basic

I did a move this morning that I haven't done in forever and yet I don't think I've had

my muscles scream so loud in a long time!

You wanna know what that move was?

A BASIC FULL SIT-UP!

(Full Sit-Up)

Who knew?! 

So here is the workout for today!

16 Full Sit-Ups

16 Basic Crunches

16 Full Sit-Ups

16 Butterfly Crunches (feet together, knees open)

16 Full Sit-Ups

16 Basic Crunches

You abs may hate me tomorrow!

(Basic Crunch)

(Butterfly Crunch)

ENJOY!

Move for the Day: Buso Ball Burbees

Want a single move that will attack your whole body?! Try burpees with a buso ball! 

Here we have a regular burpee . . . let's be honest, these are terrible by themselves!

Now do the same move with a buso ball! I find they are easier (for the fact that you have to 

go slower), yet you will feel a burn in your shoulders after about 4 thanks to the

weight of the buso!

Today's Challenge: Make it a Tabata! 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 4 minutes.

With or without the buso ball, these will NOT disappoint! 

It's a MUSIC day!

My goal for today is to go running. In honor of that, I put together a fun little running mix!

Nothing motivates me better that finding fun music! 

Enjoy!

Move for the Day: Handstand Pushups

Today let's talk about a crazy way to sculpt your shoulders! I give you: 

HANDSTAND PUSHUPS!

It's definitely straight out of a Crossfit style workout! Use the wall as your support and bend your elbows as much as you can and push back up. Voila! You have a handstand pushup!

If that's a little to extreme for you, I give you option #2. 

SHOULDER PUSHUPS!

Start out in Downward Dog position, arms slightly wider than normal. Bend at the elbows

until your head is close to the ground and then push them straight again.

Try it out! See what you are made of!

Enjoy!

Kick Some Thass

I was recently reading the latest issue of Self Magazine and Julianne Hough talked about the body area she liked to work the most. She lovingly called it her THASS. At first I thought it was kind of funny. Then I thought it was kind of genius! Who doesn't want to make that part of their body better?! I'm not gonna lie, I'm fine with my behind and fine with my legs, but it's that area in between that's not so cute! So THAT'S exactly what we are going to work on!

Five Moves For Your Thass (you know, between your thigh and your ***)

One Legged Squats

Hamstring Roll Ins

Deadlifts

Side Lunges

Donkey Kicks

Rather have a cardio option? 

On a treadmill, elliptical, or spin bike (but go standing), get into a heavy climb.

Keep up a nice pace (think to the beat of a Michael Jackson's song "It's black, it's white . . .).

Gradually add to the climb while keeping the beat. Yeah, you should feel the burn

in your thighs and your thass!

Move for the Day: 1-armed Sit-Up

I found this move on Pinterest (dang that site) and then I did the move this morning in my class.

I'm not gonna lie: I'm kind of in love with this move! Because of that, I'm sharing it today with you!

It's called the 1-armed Sit Up!

You start by lying on your back, holding a 3-5lb weight in your right hand, right knee up.

Pull up into a sit-up, keeping your arm raised high and having your left arm help guide you up.

Slowly roll back down to your back to start.

Repeat 15 or so times then switch sides.

We decided that the right side was far easier than the left! What do you think? 

This move originally came from this post on Shape.com

*Quick reminder-How's your challenge going?! I measured this morning. 

I have lost a whopping .25 inches off my upper right thigh! But I did add the same on

my lower left, so maybe I'm just really bad at measuring! Five more days!*

Music to Move You!

Well, Jon is in Dallas for a hockey game, which means my normal grueling Friday morning

class has a sub! What's a girl to do?! My goal for the day: running my 5k in

somewhat descent time (aka-under 36 minutes!). How am I going to do it? 

MUSIC!

Here is my playlist for the day! 

Go out and move your body! Burn some major calories! Have some fun!

Enjoy!