My favorite saree

Yesterday night I attended another wedding. I did not intend to blog what I was wearing because this saree of mine has been featured a lot on this blog (specially because of it, being similar to many celebrities wearing the same). But then two of my blogger and my real life friends casually asked me to post what I was wearing. So, I thought why not. Also, this time, I had worn it differently and accessorized it differently. To top it all, it is my favorite saree and color combination. So here it is.

 Jewelry: Bought from my dad.

Emerald or Panna is the gemstone of Mercury. Emeralds are fascinating gemstones. They have the most beautiful, most intense and most radiant green that can possibly be imagined: emerald green.

An Emerald of good quality and without blemishes gives good health, a strong body to its wearer. Apart from this, it also makes him wise and intelligent. It increases wealth and property of the wearer and blesses the native with children. It is also considered beneficial for good eyesight. An Emerald, which is blemished causes injuries, deprives happiness from parents, causes mental and physical distress to the wearer.

Cautions
A defective Emerald can cause great trouble to the wearer. Consult with your astrologer before wearing Emerald.

Sculpt your arms and shoulders

Use tubing to sculpt your arms and shoulders.

Keep the tubing under your feet.

Hold the handles in hands.

Flex your elbow.

Do a Bicep Curl.

Upright rows. 

Pull the hands upwards as if you are zipping up the jacket.

Let the movement come from the shoulders and not elbows.

Side lateral Raise

Cross the two ends of the tubing and take the arms out.

Target: Medial Deltoid.

Exercise for Adductors

Inner thigh or adductors can be toned up using these leg bands.

These are small resistance bands, that can be strapped to each ankle.

Bend on knee and place the foot on the floor

Raise up the other leg straight up. 

Move it out to side. Work against the resistance.

In this, straighten both legs up. And Try to separate both legs and take them outwards. The same exercise will not be possible without this resistance band.

Fit Squeeze for Legs

Moving on from abs.

Here we are targeting the leg- thigh muscles.

As you can see, this is super squat. 

Place the Fit squeeze between your knee so that its one end touches your calf and the other touches back of your thigh.

Place the other leg slightly ahead.

Lift the heel of the foot, in which you have placed the fit squeeze.

Bend and lower down.

This is such a superb way of doing a squat and targeting your quadricep that each squat is 3 times more effective than a normal squat.

Next you lie down. 

Bend your knees. Place fit squeeze under one knee and lift this leg up, perpendicular to floor.

Try to squeeze it. The lower leg or calf bends towards the hamstring (back of the thigh). 

Target: Hamstring muscles

Absolutely abs-5

This is another wonderful piece of equipment.Very light and portable. It is in A shape and is called fit squeeze.

Place it between your knees.

As you roll upwards, squeeze it with your thighs. 

So your abs crunch and your thighs squeeze.

Absolutely abs-4

Sit straight. Place the exercise ball on your thighs.
Fold your hands. Press your palms together. Rest your elbows on the ball.
Now lean back as far as you can and let the ball slide upward.
Maintain the control and balance.

Absolutely abs-3

Now hold the exercise ball in your hands.
Lift your torso and the hand straight up. Bend one knee 90 degree. Lift the other leg straight up 10 inches off from the floor. Hold this for couple of seconds. Lower down and lift up again. Switch the legs this time.

This exercise is same as above. But now you straighten up the bent knee. So both legs are straight.

Absolutely abs-2

An extension of the previous exercise. Adding on the challenge. Still targeting the abs.

Starting position

1. Same as before- Keep the ball in between the knees. Keep the knees bent, thighs perpendicular to the floor, back flat, abs tight, toes pointed.

2. Extend the legs straight out. Lower them as low as possible without arching the back.

3. Bring the legs straight up. 90 degree. Toes are pointed throughout.

Do this 30 times and then, you can reverse this. Do 1, 3, 2. 

Feel your lower abs tightening and your thighs activating. 

Absolutely abs

This is a simple and effective abdominal workout.
Place a small ball between your knees. This is done to isolate the abs and not let the hip flexor muscles assist in the movement. Your thighs also get worked because the adductors are holding and squeezing the ball.

Starting position

Bend the knees. The legs are up. Keep the abs tight and back flat. Point your toes.

Ending position

Maintaining the same angle, lower down the legs and lightly tap or touch the toes on the floor.

Immediately bring the legs back to the starting position.

Repeat this for 30-50 times.

Watchpoints: 

Do not arch the back. 

Let the movement come from your lower abs or hip joint but not from your knees. 

So not stop, hold or rest at the ending position. Immediately get back to the starting position.

Strength Training in Pool

Water itself provides enough resistance. Adding an equipment like fitness stick, is an added bonus. Fitness stick can be safely used inside the pool. And you can do your strength training more effectively.

Another Blog

Another blogger has written such a wonderful post here about me ad my blog. Do read it here. I am honored.

Warrior Pose on Ramp

Ramp is a wonderful surface. It is inclined and hence gives all the benefits of incline surface walking. It targets he rear muscles like hips, thighs and calves. It is color coded. This makes the job of fitness trainer like me, easier. I can cue better to my clients.  We do aerobics on it. But here I am demonstrating Yoga poses like warrior (Virbhadrasana) and Triangle (Trikonasna) on Ramp.

Aqua aerobics

So today was hard core cardio day in the pool. I did Aqua aerobics which involved lot of jumps, jog, skip, hop, etc.

Aqua Aerobics or water aerobics is the safest and quickest way to shed weight.

People who can benefit from aqua aerobics are:

• People wanting a fun and high energy workout 
• Overweight people
• Senior citizens
• People looking for rehabilitation exercise- after injury or surgery
• Pregnant Woman

Water aerobics is therapeutic, relaxing and de stressing.

Jagjit Singh Live show

Am just back seeing Jagjit Singh live show. No words are required to praise the famous ghazal singer.

This is what I wore
Top: Joss
Stole: 94, MM Janpath, New Delhi, India.
I paired it with Jeggings.

Yoga in the Pool

I am still warming up in pool. There is still chill in the weather. But I wanted to try my Yogic stretching in the pool. Inside the water, the stretches happen much better. You lengthen up. It feels great when you come out. Yoaqua- is Yoga done in water. I did that today.

Some more stretches that you can do

Cobra

Backward Bend

Stork

Triangle

Balance Training

It is important to work on balance training. It helps in

Strengthening the core

Working on your response time

Preventing future injuries.

Activates muscles of legs- thighs, hips, calves

Improves balance, coordination and posture

Straightens the spine.

Bosu, which was earlier used as Ball on the side up.

Now is Both sides up.

We utilize both sides of Bosu.

Core Conditioning

Having a strong core is very important. Isometric contraction really helps to develop good core.
Hold this position for few seconds or a minute.

Playing pool games

Today I started my pool exercises for this season. I started by playing few pool games. Jumping around in the pool, gearing up for the upcoming weather. The water was cold but I loved it.

Do you know the advantages of aqua aerobics over other forms of exercises?

You shed 8 times more calories in water.
You tone up much better in water.
You stretch better in water.
You come out feel fresher not sweaty.
You work against the resistance of water.
The buoyancy of water assists you.
You do not need to know swimming to do these exercises because you are standing in water.
You need not even put your face inside water. Hence your skin and hair are not harmed with the harsh chemicals of the pool.
It is much more fun.
You can do all your floor exercises in water- aerobics, kickboxing, weights, yoga, stretching, everything.