Peach Tea White Sangria

Content provided by Irvin Lin who writes the award-winning Eat The Love blog.

This easy and refreshing summertime cocktail is perfect for a picnic or mid-afternoon pick-me up drink. Just remember to let the fruit sit in the cocktail for a little bit, to let them infuse fully.

-2 cans (23 oz) Go Girl Peach Tea Energy Drink

-2 cups white wine (preferably crisp and fruity)

-2 medium peaches

-4 to 5 large strawberries

-3 medium tangerines or clementines

-2 cups seltzer or club soda

-Ice

1. Add the Go Girl Peach Tea and white wine to a pitcher.

2. Slice up the peaches into eight pieces each and add them to the pitcher with any juice on the cutting board. Quarter the strawberries and add them as well. Slice the tangerines into four or five slices, about 1/4 inch thick and add them as well, along with any accumulated juice.

3. Stir and let sit in the refrigerator, anywhere from 1 to 4 hours. Add the seltzer water before serving over a glass full of ice

Want more of Irvin’s recipes? Visit his blog Eat the Love today!

Bringing Sexy Back

Content provided for Go Girl Energy Drink by Face It Salon, Spa, & Boutique

There is nothing sexier than a backless dress, and this trend is coming back with a huge following. Our prediction is that you will see this trend throughout the city, day and night from Spring through Summer.

Now that you’ve done your rows and planks (right?) slipping into a backless dress will give you confidence and elegance. It’s suggestive and sexy, yet mysterious and subtle. Wearing a backless dress allows you to strike a unique balance between showing a lot of skin while keeping things classy.

What makes this dress amazing is not only do you have the comfort of the simple tank-top style and the backless feature, but also the killer cinch detail.

This detail allows you to pull tight, creating a more bunched look to accentuate your backside (if you catch our drift) or leave it loose, which drops the v-cut down very low.

If you are less interested in strutting your stuff and are looking for a boho feel - something comfortable, yet sexy - then you may prefer a style similar to one of our favorites.

This Sante Fe v-cut backless dress is priced at $68 and has two features sure to show off your legs and back. With a v-neck back as well as the deep v-cut sides, you’ll be sure to keep feeling flirtatious!

Like the dresses you’ve seen? Visit Face It Salon, Spa, & Boutique on 19th St. Downtown Sacramento, Facebook, or Twitter :)

Washboard Abs

Side Plank #1

Target: Strengthen your waist muscles to create a stable core for lateral and rotational activities

Added Benefit: Strengthens shoulder stabilizers

Action: Keeps your spine in a neutral position with your ears, shoulders, and hips in alignment. Make sure your elbow is lined up directly under your shoulder. Hold the pose for 10-20 seconds, and complete 3 sets on each side.

Variation: You can use your bottom knee to support your body weight

Side Plank #2

Target: Strengthen you waist muscles to create a stable core for lateral and rotational ativities

Added Benefit: Strengthens shoulder stabilizers

Action: Keep your spine in a neutral position with your ears, shoulders, and hips in alignment. Make sure your elbow is lined up directly beneath your shoulder.

Variation: Two elevated legs will increase the workload of your waist muscles

Elbow Plank

Target: Strengthen your abdominal muscles and lower back muscles to help create a stable core for spine flexing and extending

Added Benefit: Strengthens shoulder stabilizers

Action: Keep your spine in a neutral position with your ears, shoulders, and hips in alignment. Make sure your elbows are lined up directly under you shoulders. Hold the pose for 10-20 seconds for 3 sets with equal rest time between each set.

Variation: Spread your feet apart, just beyond your shoulders’ width, for greater stability. Keep your feet close together to challenge yourself

Mountain Climbers

Target: Strengthens abdominal muscles and lower back muscles to create a stable core for spinal flexing and extending

Added Benefit: Strengthens shoulder stabilizers and triceps, primarily the rotator cuff and muscles on the backside of the arms

Action: Start in a straight elbow plank, or push-up position. Keep your spine in a neutral position with your ears, shoulders, and hips in alignment. Make sure your elbows and wrists are lined up directly beneath your shoulders. Bring your left knee towards your chest without letting your toes touch the ground. Return to the starting position, then repeat the process with your right knee. Perform 3 sets for 20 seconds each.

Variation: Add speed and increase time to 30 seconds for greater challenge

Hanging Knee Raises

Target: Strengthens abdominal muscles to create a powerful and stable core for spinal flexing

Added Benefit: Strengthens shoulder stabilizers, primarily the serratus anterior and latissimus dorsi

Action: Depress your elbows and arms into the sling in order to activate your serratus anterior and latissimus dorsi for proper posture. Bring your knees to your chest while keeping your elbows pointing forward and your uppper arm parallel to the ground. Return to your starting position. Perform 10 repetitions for 3 sets each.

Windshield Wipers

Target: Strengthen your waist muscles to create a stable and powerful core for lateral and rotational activities

Action: Start on your back with your knees to your chest. Keep your pelvis in a slight tilt (hip bones toward your ribcage), rotate both of your knees toward your right elbow, return to center, then rotate both knees to the left side and return to center position. Perform 10 repetitions to each side for 3 sets.

Variation: Straighten your knees and extend your toes toward the ceiling (directly above the belly button) and lower your feet ward your right hand, return to center, then rotate both toward your left hand and return to center position. Perform 10 repetitions to each side for 3 sets.

For more information about Sandra, her workouts, and her Fitness Rehab gym make sure to visit her website!

Cardio Bootcamp

5 Round Circuit

Round 1: Perform each exercise with the given number of repetitions (50 - 10).

Round 2: Perform each exercise with the given number of repetitions (50 - 10).

Round 3: Perform each exercise with the given number of repetitions (50 - 10).

Continue for 5 complete rounds.

Jump Rope 50x

40 Alternating Step Ups

Target: Glutes and hamstrings

Action: Use a sturdy chair or patio bench as a step up platform. Make sure whatever you decide to use is no higher than knee height. Place one foot towards the middle of the platform extending all the way through your supporting knee and hip. Tap your foot on the top of the bench for stability, or elevate your knee to challenge your balance. Carefully return to the floor and switch legs. Each knee raise counts as one repetition.

Variations: Add dumbbells to increase your intensity

30 Bicycles

Target: Abdominal muscles (specifically obliques)

Added Benefit: Built in recovery…PHEW!

Action: Start in a supine position with your hands behind your head and both knees curled to your chest. Keep your lower back grounded to the floor. Extend your right leg forward while rotating you right shoulder towards your left knee. Switch sides. Each rotation counts one repetition. 

Variations: To decrease intensity, keep your extended leg slightly bent

20 Dumbell Swings

Target: Glutes, core quadriceps, and shoulders

Added Benefit: Great butt and inner thigh strengthener

Action: Start in a sumo squat stance holding a dumbbell between your thighs. To begin the movement of the dumbbell, squat deeply pushing your hips back until the dumbbell is well clear of your groin. Stand up out of the squat position, thrust your hips forward, and wing the dumbbell as high as possible. The momentum of the squat-thrust should carry the dumbbell skyward in order to limit the workload of the arms.

Variation: It is not necessary to lift dumbbell overhead to still gain conditioning benefits

10 Burpees

Target: Glutes, core, quadriceps

Added Benefit: Great total-body firmer

Action: Start in a standing position with your feet hip width apart. Crouch down and place your hands on either side of your feet. Jump your feet out into a plank, back in, then stand up.

Variation: To increase intensity and add more target muscles like your chest or arms, simply add a push up from the plank position

For more information about Sandra, her workouts, and her Fitness Rehab gym make sure to visit her website!

Get Your Sexy Back

Go Girl Warm Up 

Jump Rope 100x

Jog in Place with High Knees 50x

Jumping Jacks 25x

Complete 5 rounds

Super Set Upright Row with One Arm Row for 3 sets.

(1 Set = 10 repetitions of Upright Row, 10 repetitions of One Arm Row (right arm), One arm Row (left arm)

Upright Row

Target: Mid back and rear shoulders

Added Benefit: Improves posture and adds shape to your shoulders

Action: Stand on the chord with both feet, shoulder width apart. Lift your elbows upward and slide your shoulders toward your spine (be careful to lead with ELBOWS not shoulders). Control chord speed on return to starting position (be careful to maintain your lifted chest throughout the exercise).

Variations: You can use a thicker chord to increase intensity

One Arm Row

Target: Latissimus Dorsi, Posterior Deltoids, Rhomboids, and Biceps

Added Benefit: Improves posture, strengthens your lower back, and adds a V-shape to your back and firms your arms

Action: Place one foot on the chord and the other about two inches behind its natural standing position. Keep your supporting leg slightly bent and hinged from the hips until your torso is at a 45° angle. Hold one chord handle taut at knee level. Bend and lift your elbow up and squeeze the shoulder blade towards your spine while bringing the handle to your waist. Then lower the chord back down to the starting position. Keep your shoulders down while lifting your elbow. Maintain active torso stabilization. Remember to exhale during the pull as your elbow is bending :)

Variations:  Try using a thicker chord to increase intensity

Super Set Seated Row with Plank Hold for 3 sets.

1 Set = 10 repetitions of Seated Row, 30 seconds of Plank Hold)

Seated Row

Target: Rhomboids and Biceps

Added Benefit: Improves posture and strengthens the front of your arms

Set Up: Start on the floor in order to loop the chord around feet. Place the center of the chord across your shoe laces, wrap the chord around the outside and bottom of your shoes while pulling the chord with your feet.

Action: Pull the handles toward your waist. Slide your shoulder blades together, but make sure to keep your forearms parallel to the floor. Slowly return to starting while maintaining a neutral spine.

Plank Hold

Target: Abdomen and lower back 

Actione: Strengthens abdominal muscles and lower back muscles to create a stable core for spinal flexion and extension

Action: Keep your spine in neutral with ears, shoulders, and hips in alignment.  Make sure your elbows are lined up directly under your shoulders.  

Variation: Spread your feet apart, just beyond shoulder width, for greater stability. Keep feet close together for greater challenge.

Hot Legs

Sumo Squats/X-Back Lunges/Step-Ups

Sumo Squats 15 repetitions

X-Back Lunges 10 repetitions (each side)

Step-Ups 10 repetitions (each side)

Sumo Squats 15 repetitions

X-Back Lunges 10 repetitions (each side)

Step-Ups 10 repetitions (each side)

Sumo Squats 15 repetitions

X-Back Lunges 10 repetitions (each side)

Step-Ups 10 repetitions (each side)

Target: Gluteals, Inner Thighs, Hamstrings

Added Benefit: Great for balance training

Action: With all three exercises, keep knees over laces or toes during flexion and fully extend hips at the top of the movements.

Variations: To add intensity, increase dumbbell weight and/or resistance tube thickness

Adductors/Fire Hydrants/Hamstring Curls

Adductors 15 repetitions

Fire Hydrant 15 repetitions (each side)

DB Ham Curl 10 repetitions

Adductors 15 repetitions

Fire Hydrant 15 repetitions (each side)

DB Ham Curl 10 repetitions

Adductors 15 repetitions

Fire Hydrant 15 repetitions (each side)

DB Ham Curl 10 repetitions

Tank Top Arms

Go Girl Warm Up 

Jump Rope 100x

Jog in Place with High Knees 50x

Jumping Jacks 25x

Complete 5 rounds

In a circuit fashion, perform 10 repetitions of the following exercises for 5 rounds.

(1 Round = 10 push-ups, 10 triceps extensions right arm, 10 triceps extensions left arm, 10 biceps curls )

Push-Ups

Target: Back of arms, chest, front of shoulders

Added Benefit: Great core strengthener

Action: Start in a straight arm plank position. Slowly bend elbows lowering the chest towards the floor. Extend elbows, pushing the chest away from the step or floor until you are back in starting position. Keep shoulders down and back, with neck and spine in a neutral position. Keep the elbows slightly bent at the top of the movement. Exhale during the pressing motion as you extend your elbows.

Variations: Place hands on an elevated surface like a bench, sofa, table or even a wall to decrease intensity

Overhead Triceps Extension

Strapless-Worthy Shoulders

By Sandra Augustin

Go Girl Warm Up

Jump Rope 100x

Jog in Place with High Knees 50x

Jumping Jacks 25x

Complete 5 rounds

In a circuit fashion, perform the following exercises for 5 rounds.

(1 Round = 40 mountain climbers, 10 shoulder presses, 10 push-ups, 10 lateral arm raises )

Mountain Climbers

Target: Shoulders

Added Benefit: Great core strengthener

Action: Start in a straight arm plank position. Bring one of your knees toward your chest, replace and bring the other knee forward. Each knee counts as one repetition.

Variations: Increase your speed to increase the intensity of the workout

Shoulder Press

Target: Shoulders

Added Benefit: Great for firming the back side of your arms

Action: Hold medium weight dumbbells in each hand with arms at a 90°, extend your arms overhead then return to the starting position.

Variation: You can increase or decrease the weight to accommodate your fitness level

Push-Ups

Target: Back of arms, chest, and front of shoulders

Added Benefit: Great core strengthener

Action: Start in a straight arm plank position. Slowly bend your elbows, lowering your chest towards the floor. Extend elbows, pushing your chest away from the step or floor until you are back in starting position. Keep your shoulders down and back, with your neck and spine in a neutral position. Make sure your elbows are slightly bent at the top of the movement. Remember to breathe :) exhale during the pressing motion as you extend your elbows.

Variation: Place your hands on an elevated surface like a bench, sofa, table or even a wall to decrease intensity.

Lateral Arm Raise

Target: Shoulders

Added Benefit: Improves your shoulder shape

Action: Stand with your feet together and hands at hips.  Raise your arms parallel to floor, then return to the starting position.

Variations: Increase/decrease weight to accommodate your fitness level.

For more information about Sandra, her workouts, and her Fitness Rehab gym make sure to visit her website!

The Go Girl Butt-Buster Workout

By Sandra Augustin

Go Girl Warm Up

Jump rope 100x

Jog in place with high knees 50x

Jumping jacks 25x

Complete 5 rounds

Reverse Lunge

Target Muscles: Glueteals and hamstrings

Added Benefit: Great for balance training

Action: Start with your feet together. Instead of stepping forward into a lunge, take a large step backwards. Use a broomstick or counter-top for balance as well as to build confidence during your first few repetitions. Alternate your lead leg for 20 repetitions.

Variations: Add dumbbells to increase intensity

Step Ups

Target Muscles: Gluteals and hamstrings

Added Benefit: Great for balance training

Action: Use a sturdy chair or patio bench for a step-up platform. Make sure the bench chair is no higher than knee height. Place one foot toward the middle of the platform with the heel of your foot firmly planted. Stand straight up on the platform - extending all the way through while supporting the knee and hip. Tap your foot on top of the bench for stability or elevate your knee to challenge your balance. Slowly return to the floor. Perform 10 repetitions and repeat on another leg.

Variation: Add dumbbells to increase intensity

Butt-Busters

Target Muscles: Gluteals

Added Benefit: Improves hip stability in stationary leg

Action (Part 1): Start with your hands and knees on the floor. Lower forearm and elbows to the ground - making sure your elbows are lined up directly under your shoulders to prevent sway in your lower back. Starting with the right leg, lift your knee to hip-height while pointing toes to the ceiling and return to the floor. Make sure to keep your speed of motion slow and controlled. You can avoid arching your lower back by engaging your abdominal muscles through a full range of motion. Perform 10 repetitions.

Action (Part 2): Return to your hands and knees. Lift same leg hip-height to the side, at a 90 degree angle with your hip, and return to floor. Keep both elbows straight and maintain a neutral spine by engaging your abdominal muscles through a full range of motion. Perform 10 repetitions. Repeat both actions on the opposite leg. Perform 10 repetitions.

Variations: Place small dumbbell before active knee for increased intensity.

For more information about Sandra, her workouts, and her Fitness Rehab gym make sure to visit her website!