Sharing a list of my very favorite, and what I consider to be the best, single-leg exercises! I hope this post will inspire you to include more unilateral training in your routine. 

Hi hi! How are you doing today? I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far!

For today, let’s talk fitness-y things. Single-leg exercises are one of my favorite elements to include in lower-body workouts. Single exercises are – you guessed it- exercises using just one side of your lower body at a time. Leg strength is important no matter what sport you choose or fitness mode you enjoy. Strong legs support everyday movements and our ability to perform, and focusing on one leg at a time can have several benefits. In today’s post, I’m sharing a roundup of the best single leg exercises that can help you reach your legs’ fullest potential.

(Set was gifted from Vuori. I love everything on their site, and especially their leggings and joggers.)

Why train unilaterally?

It’s SO easy to use bilateral exercises to *depend* on our strongest side. Think about a barbell biceps curl vs. a dumbbell curl. With the barbell, you’ll lift the weight without the true ability to determine if the weight is split equally between sides. Your stronger side will always kick in to help you complete the rep, which can cause muscle imbalances to go unnoticed. By training one side at a time, like with a dumbbell curl, you can really focus on developing strength in the weaker side. This will not only promote muscle symmetry, but also potentially prevent altered movement patterns from depending on the stronger sides of the body.

Here are some of my favorite single-leg exercises to include on leg day! As always, check with a doctor before making any fitness changes. Honor your body and modify as needed.

Best Single Leg Exercises

Single-leg deadlift (a.k.a. Single-Leg RDL)

Holding a dumbbell or kettlebell, shift your weight to your left leg, then float your right leg off the floor behind you. Keeping your weight on your front leg, hinge at the waist and tilt forward, keeping your back straight, until the weight reaches just below the knees (or as far as you can go while maintaining a flat back). Keep your right leg straight behind you. Exhale and return to an upright position. Repeat with your other leg. Make sure to keep your hips parallel to the floor and look straight ahead throughout this leg workout.

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Sharing a roundup of some of my favorite post workout snacks and ideas for fueling around your workouts. 

Hi friends! How’s the morning going? I hope you’re having a great one so far! I’m over here editing podcast content and have client calls the rest of the day.

For today, I wanted to chat a bit about workout fueling and some pot workout snacks. While I am a certified nutrition coach, personal trainer, and Integrative Health Practitioner, these are just friendly general suggestions. As always, reach out to your personal RD or health team for personalized advice.

As we all know, I looove working out. Some days are easier than others, but I experience so many amazing benefits from taking the time to move my body each day; I’m sure many of you can relate. It gives me mental clarity, energy, strength, confidence, and I love checking the box towards long-term health. After I work out, I usually have a meal or a healthy snack. Fueling yourself post exercise can maximize performance, speed up muscle recovery, and restore energy levels.

Just a heads up that not all snacks are created equal—some can derail progress.

Today I wanted to share a roundup of healthy post workout snacks that will help refuel, rebuild muscle tissue, and help you feel satisfied after sweaty workouts.

10 Healthy Post Workout Snacks

There’s a lot of nuance to workout fueling: how hungry are you? What time of day is it? What type of workout are you doing? What did you already eat today?

My very general rule of thumb is nothing or a little carbs before a workout, protein + carbs afterwards. When you include carbohydrates and protein, this can help restore glucose levels, support muscle repair and post workout recovery.

Here are some ideas for store-bought snacks and homemade recipes that include both plant-based and traditional meat protein sources.

Is It Healthy To Eat After A Workout?

Eating after a workout is one of the keys to recovery, whether it’s a snack or a meal. It depends on the timing of your workout.

Intense workouts break down muscle tissue and deplete glycogen stores.

Some of the benefits of eating after a workout:

Muscle recovery and repair – Provides essential amino acids for protein synthesis.

Restores energy – Replenishes glycogen through carbohydrates. When you combine protein and carbs, this can potentially enhance this.

Reduces muscle soreness – Supports faster healing and reduces inflammation.

Optimizes performance – Fuels the body for future workouts. You can crush your workouts if you’re depleted!

Sharing my thoughts on how to stay in shape during the holidays. This blog post was titled for The Man aka search purposes, so please read on for my full thoughts 😉 

Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you’re having a lovely week! I have a couple of meetings this morning, and am looking forward to putting up our Christmas tree tonight!

For today’s post, I wanted to chat about maintaining fitness and “staying in shape” during the holidays.

The holiday season is a magical time filled with joy, gatherings, and celebrations. With everything going on, it can be easy to let healthy habits fall to the backseat a bit. Today, I wanted to share some realistic tips to help you maintain your fitness routine and stay motivated during this busy and festive season.

How To Stay In Shape During The Holidays

Instead of thinking about “staying in shape,” think about staying healthy, fit, energized, and centered. Focus on the habits that make you feel GOOD so you can get through the busy season feeling happy, vibrant, and peaceful. A deeper goal than vanity-based goals will help motivate you when things feel hard. 

Here are some of the things I like to emphasize during the holidays or busier seasons of life.

1. Plan Ahead

Look at your holiday schedule and carve out time for physical activity. Every workout, even short workouts, are still worth it. It can be a huge stress reliever and chance to move your body, which feels good when you’re bombarded with extra to-dos!

Every Saturday, I sit down and plan my workouts for the upcoming week. If it’s scheduled, I’m more likely to make it happen. On the days that are packed, I make sure that I can at least do some steps on my walking pad or take Maisey for a walk.

2. Take a Moment for Yourself

Make self-care a priority, even though it can be tricky. A quick 20-minute workout or walking or running session can be your moment of peace amidst the chaos.

Incorporate relaxation techniques like yoga or meditation to reduce stress. I love the short Peloton yoga and meditation classes, and the Calm app is also a great resource for meditation. During this season, I tend to get overstimulated easily – it’s a lot of people-ing- and taking at least 10 minutes to breathe or meditate makes a huge difference.

3. Be Realistic

Even though it can be tempting to try and make drastic changes before the New Year, I think that December is best spent focusing on maintaining instead of adding in a bunch of new wellness goals. Instead of trying to hit personal records, focus on consistency.

I also think consistency is more valuable than intensity, so feel free to modify your routine based on your schedule and energy.

4. Prioritize Sleep

Sleep is so important for mood, metabolism, performance, memory, immune system function, hair, skin, so many things. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep to support recovery and stay motivated during the day. If you have t

This is a 25-minute barre workout you can do anywhere. All you need is a set of light dumbbells, 2-5 lbs. Check out more of my barre workouts here, barre bootcamp here, and how to combine barre with other workouts. 

Hi friends! I hope you’re having a lovely morning. How is your week going?

The Pilot has been gone since last weekend and is back this morning, so I’m looking forward to having him home. He’s been flying a lot, which is a good thing. When I first wrote this post, we were officially wrapping up our first year of the airline life. I’d always envisioned throwing a giant party, but that ‘Rona had other plans. Instead, we settled for a smaller but still just as enjoyable backyard BBQ with the family.

25-Minute Barre Strength Workout With Dumbbells

I filmed a new workout for you and this one is a classic barre workout with a little twist: we’re using dumbbells the entire time.

Full Body Workout With Dumbbells

This dumbbell workout is a great way to add in an arm component while our legs are on fiiiiiiire and an easy way to add some extra resistance and challenge. Best of all, you can do it right in your living room!

I was huffing and puffing during this workout and I hope you love it, too! It felt like a solid mix of endurance strength and cardio.

Pin it here for a rainy day:

And here’s the full follow-along video!

I’ve been working on posting videos more frequently, so please subscribe to YouTube channel if you’d like an update when I post something new.

Please let me know if you give this one a try. Also, I’d love to hear if you have any workout requests for the summer months!

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by the blog.

xoxo

Gina

More barre workouts:

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Sharing why I’m obsessed with barefoot shoes and how you can incorporate them into your fitness routine and life!

Hi friends! Happy Monday! How was the weekend? I had an amazing time in San Diego with Betsy attending the Lagree certification workshop at DEFINE. (San Diego friends, go take a class with my friend Carina! I’ve known her for years – we taught barre together in SD – and she’s an incredible instructor and person.)

So today, let’s talk about barefoot shoes.

(It was hilarious when I went to gather all of my shoes for this photoshoot. I was like wow I really do have five pairs and I use and love all of them!)

Barefoot shoes have been around for quite a while.

According to this website:

In the 20th century, barefoot shoes emerged as people began questioning the need for heavily cushioned and supportive shoes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the popularity of the “Jogging” movement led to the development of more minimalist running shoes, which aimed to mimic the barefoot experience.

I think many of us can remember the early 2000s, when barefoot shoes saw a resurgance as Vibrams came out. I remember seeing them for the first time —  they looked like duck feet to me. They were horrendous lol. But, it was definitely a lightbulb moment. I’ve worked in the fitness industry since 2008, and after multiple trainings and workshops (like the foot stretching and gait classes I took and then taught at Canyon Ranch), I realized the impact of footwear on overall function and how minimalist shoes can change your workouts and life.

Barefoot shoes are not only lightweight and super comfortable, but they enable us to have full function of our foot muscles, full toe splay (instead of our toes being crammed into narrow shoes), and can affect overall posture, alignement, and performance.

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