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30-Day Get Fit Challenge | Week 3, Workout 2

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Staffer Gretchen Parker, 35, is working out with ExerciseTV celebrity trainer Kathy Kaehler (past clients include Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston) for Us' 30-Day Get Fit Challenge! She's blogging a few times a week. Here, Gretchen details her fourth workout session with Kathy:

Now that I have my routine down — eating more home-cooked food and working out regularly — I’m going to shake it up.

I'm going on vacation. Guatemala, here I come!

For a week, I’ll be walking the cobblestone streets of Antigua, riding horses and perusing Mayan ruins. I also hope to spend a few days lying around a lot and doing not much of anything.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, Kathy has set me up with a mini-workout routine to try while I’m there. It’s so easy, even I can do it!

See photos from Gretchen's first training session with Kathy. 

The Five-Minute, Five-Body-Part Workout
Use a stopwatch or the second hand on your watch to time yourself doing each of the following for one minute:
 
– Jumping Jacks
– Stationary lunges on alternating legs
– Push-ups (on your knees is fine)
– Plank (like a stationary push-up, resting on your elbows)
– Reverse crunches, pulling your knees toward your head and leaving your arms by your side

That’s it! Once a day is good. Twice a day is better. Three times is awesome.

Kathy also assigned me to wear a pedometer, which I bought for $10 at a nearby sporting goods store. I usually average a measly 4,000 steps a day. She wants me to aim for 12,000 to 15,000 a day while I’m walking Guatemala.

Other vacation tips from Kathy?

Have a glass of water before each alcoholic drink. Stick with grilled food and avoid sauces. Eat the gorgeous and plentiful fruit around me.

Walking, staying aware of food and doing the five-minute workout will keep me stay on track, she says.

And one more thing: Breathe! She ordered me to take advantage of the down time to relax and listen to my body and follow its natural rhythms.

If I can pull that off, that truly will be shaking up my routine.

Have a question for Kathy? Us Weekly is giving you the chance to ask her your health and fitness questions. We’ll post the answers right here on the Get Fit Challenge blog! Just send your questions — or comments! — to askgretchen@gmail.com. 

Read Gretchen's previous blog entries:

30-Day Get Fit Challenge: Meet Us' Gretchen Parker!
30 Day Get Fit Challenge | Week 1
30-Day Get Fit Challenge | Week 1, Workout 2
30-Day Get Fit Challenge | Week 2
30-Day Get Fit Challenge | Week 3

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