A 30-Minute Yoga Routine to Fight Stress and Build Strength

Think you’ve got to hit the gym to build muscle and then make time for sun salutations to keep your stress levels in check? With this strength-building yoga style, you can roll out your mat for just half an hour and get it all in at once. Superstar yogi (and graduate of The Nutrition School!) Danielle Diamond created Xen Strength Yoga to combine yoga and meditation with muscle building for major mind-body benefits. (Including the ability to carry that luxe, heavy yoga mat all over the city without breaking a sweat?) The method involves both weights and warrior poses and is now super popular. Diamond even launched a free teacher training program for current yoga, fitness, and other wellness pros that you can participate in from home. RELATED: How Yoga Star Caley Alyssa Follows an “Awareness Diet” Ready to try strength-building yoga at home? She shared a 30-minute sequence you can do anytime, anywhere, below. Work it into your weekly routine for maximum benefits. Strength-Building Yoga

5 Smart, Simple Strategies for a Lean Holiday Season

It’s officially the holiday season (yay!), which means festive soirees, gift wrapping, and…sweet treats that just keep on coming. And every year, although we swear we won’t do it again, it’s hard to avoid trying a bite of every glittery cookie, which leads to gaining extra pounds we then resolve to lose come New Year’s. This year, we’re ready to break that same-old cycle (without sacrificing even a moment of joy). Here are a few smart, simple ways to avoid holiday weight gain that don’t include swearing off every piece of pecan pie or avoiding eggnog for the entire season. The best part? Staying lean and healthy will allow you to feel great amid all of the hustle and bustle, so you can soak up even more of the season’s happy vibes. Schedule your workouts in advance. You want your exercise routine to stay as consistent as possible. Hold yourself accountable by signing up for classes or adding your workouts to your calendar in advance. You might even want to treat yourself to some extra classes, since it’s easier to drag yourself out of bed for an early morning sweat session knowing you’ll avoid a cancellation fee and can spend your hard-earned dollars on killer gifts, instead. Bonus: The endorphin rush after class will help keep the stress of the season at bay, and you can refuel with a post workout smoothie. Stay super focused on eating your veggies. Yes, we’re saying it again. If your belly is full of veggies, after all, there will be less room for multiple servings of mashed potatoes. Make sure to eat greens and other winter veggies at every meal. Throw sauteed broccoli rabe and red peppers into scrambled eggs for breakfast, wilt kale and swiss chard into a white bean soup to bring with you for lunch, and lay your salmon filet over a bed of sauteed broccoli rabe as an easy go-to dinner. Stuck with only the options available at a holiday party? Station yourself near the crudite platter and fill up. The nutrients in veggies are important for a strong immune system, and the high water and fiber content will keep you full. Indulge when you actually want to. As you’re unwrapping yet another candy cane, think, “Do I really want this?” Eating mindlessly as you hop from glam parties to office cookie swaps won’t actually ever satisfy your sweet tooth. If it’s not a dessert that makes your mouth water, skip it. Save that indulgence for your Grandma’s pumpkin pie you wait for all year long, and while you eat it, savor every last bite. Drink smart. Champagne is going to be flowing like crazy, so choose a night or two a week to treat yourself to a drink (or two!). Have a holiday party coming up? Save your alcoholic beverages for those nights and skip the glass of wine at your after-work sushi dinner. On the nights you do drink, start with a glass of water or seltzer with a lemon or lime and drink another in between every martini or glass of wine. Staying hydrated will keep you from overdoing it and will help prevent a hangover. Prioritize shut-eye. If you don’t get enough sleep regularly, the constant go-go feeling of the holiday season will make your stress level spike, which raises cortisol in the body and leads to weight gain. Plus, you’ll be more likely to overeat as a result of fatigue. Set a bedtime you want to stick to on weeknights and try to honor it unless you have a special occasion. After all, you’re trying to stay lean and healthy, but you also don’t want to end up spending the season acting like The Grinch.

Travel Workouts: The Easiest Ways to Maintain Your Routine

Whether you’re getting ready for a road trip to visit family during the holidays, just snagged a new job that involves tons of business travel, or are planning your next vacation, fitting in travel workouts can be tough. But figuring out how to stay active while jet-setting is not as hard as it seems. (It’s way easier than doing burpees for a minute straight, for example.) Here are a few easy ways to sweat as often as possible while you’re on the go (just don’t forget to throw a few healthy snacks in your bag, either). 3 Travel Workouts You Can Do Almost Anywhere 1. Pack your running sneakers. Traveling involves a lot of stress, so don’t add to it by overcomplicating your workouts. Running is the simplest of exercises—all you need are your favorite kicks and any open road. Even if you’re more of a SoulCycle person, make an exception and hit the pavement. There are also a few great portable tools for resistance training on the road, like lightweight resistance bands you can toss in any bag or the TRX, which you can attach to a hotel room door or tree in a park to get in a full strength-training sequence. 2. Find a fast, free online workout. You’re going to be pressed for time, but good news: most recent research points to fast, intense workouts delivering the same benefits as longer sessions. YouTube is stocked with free workout videos that range in length from five to thirty minutes and don’t require any equipment at all. Or try this five-minute workout that happens to be one of our favorites. 3. Sign up for a digital membership (or try a new studio).  If you’re a boutique fitness junkie, many of the top brands now offer digital version of their workouts, so you can keep up your routine even when far from a studio. A few great options include Natalie Jill’s inspiring body-weight strength-training programs, Barre3 and Physique 57 for barre, AKT on Demand for dance and HIIT training, and My YogaWorks for yoga. Bonus idea: do a quick search for gyms and fitness studios in the city you’re headed to before you leave and book a few new classes to try before you even leave. Then you’ll be locked into sweat sessions before your trip even kicks off.    

How to Stretch After a Workout

I know I’m not alone when I say that I fall short (big time) when it comes to taking time to stretch before and after a workout. In a group fitness class, I’m thankfully forced to stretch. Although, I’d be lying if I said I never snuck out early. When it comes to a run, home body workout or weight training on my own, I get at most a “C”. I need to up my game here. Stretching is super important in protecting your joints and muscles and preventing injury and we all should be making it top priority – just like our workouts. In the video above, Liz Germain from Super Sister Fitness takes me through a basic stretch routine that we can all add to our workouts. The key is to start doing this after every workout until you feel like your workout isn’t complete without it. Throw down a towel or mat and let’s go!