OOTD, A Yoga Stretch Workout & YouTube Fitness Gurus

I couldn't resist immediately wearing my new BCBG purchases so my OOTD involves my new BCBG skirt and top. PS- I am totally getting a new full-length mirror for our bedroom because I hate having the distractions of our living room in the background of all of my photos. Don't get me wrong, I love our living room, but NOT as a backdrop.

Here it is:

Cardigan- Express; Top- BCBG; Skirt- BCBG; Tights- Target; Shoes- Jessica Simpson.

I really love the skirt and top. I am so glad I got both items. I think they look better in person but they photograph OK.

This morning, I woke up and my entire body was so sore. I couldn't even take one step today without feeling pain. I decided to skip my usual Monday evening power pilates class and head downstairs to my home-gym and try out the "Elle Make Better-Workout Yoga" DVD.

The instructor in this video is Yoga guru Tara Stiles who got famous on YouTube for her Yoga workout videos. I believe she used to be a model (or still is) but she now owns her own Yoga studio in NYC.

I did the stretching workout because I needed to release all of my sore muscles. It was about 20 minutes long and it felt great. I also realized how not-flexible I am. I used to be a super flexible gymnast, able to contort my body in every which way. Sigh. It's one of my fitness goals to improve my flexibility. My personal trainer actually told me that it's so important to stretch and do Yoga because it really helps you build long, lean muscle and recover more quickly from workouts.

I thought the Yoga video was good...but it was hard because you can't really look at the TV when you're in downward dog. The video is filmed with a voice over of Tara talking you through the steps, so you have an idea of what you should be doing (just by listening), but it's difficult to do each move correctly if you don't know any Yoga moves. Fortunately, I have taken Yoga classes before so I had a somewhat better awareness of the moves, but it was still difficult. It did stretch me out and make me feel great though. 20 minutes well spent!

Speaking of YouTube and fitness, Elle (AllThatGlitters21 on YouTube) recently made a video about her health and fitness routine.

In this video, she mentioned some of her favorite health and fitness channels, and after reviewing them myself, I thought I'd post them here for anyone interested in learning some new moves, fitness routines and health and nutrition advice.

The channels are: DietHealth, SarahsFabChannel, ToneItUp and Shell'sFitness101. I really love what YouTube has become and I am so thankful that there's such a strong community of women who share their beauty, health and fitness advice with the world. I genuinely enjoy watching so many of the beauty and health guru videos. They are such a part of my daily routine.

I also REALLY love Zuzana from BodyRockTV. Her workouts are definitely geared towards more advance exercisers (she is RIPPED!) but I do love her professional looking videos (well, professional looking compared to other YouTubers.) She also posts her daily workouts on her website.

Do you have any favorite YouTube Health and Fitness channels or websites? Let me know in the comments below, because I'm always looking for more inspiration.

Thank you for reading lovelies!

xoxo,

Veronika.