Want To Mix Up Your Workout? Don't Move A Muscle

Want To Mix Up Your Workout? Don't Move A Muscle
Move: Static lunge Even without weight, a static lunge can burn and shape your butt, thighs and calves while reducing stress on your knees. And it will crush your core, Frisch says. "To keep the position stable and solid, squeeze your abs as hard as you can," he says. "My clients feel it more in their abs than they do even in a plank." To do the static lunge, take a large step forward and descend into the deepest position of the lunge you can hold -- ideally, your knees will form two 90-degree angles. Hold this position for 30 seconds on each side, then switch sides. Work this hold into your workout between sets of an upper-body exercise. More from Shape.com: The Best Cardio Machines You've Never Seen Real Women Reveal: "How Zumba Changed My Life" 10 New Outdoor Workout Ideas
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Ben Greenfield: Summer Shape-Up: How to Look Good in a T-Shirt

Ben Greenfield: Summer Shape-Up: How to Look Good in a T-Shirt

With summer rolling in, your sleeves are going to be rolling up. This means bare arms, more neck, and possibly even a little waist is going to show. So today, you'll get five steps to ensure that you look good in your t-shirt this summer!

Step 1: Bringing Sexy Back

It's easy to focus on just the parts of your upper body that you immediately see when you step in front of the mirror: your shoulders, your chest, your abs, and the front of the arms. But to cut an impressive figure, you also need to pay attention to what you don't see as much -- namely, your back.

The most important part of your back to target is the part that makes those t-shirt sleeves look good -- namely, the back of your arms (aka, your triceps). Here are three fantastic exercises to define your triceps (do these at least once a week):

1. Narrow Grip Pushups: Do a pushup in the regular or knee push-up position, but keep your hands closer together and ensure that your elbows brush your ribcage as you drop to the ground and come back up.
2. Triceps Pushdowns: Look for a cable with a rope or bar attached to it. Hold the handle, then start with your arms bent at 90 degrees and extend them down towards the floor until they're completely straight.
3. Dips: Hold a dip bar or put your hands on a bench behind you. You then lower yourself as far as you can -- or until your elbows are at about 90 degrees -- then push yourself back up.

Step 2: Look for the "V"

Your chest, shoulders, and arms might be t-shirt ready, but you'll still look dumpy if you're sporting muffin tops or a beer belly. If you really want a tight tummy, you need to incorporate exercises that create a "belt" of muscle around your entire mid-section. This belt serves to draw in your waist and keep your stomach flat.

To work your entire mid-section and get a nice tapered "V" in your waist, you need to include the following four movements:

1. Abdominal flexion: This will tighten the "rectus abdomonis," or sheet of muscle tissue that goes directly down the front of your stomach (try crunches).
2. Rotation: This works the internal and external oblique muscles that are located along the sides of your stomach (try waist twists).
3. Waist extension: This will work your lower back muscles to improve posture and keep your stomach tight (try bridges).
4. Planking exercises: These will allow you to firm and tone the sides of your waist, directly above your hips.

Try to put together exercises from each of these categories into a circuit, which you repeat three to four times through with minimal rest. Try a crunch variation to a twisting variation to a low back extension to a plank. For a sample workout, click here. And check out video tutorials here.

Step 3: Think About Your Neck

Even if the rest of your body looks good, it can be unflattering if you have a skinny neck that sticks up out of your t-shirt. To ensure you have a nice-looking neck, you should target your trapezius, or "traps."

The traps are responsible for the motion of shrugging your shoulders, which means you should include these type of exercises at least once a week in a workout: dumbbell shoulder shrugs, dumbbell or barbell deadlifts, farmer's walks, or walking lunges.

When you do these exercises, imagine the tops of your shoulders touching the bottom of your earlobes, which will help you to keep your traps contracted.

Step 4: Shoulder Squeeze

Shoulders that are slouched or slumped forward may look OK from the front, but give you an unattractive curve from the side -- and if you sit at your computer for long periods of time, ride a bike in a hunched-over position, swim often, or have a combination of tight chest muscles and weak shoulder muscles (which is very common), then this may be an issue for you.

So if you want to look good in a t-shirt, include exercises that make you squeeze your shoulders back, such as seated rows, standing rows, pull-ups, pull-downs, and super-slow push-ups.

When you perform these exercises, keep your shoulder blades pulled back, your abs tight, and your back straight.

Step 5: Choose Your T-Shirt Wisely

Finally, make sure to wear the right t-shirt. Many people wear t-shirts that are too large, or made of material such as polyester, a cotton/polyester blend, or synthetic nylon, none of which hug your body in a way that brings out the figure you're working hard to develop.

So when you get a t-shirt, look for the words "fitted" or "fit" or "slim." This is a good indication that it will form-fit your body in a flattering way.

If you can't find a fitted t-shirt that you like, try to choose a t-shirt that is a high-quality cotton, such as 100 percent combed ring-spun cotton or knitted fine cotton. This type of material is less likely to have a "pleated" appearance or hang loosely, and more likely to form-fit your body.

Finally, if you need a quick t-shirt workout that incorporates the concepts in this article, try this on for size:

• 10 Narrow Grip Push-Ups
• 10 Seated Rows
• 10 Side Plank Rotations
• 10 Walking Lunges
• 10 Dumbbell Deadlifts

Complete the circuit above three to five times through with minimal rest between exercises, then go find the right t-shirt for your new physique!

Missed It? You can still participate in the 30-Day Summer Shape Up:

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Missy Chase Lapine: My Gluten-Free Diet Disaster

Missy Chase Lapine: My Gluten-Free Diet Disaster

A couple of years ago, when my daughter Sammy was 9, some health issues she'd had pretty much since birth -- asthma and eczema -- suddenly became a whole lot worse. Her breathing tests showed reduced lung function and her entire body was itchy, red and dry. Sammy was also having terrible G.I. troubles. We met with various specialists, but nothing seemed to help. Then I began to wonder: Was this a new food allergy? Sammy had long been diagnosed with various food allergies -- the most severe of them being to nuts. (And as if her diet wasn't already limited, she was an extremely picky eater, as well. She was my inspiration for The Sneaky Chef cookbook series!) Eventually, we ended up back in the allergist's office -- and learned that she had developed an allergy to wheat, barley and rye (the gluten-containing grains). If she went off gluten, her doctor said, Sammy's problems should clear up.

Yeah. Not an easy prospect. Sammy is my "carbotarian." Like most kids, she loves pizza, pasta, grilled cheese sandwiches and birthday cake. So as soon as the words came out of the doctor's mouth, I quickly blurted, "Don't worry, baby -- if you can't have it, I won't either!" I felt badly for her. And I didn't want to be chowing down crusty bagels and pizza slices in her face -- somehow it seemed mean, especially since her sister, Emily, has no food allergies and doesn't share my guilt. She'll happily munch a bowl of pasta or a blueberry muffin in front of her sister. So that was it: I would join Sammy in gluten-free solidarity -- besides, maybe I'd drop a few pounds too.

I researched all the foods containing gluten -- the obvious ones, as well as the not-so obvious foods, (see hidden sources of gluten) like soy sauce and certain deli meats, and eliminated them out of our diets. I hunted down gluten-free substitutes for our favorite foods -- and, as you may know, there are tons. With all the hype the diet has received recently -- and all the companies cranking out new products to meet the demand -- it's a pretty good time to be diagnosed with a gluten allergy or sensitivity. (Check here for symptoms to see if you may have a gluten intolerance or sensitivity.)

Sammy and I taste-tested and discovered our favorite gluten-free pastas, pizza crusts, cookies and breads and just swapped them in -- so essentially we were eating the same types of foods and in the same quantities as we had been with the "regular" stuff. After a few weeks on the gluten-free diet, Sammy's eczema cleared up and her breathing tests and gastro issues improved. The unusual puffiness she'd had in her face went down -- Sammy looked like her adorable old self again. She seemed pretty content to live the gluten-free life. The biggest challenge for her was birthday parties, when she'd have to bring her own cupcake. I can't tell you how relieved I was for Sammy.

I, however, didn't have the same happy side effect. I'm not allergic to gluten, so I didn't expect that removing it from my diet would really do anything for me, except maybe help me drop a few pounds. But it did just the opposite; it made the scale needle start creeping up higher than usual. Some people diagnosed with celiac disease gain weight when they remove the offending gluten, simply because their bodies start absorbing nutrients properly -- but that wasn't the case with my own weight gain.

That's when I started really studying the ingredients and nutrition facts and comparing gluten-free products to their regular counterparts. Almost always, the gluten-free versions were considerably lower in fiber and nutrients in general, and higher in starchy calories as well as sugar and fat, especially compared to the whole grain products that I had given up. And they made me feel hungrier, perhaps because fiber normally offsets the carb load and helps keep my blood sugar stable. I couldn't believe it! Yes, going gluten-free had helped Sammy's asthma and eczema, but now I felt we were compromising our overall health and nutrition -- we were essentially eating the equivalent of processed white bread all day.

Please note that I do commend the gluten-free food companies for making life bearable for so many people who really need to eat gluten-free -- but we need to be aware of the imbalance of these foods. If you're going to eat your way through the gluten-free section of the grocery store, it's important to balance your diet with fiber and other nutrients that are inherently missing, and pay attention to portions.

That was it for me. After a year of going full-on gluten-free, I called it quits -- and not just because of the weight gain shock, but because there was no compelling health reason for me to stick with it. As for Sammy, my solution was to cut back on the packaged gluten-free products and lean more heavily on real gluten-free foods, instead -- things like beans, fruits, veggies, brown rice and grains like quinoa and buckwheat. I've even created my own Sneaky Chef healthy recipes with these ingredients, like gluten-free Brainy Brownies made with blueberries and baby spinach and chocolate chip cookies boosted with white beans (recipe below).

Take a look! When I compared fiber, calories and fat for common whole grain foods I normally eat vs. the gluten-free versions, it's a wonder I didn't gain more than the five pounds I put on while eating gluten-free!

English Muffins

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Gluten-free English muffins can have nearly double the calories with five times the fat and less fiber!

Gluten-free English muffins can have nearly double the calories with five times the fat and less fiber!

English Muffins

Gluten-free English muffins can have nearly double the calories with five times the fat and less fiber!

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com