"Oh My Gosh, The Bend and Snap!"

"Works every time!"

As much as I hate to admit it, Legally Blonde is one of my favorite movies. No joke. My favorite scene is when  Elle and Paullete practice their moves to impress the UPS guy, working their body in a specific way to catch his attention.

Everyone has a different reason for maintaining their fitness but the over all goal is to maintain a healthy and active life (and, yes, even be sexy enough to attract our own UPS guys or gals). Whether that be bending and snapping or going for a run, we all have different methods for achieving these goals, too.

For me, I love love love body weight circuits. They're fun, challenging, and the heaviest thing I lift is my own body. That's not to say that I don't lift weights. I do. But body weight exercises allow the body to move and stretch in all the ways its designed to. Plus, I don't have to waste time by getting up and finding the right set of dumbbells or throwing on more/less weight on a bar. Its quick and easy, and I can do it in my own house or backyard if I decide to. No gym needed.

This is one of the routines I like doing:

Pull Ups - for max reps, then negative pull ups until I get to 10
Push Ups - 15
Sit Ups - 20
Squats - 20
Triple Threats - 10 each
Russian Twists - 40 (20 each side)

Then repeat 3-5 times.

All the equipment you need is a bar or something to pull your self up on and a soccer ball or basketball. If you don't have a ball of some sort, try a chair with wheels that moves easily across the floor. And the most important piece of equipment: YOU.

Don't have a pull up bar? No worries. I hit up the monkey bars at the playground next to my apartment. Can't do a pull up? Neither could I for a long time. I first had to drop 10lbs then concentrate on working my back muscles enough to finally do 1. I'm now up to 3 and working on getting to 10 in the next 5-6 weeks. If you're wondering "how on earth do I practice pull ups?" check out this awesome article from one of my absolute favorite bloggers, Steve, founder of Nerd Fitness. What worked for me was a combination of negative pull ups, body weight rows, and lat pull downs, plus using an assisted pull up machine here and there. But whatever exercises you prefer, stick with those. You know your body best.

If you can't do a push up, that's cool, too! There are plenty of modified versions to help build up chest and arm (specifically triceps) strength. Use a wall, a chair, a step, your knees, until finally you progress into a full push up. Keep in mind to keep good form--back straight, abs engaged--while you're working or you won't get the full benefits.

Triple Threats are hard if your hamstrings are weak. And, unfortunately, like the back muscles used for pull ups, people forget that the back of your legs need to be worked too. That's where Triple Threats come in. They work your hamstrings in three different ways so you hit them in every direction for maximum impact. So even after doing them for years, I still feel the "burn"!

Let me know in the comments section below how you felt after that circuit! Or if you have your own routine, feel free to share that too!

Oh, and those 10lbs I mentioned earlier? Lost though a combination of diet and exercise. In other words, Paleo and fitness!