Alright party people, time for another round of fit Friday fun, are you ready?!

Today I’m sharing one short, sharp booty building workout that you can get done in just 30 minutes what do you say, are you in?

You guys know how how much I love, love, love my lower body workouts, The lower body is where your powerhouse muscles are (I’m looking at you quads, glutes and hamstrings) which means you get a serious bang for your workout butt, I mean buck 😉

So, here’s what we are going to do –

5 basic exercises – Squat – Reverse Lunge – Deadlift – Forward Lunge and Glute Bridges – we will do 8 reps of each exercise and repeat the entire sequence through for a total of 3 rounds, sound good?

Nothing complicated, basic movements done with good form for a short but effective lower body workout.

We will move from one exercise to the next with minimal/no rest in between then once we have completed all reps of each exercises we will take 1 full delicious minute of rest and recovery – catch your breath, grab a drink then we get straight back into it and repeat for a total of 3 rounds, deal?

Now, for those of you are just starting out or are new to lifting feel free to do this workout without any added weight, believe me when I say just because you’re “only” using your body-weight as resistance doesn’t not make this an easy workout.

Your quads and glutes will be burning by the final round and you will definitely be feeling the effects of it tomorrow I assure you.

For our more experienced lifters, grab yourself a weapon of choice – a set of dumbbells, a barbell, kettlebells, some resistance bands or any combination you like. Make sure you choose something appropriate for your strength but, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

Although, we want quality not quantity, always! Never compromise your form, ever! If your form starts to fail your done, got it?

Take your time, concentrate, focus and breathe through each and every exercise. You are strong, you are amazing, you have big energy! You’ve totally got this!

And because nothing makes a workout challenge more fun than getting a buddy to join you. Why not grab your BFF or a family member or your fave workmate and have them join you, power in numbers baby!

Don’t forget to come back and let me know how you did once you’re done. Either leave me a message in the comments below, or you can give me a shout on the Facebook page or tag me (@EmSwanston) on Twitter , or Instagram (@emsswanston) . I mean it, I wanna hear how you did!

Ok enough chit chat time to work –

30 minute Booty Building Lower Body Workout

As always make sure you are nice an warm before you start your workout – Run on the spot, do jumping jacks, jump rope, dance around your living room, anything to get you warm then it’s time to get serious.

Finish with a nice little cool down and stretch, maybe take a walk or something anything to help bring your heart rate down. Finish with a few of your fave stretches. Please don’t skip the stretch people, its like dessert for the body.

Now for our post workout refuel –  Smoothies are a great option for your post workout refuel, they are so quick and easy to prepare and a great option for those of us who don’t have much of an appetite post workout.

It’s so important to nourish and re-energize your body post workout, you want to make sure  you give those muscles some fuel so that they can rebuild and repair themselves after working so hard.

Today I thought I would share another bonus smoothie recipe for us to enjoy – how does a nice tall, delicious, nutritious, blackberry cheesecake smoothie sound?

This bad boy is packed with protein and low GI carbs so it will help refuel and re-energize that beautiful body of yours. It also happens to be vegan, dairy free and paleo friendly but, most importantly, it’s downright delicious.

Seriously you guys this smoothie is so good, it’s light, fresh and subtly sweet. The sweetness of those blackberries combined with that tart, tangy coconut yogurt and the zingy lemon zest is simply divine.

This blackberry cheesecake smoothie taste like straight up dessert and I know you are just going to love, love, love it!

Enjoy xo

Blackberry Cheesecake Smoothie {Vegan, Gluten Free & Paleo Friendly}

Makes 1 delicious, nutritious, thick and creamy, subtly sweet, tart and tangy berry-licious smoothie that taste like straight up dessert.

Ingredients –

1/3 cup coconut (or Greek style) yogurt

1/2 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (or milk of choice)

1/2 Frozen Banana (I prefer to used pre-sliced and frozen bananas in my smoothies but fresh works just fine)

1/2 cup of frozen blackberries

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

1/2-1 cup of ice

Optional for serving –

Shredded coconut

Extra lemon zest

You could also add in a scoop of protein powder (vanilla or unflavoured would work best in this recipe) and some great lakes gelatin for an extra boost of protein if you’re into that kinda thing – do what you feel baby 🙂

Method –

Place all ingredients into your blender and process until smooth.

To serve, pour into a glass or mason jar, top with coconut flakes and extra lemon zest if desired.

Enjoy xo

Don’t forget to give me a shout out when you’re done – hit me up in the comments below via the Facebook page on Twitter or on Instagram

Now go –

and have yourself a killer day xoxo

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Question of the day –

What’s your favorite way to refuel after a workout?

Feel free to share recipes, or links to your fave recipes in the comments below or on the Facebook page and please for the love of all that is good in this world when you do make this smoothie (or any of the recipes you find on this blog of mine) go ahead and snap a pic and share it either on the Facebook page, or tag me on twitter or Instagram. Sharing is caring remember.

Do it, do it You know you want to 🙂

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