KIYA KNIGHT

Embrace a simple fitness program or be destroyed by the holidays. Those are the options, as I see it.

Instead of giving in, this holiday season you can save your physique and your sanity with this ten-minute workout. It’s true.

But, if you want to change your body, you have to change your beliefs.

I design bodies for a living and I figured out a few years back that, if I could train my clients to build their minds, then a powerful, sexy, unbelievable physique always followed.

It’s foolproof.

First, visualize a world in which you could work out for ten minutes a day and sculpt a body in which you absolutely love living.

Every transformation begins with a moment of resistance, followed by a time of adaptation as you begin to feel and see changes literally taking shape. The thing is, energy expands and contracts, so, as you practice expanding your energy and working with your mind-body connection, you naturally start to crave fitness and foods that give you the energy to rock your body the way you suddenly desire.

The key here is that you use the power of force to push yourself from the resistance phase into the adaptation phase because, if you enter the holiday season without a solid plan, you are in for a rough January 1st.

This is where most people fail in their diet and exercise programs: they give up right before it gets really easy. Think of the ten minutes each day as a much-needed, short rest period for “me time.”

This time, instead of bouncing from one boozy, finger-food-laden festivity to another, try to remember what you resolved to do at the beginning of the year. Because, as soon as you master consistency with a dash of persistence, you’ll move into what I refer to as “the honeymoon phase.”

This is the sweet moment of liftoff, acceptance, surrender, release and ascension. This is the moment of transformation, the sensation I call, “WEightless.” This is where you gain confidence in yourself and your new abilities and begin to enjoy the many gifts of your newfound superpowers. This when you get to stop stressing about having another cocktail or an extra slice of pizza or your jeans being too tight. And the sensation is so freeing that you suddenly realize how it feels to be without stress.

Another thing that feels great about being in control of your body is sharing your skills and knowledge with others and seeing them gain power and motivation. This is how you can consciously expand your positive energy field and move yourself towards more challenging and rewarding experiences.

Then the cycle begins again: Birth, life, death, infinity.

The only thing we know for certain is that everything is changing all the time. So, let’s flip the script on cardio, get you off that dreadful treadmill and into some seriously Ultimate Bodyweight Fitness!

Here is a simple fat-burning workout that only takes ten minutes and uses every muscle in your body:

Set a timer app and do each of the following exercises for one-minute each:

1. Jumping Jacks (start small; take big, deep breaths)

2. Wide Leg Squats (sit back, keep your chest up and shoulders relaxed)

3. One Leg Hops (switch when one foot gets tired, then switch back)

4. Closed Leg Squats (squeeze your legs together and sit back, keep your chest up)

5. Wide Leg Plank (hands under shoulders, hip bones toward the bottom ribs, legs tight)

6. Table Top (feet under knees, hips up, chest proud, fingers pointed towards the heels)

7. Standing Arm Circles (relaxed neck, soft knees, hands as high as the shoulders; small, tight circles).

8. Squat Kicks (right and left legs)

9. Downward Facing Dog (big, deep breaths, keep knees slightly bent, reach your torso long)

10. X’s and O’s (On your back, arms and legs out wide, hands over head; curl into a tight ball, forehead to knees and repeat)