Summer Body Sculpting Plyometric Workout

A summer body sculpting plyometric (jumping) workout will blast more fat because it is very intense! And, one-legged plyometric exercises are more intense than two-legged exercises. Shorten and intensify your workouts with jump training (plyometrics)! Plyometric workouts also blast more fat and calories during and after your workout!



If you're having trouble sculpting your butt, hips and thighs then you need to do more jump exercises.

Bodyweight plyometric workouts are advanced workouts. You need to perfect jumping and landing techniques or you will injure yourself. And, if you have knee and low back problems, high-speed jump training is not for you.

Try this plyometric workout (take little or no rest between exercises):

--jump rope, two feet, full speed, 1 minute
--squat jumps (pictured above), 10, full speed
--lunge jumps, 10, full speed
--tuck jumps, 10, full speed
--jumping jacks, 30 seconds, full speed

Rest 1 minute between circuits. Repeat the circuit 2 more times--20 minutes total workout time. Take more rest between exercises or circuits if needed.

Try bodyweight plyometric workouts to blast more fat this summer!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Summer Body Sculpting Eating Tips

Help sculpt your summer body by eating fresh and light. It will help you stay more alert during those hot summer days. The easiest way to get sleepy in the afternoon is to eat a 1000 calorie triple cheeseburger! That's a good way to pack on the body fat too.

You're on the run alot during the summer right? Pack your meals with healthy foods that are easy to prepare or eat. Pack your smoothies, nuts, yogurt, finger sandwiches, kiwi fruit, cantaloupe, green salads, fruit juices (not sugary), etc.

Eat more foods that have high water content. This will help you stay hydrated in the heat and eat less. Foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables are examples. These types of foods help you to feel fuller (satiety) while eating fewer calories. For instance, grapes with the same caloric amount as raisins will provide more satiety and theoretically help you eat less the rest of the day.

Here are some other summer eating tips:

1. Eat small meals every 3-4 hours (starting with breakfast) to keep up your energy and to keep your metabolism humming along. When you skip meals, your body slows down its metabolism to conserve energy and store fat.

2. Avoid grazing or haphazzard eating. Do this by planning and packing your meals for the day. This way, you are more likely to stay with your meal plan. Otherwise, you may end up eating fast food or overeating.

3. Eat protein with every meal. Protein helps you feel fuller for a longer period of time, helps keep blood sugar levels from spiking and repairs your muscles after a tough workout.

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Top 5 Summer Body Sculpting Cardio Exercises

Some cardio exercises sculpt your body better than others. For sure, don't waste too much time with long cardio sessions. You will get more heart-health and body sculpting benefits from short, interval cardio workouts.



Get outside and exercise! Get off the cardio machines and enjoy the fresh air.
If you know me at all, you know I prefer to exercise outdoors. Have fun this summer with your cardio! Get off the machines, be creative and keep burning body fat.

Here are some top cardio exercises that sculpt your body:

1. Run sprint intervals on grass or in sand if you're at the beach. Sprints are absolutely one of the best ways to blast fat and sculpt your body. You don't have to be fast, just run as fast as you can. The sessions only need to be 20 minutes.

2. Play on a rec soccer, flag football or basketball team. The continuous jogs and sprints are great fat burners and its fun.

3. Jump rope every day for at least 15 minutes. Jumping rope is absolutely one of best ways to sculpt your body. Jump rope intervals work best. You could jump rope for 30 seconds and walk for 30 seconds. Do that rotation for 15 minutes and you're done. The faster you can jump rope the better!

4. Do cardio blasts between each weight training set. Its a great way to get in your cardio. Good cardio blast exercises are squat jumps, run-in-place, jumping jacks and tuck jumps.

5. Biking in the great outdoors! A great fat-burning exercise for any season. Again, intervals work great with biking also.

Come up with your own fun, fat-burning exercises for the summer! Just get moving already!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Side Squat To Tone Hips, Glutes And Thighs

The side squat will help you tone your hips, glutes and thighs faster. The side squat will improve your overall lower body strength, especially in the frontal plane of motion.





1. Grab a medicine ball and stand with your feet wider than a normal squat. Point your feet slightly outward. Brace your core (as if taking a punch to the gut).

2. Without moving your feet, keep your chest up, shoulders back and lunge to the right.

3. Drive upward back to the standing position. Repeat the movement to the left side and back up to the standing position. That is 1 repetition.

The side squat is similar to the side lunge except you don't move your feet.

Add the side squat to your workout routine to better shape and tone your lower body.

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Lateral Cone Hops Burn Leg Fat

Use lateral cone hops to burn leg fat and improve your strength and power in the frontal plane of motion. Hops and jumps are very intense exercises that activate that bulkier, shapely fast twitch muscles fibers in your butt, hips and thighs.



The frontal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into equal front and back halves. The motions primarily involve abduction and adduction (side-to-side motions).

Abduction takes your limb away from the midline of your body and adduction takes your limb closer to the midline of your body. Examples include exercises performed on hip abductor and hip adductor machines. Other frontal plane motions would be lateral lunges, dumbbell lateral shoulder raises and lateral spinal flexion.

Lateral cone hops are done as fast as possible. Also, your feet should remain on the ground as little as possible as you do the hops. Focus on hopping (not jumping) from side to side (on the balls of your feet) with very little vertical height. You are working to improve lateral strength and power with this exercise and not vertical power. Do 8-10 repetitions per set.

As you progress, you can begin to do single leg lateral cone hops. Train hard, safe and burn more leg fat!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Lateral Tube Walk Tones Lower Body

The Lateral Tube Walk is a strength exercise that tones your lower body. It also looks like an easy exercise to perform. Don't be fooled by appearances. When done correctly, the lateral tube walk will challenge your strength (especially in the frontal plane), endurance and balance.



The lateral tube walk will strengthen and tone your butt, hips, core, adductors (inner thighs) and outer thighs.

Do the exercise this way:

1. Attach the resistance band just above each ankle. Place your feet shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly bent and your back straight.

2. Maintaining good posture, step your right foot out to the side about 2 shoulder-widths apart. Then, step your left foot inward until your feet are again shoulder-width apart. Your knees should remain aligned over your feet during the exercise. It is important to not let your knees "cave in" or spread outside your feet. Also, keep your glutes contracted during the exercise.

3. Do 10-15 steps in the same direction and repeat in opposite direction. That is one set. Do 2-3 sets.

If you've never done the lateral tube walk, try it during your next workout. It is an exercise you should do on a regular basis.

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Shuttle Runs Burn Fat Faster

Use shuttle runs to burn fat faster and really lean and tone your body. Shuttle runs are proven fat burners and would be a great change of pace exercise for you, if you are ready for advanced exercise.



Shuttle runs are effective fat burners because of at least three mechanisms:

1. Interval cardio - Research has proven that the benefits of anaerobic exercise (like sprint interval cardio) is superior to aerobic exercise for fat loss, fitness and heart health. The progression of your cardio exercise should be low-intensity aerobics to moderate/high-intensity aerobics to high-intensity anaerobic exercise.

2. Speed - Sprinting activates your bulkier, shapely fast twitch muscle fibers. These fast twitch muscle fibers lie dormant when you do slow-paced cardio sessions (hint). Sprinting will really burn the fat on your butt, hips, thighs, hamstrings and lower legs. Fat will also be burned on your upper body. You don't have to be fast, just run as fast as you can during the shuttle.

3. Sudden changes in direction - This adds more intensity to an otherwise intense form of exercise. Shuttles will improve your dynamic balance, power and coordination.

Try these two shuttles in your workouts to burn more fat:

Speed Shuttle Drill or 5-10-5 Cone Drill (see picture above) - Place three cones in a straight line, 5 yards apart. Start in a 2-point or 3-point stance at the middle cone. Run as fast as you can to the left cone (5 yds) and touch ground, run as fast as you can to the right cone (10 yds) touch ground and finish running through the middle cone. That's one repetition. Rest 1 minute between sets. Do 8-10 sets per workout session if you are doing this for cardio exercise.

Speed Endurance Shuttle Run - Place cones at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 yards. Sprint to the 5 yard cone and sprint back to the start. Then, sprint to the 10 yard cone and sprint back to the start. The same would be done at the 15, 20 and 30 yard cones. That is one set. Rest for 2 minutes between sets. Do 5-6 sets.

Add shuttles to your exercise mix and you will start to see your body toning up faster.

Download your FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program, start burning max fat and start building your lean, hard body!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

Avoid Summer Weight Loss Gimmicks

There will be summer weight loss gimmicks aplenty, as usual. You don't have to fall for the weight loss traps. Never think short-term when it comes to weight loss. You can lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks but your body won't look lean and healthy. And, you will feel horrible. You don't just want to lose weight for summer, you want a lean, healthy body for life.

Start exercising today toward your goal of fat loss and permanent weight loss.

The quick weight loss gimmicks lead to yo-yo dieting and even more weight gain! There are no quick solutions to permanent fat loss and weight loss.

Make the commitment to change your eating habits permanently even if you have to take small steps to get it done! And mix in regular weight training (including bodyweight exercises) and interval cardio. This is the proven recipe to give you the toned, healthy body you want and need.

Advertisements such as "lose 30 pounds in 30 days," sends a message that has a short-term solution to your weight problem. Why? Because weight lost that quickly (without regular exercise) will be mainly lost muscle mass instead of fat mass (this will slow down your metabolism). You also might be very ill after losing that much weight in such a short period of time.

It's not going to help you much if your body looks good (for the summer) but your health and quality of life is a total wreck! Exercise hard and smart. Build a foundation for your body.

Forget the commercials that say "lose 30 pounds in 30 days...." You will put that weight back on (and more) because your body composition (less fat, more lean muscle mass) has not changed!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Start Exercising Again, Today

Today is the best day to start exercising again! It doesn't have to be anything special, just get started exercising! Has your "I'll start exercising again next week" turned into next year? And, you still haven't really started exercising regularly? One of the biggest barriers to getting anything started is procrastination! Jumpstart your exercise now!



Whatever you do, don't look for a quick, easy solution to fitness and weight loss. The quick weight loss gimmicks lead to yo-yo dieting and even more weight gain! There are no quick solutions to permanent fat loss and weight loss.

You could start today with a 20-minute walk. Do this walk every day, somewhere, at some point (the mall, at work or the park works). You can break it up into two 10-minute walks if you want. Do this walk for 1 week and you'll see how much better you feel!

Start something new with your eating habits this week! Like, severely limit your sugar intake this week and try to replace sugars with fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Just this one change will help you feel better and start you on your way to losing weight and burning fat.

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Lose Weight With Challenging Exercises

If you want to lose weight and burn fat, do more challenging exercises! Challenge yourself with exercises that test your balance, coordination, strength and flexibility! Step "outside the box" and try new exercises. If you do, I guarantee you will lose more weight and burn more fat!



Try some of these challenging exercises:

1. Incorporate many one-legged exercises such as power step ups (pictured above), single leg squats, single leg good mornings, single leg medicine ball exercises, etc. These types of exercises are more intense than two-legged exercises.

2. Include exercises with your eyes closed to improve limb position sense (proprioception). This will also help you burn more fat and calories!

3. Exercise your body in all 3 planes of motion to improve multi-planar balance. An example would be a grouping of walking lunges, side lunges and transverse lunges.

4. Exercise on different surfaces such as grass, sand, astro-play and soft surfaces to add more challenge.

5. Do combinations of one-arm and one-leg exercises such as single leg squat-to-single arm shoulder press.

6. Jump rope every day using different variations---two feet, one foot, shuffle, etc. Jumping rope is one of the best body coordination exercises out there. And, speed jump rope is even better to burn more fat.

7. Quickness and agility drills will burn fat like crazy and improve your dynamic balance.

Balance training also improves your core strength.

Challenge yourself more and watch the weight and fat melt away!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Burn Fat Exercising Major Muscle Groups

Burn more fat by exercising major muscle groups, not by working out longer! Maximize your time in the gym and get the results you want! The quality of your workouts are better than the quantity of your workouts!



Have you been working out for 2 long hours per session with little or no results?! Shorten your weight training workouts to 50 minutes or less and ramp up the intensity! In other words, work harder (on major muscle groups) for a shorter period of time and you'll get more fat burn and calorie burn during and after your workout!

Do as many compound strength exercises (with weights or bodyweight) standing up as possible. These types of exercises work major muscle groups and many times are full-body strength exercises. Squats, deadlift, lunges, standing bentover rows, squat-to curl-to press and bench press are great examples. Full-body core exercises like planks and side planks work well also. Spend less time posing on "mirror exercises" like bicep curls, calf raises and tricep extensions.

Here is a good fat-burning workout:

Do each exercise one after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Rest 3 minutes between circuits. Do the circuit 4 times.

1. Bulgarian Split Squats (pictured above), 10 repetitions each leg
2. Plank, 15 repetitions, 5 second hold
3. Pushups on Medicine Ball, 10 repetitions
4. Step Ups (knee high platform), 10 repetitions each leg
5. Bentover alternating arm dumbbell rows, 10 repetitions
6. Clock Lunges, 5 repetitions each leg
7. Standing alternating arm dumbbell shoulder press, 10 repetitions
8. Repeat circuit 3 more times.

This type of workout will help you break through your weight loss and fat loss plateau.

Download your FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program, start burning max fat and start building your lean, hard body!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Home Workout For Summer

Here's a home workout you can use this summer anywhere, anytime. With the busy summer months on the way, you don't have to skip your workouts. Just make the adjustments to your summer schedule and do your workouts! No one wants to gain weight in the summer!



Television watching can be a big time waster! I rarely watch a 2 or 3 hour game without doing something else while watching. I don't have the time to waste.

So, while you're watching 24 reruns, do a bodyweight or dumbbell workout for 30-45 minutes. Your family will probably join you in the fun.

Need a good home workout? Here goes:

--Prisoner squats (pictured above), 12 repetitions, moderate pace
--Pushup Plank, 10 second hold, 10 repetitions
--Mountain Climbers, 30 seconds, slow pace
--Pushups, 20 repetitions
--Dumbbell Bentover Row, 10 repetitions, moderate pace
--Dumbbell standing shoulder press, 10 repetitions, moderate pace
--Ab Ball Curl Ups, 15 repetitions, slow pace
--Do this circuit 3 times

Do this workout 3 times a week, add in 2-3 interval cardio days between this workout and you've got it whipped! Who needs a gym membership?

Have home workout tips of your own? Let us know!

Get your FREE 20-minute fat burning cardio workouts and start your spring and summer workouts the right way!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

March Of Dimes Walk For The Babies

The March of Dimes Walk For Babies is a great cause that helps everybody. Start walking with a purpose---not just to get fit but to save lives.



Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. I'm walking in March for Babies because I want to do something about this. And I need your help.

Please support my walk. Making a secure donation is easy: just click the "March of Dimes Button." The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

Your gift will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.

Walk For The Babies.