That's Fit

Celebrity moms Cate Blanchett and Halle Berry are out and about and looking amazing. Halle dished up the details on what she's doing to get her body back, but Cate, as usual, hasn't really made mention. Cate looked like she was right back to her pre-baby svelte figure this week at the Cannes Film Festival, and it's only been four weeks since she gave birth to her newest son. Do you think it's natural that her body bounced back so quickly, or does it have more to do with the pressure a 39-year-old actress faces in Hollywood?

Valerie Bertinelli, who dropped weight last year alongside Kirstie Alley with Jenny Craig, is working hard to maintain the slim figure she achieved, but she's not complaining about it. She's continuing to follow the good habits that helped her lose weight, which means no snacking in front of the television and making sure she gets in 10,000 steps each day. With her healthy new figure came another bonus -- a rediscovery of her love of being in the water. Valerie has gotten back into watersports, like surfing. It's great to see her maintaining her weight and living a healthful life!

Sarah Ferguson admits that she continues to have negative body image issues on a daily basis, saying, "I think I'm fat, ugly, and disgusting -- that I'm unworthy and nobody likes me." The formal royal has an interesting way of dealing with these problems -- after her daily morning workout, she takes an ice bath and feels "invigorated" for the rest of the day. Hey, whatever works, right?

Model extraordinaire and Project Runway pioneer Heidi Klum reveals her stay-slim secret in May's Good Housekeeping magazine. She doesn't whisper anything about strict diets and hard-core workouts, though. Nope. It's all about her kids.

Klum's three children -- ages four, two, and one -- keep her busy all the time, says this beauty who reports that staying active with her little ones is how she stays in such good shape. I'm not sure that's all it takes -- I'm a mom too and simply moving with my boys just isn't enough -- but apparently it's one piece of the puzzle for this Supermom who says working in the garden, jumping on the trampoline, climbing trees, and feeding ducks in the park top her activity list.

Do your kids keep you in shape?

For more celebrity diet and fitness scoop, check out this AOL Body site.

With there being so many exercises that target the abdominal muscles, it's really tough to pinpoint which are the best. Everyone's body is different, so that doesn't exactly help make it any easier. Still, there are some exercises that seem to stand out from the rest, either for their effectiveness in firming your midsection or simply because they are less commonly practiced. And sometimes, it's a combination of both of these reasons.

This is certainly the case with the barbell roll-out. The move itself may seem slightly familiar; the roll-out movement itself became quite popular about 10 years ago after TV fitness salespeople hawked various brands of exercise wheels. Then, because some gyms didn't have these wheels, some people actually brought their own. But why spend money on something when you don't have to?

The barbell roll-out is a great exercise for your transverse abdominis, which are primary muscles in the functional core of the human body. And, it can be done with the equipment found in just about any fitness center or home gym. Start by loading a barbell with a small weight on either side (five-pound plates are perfect). Next, kneel down on a towel and grasp the bar with a grip that's around shoulder-width apart. Then, roll out in front of you to lower your upper body just above the floor. When you have reached almost full extension of your arms, hold for a second and then pull yourself back to the starting position.

When I was a kid, I took gymnastics at a local ... gymnastics place (for lack of a better term). I eventually quit, deciding that baseball, basketball and football were more my things. Anyway, the one part of gymnastics I always missed was bouncing around on the trampoline. As the years passed, I've always been tempted to buy one, but for one reason or another never got around to actually doing it. This is a shame, really, because not only are trampolines a lot of fun, using them also burns a good amount of calories.

Studies show that 10 minutes on a trampoline burns just about the same amount of calories as a 30-minute run, and it does so with 80 percent less impact on the ol' bones. Moreover, there are actual exercises you can perform on a trampoline, many of which you're probably familiar with already.

Common moves like the push-up, standing squat, lunges, and even jump squats done on a trampoline require greater use of your core muscles than when done on a hard, flat surface. The instability of the trampoline necessitates a certain amount of stabilization, or else you will tip over ... which is no problem, because then you can literally just bounce right back again.

BIggest Loser trainer Jillian Micheals, once a chubby girl who transformed her body and her life, has just the plan for shedding a few pounds prior to that perfect party, wedding, or class reunion.

Cut the carbs, says Michaels. Not permanently -- just two days before the big event. Ditch the grains, rice, pasta, cereal, sugar (even fruit sugar) and you'll look stunning and feel fabulous.

An idea for more long-term weight loss: Make a list of reasons why you want to lose weight and get into shape. Be realistic -- don't plan to run a marathon right off the bat -- and use your list to guide your efforts. Take responsibility, says Michaels. Choose your actions wisely. And your actions will influence your results.

Now get to work -- Jillian continues to pave the way right here, at AOL's AmericaTakes It Off location.

Halle Berry was seen this weekend at the Revlon Run/Walk for Women in Los Angeles (possibly with an engagement ring on her all-important finger), and let me tell you -- she looked fantastic. And the fact that she gave birth to her daughter, Nahla Ariela, just about a month ago makes her fabulous body just that much more amazing.

New moms in the real world shouldn't hold themselves to Halle's standards -- I mean, she had a ridiculously amazing figure before the baby. However, she dished about her post-pregnancy fitness routine to People, and I've got the scoop for you!

She's been working out five days a week for an hour with her trainer, Ramona Braganza. She implements three cardio segments using the elliptical, stairs, and kickboxing, as well as some strength-training that works her abs and legs.

Curious to know how celebrities squeeze fitness into their daily lives? Want to know the secrets of the stars? Bi-weekly our That's Fit fitness expert Fitz sits down with the celebs we want to know more about, and digs out their great and not-so-great methods to staying healthy.

If there's one thing gyms have a lot of, it's machines. Some of the larger fitness facilities have so many machines that they look more like you'd build a car there than a new body. With so many different machine options available, though, it's sort of unfortunate that you're better off not using any of them.

Many machines are designed to isolate a single muscle by guiding your movement on a fixed path. This may sound like a good thing at first blush, but it's not really that good at all. Over time, the isolated muscle you work can become stronger than its supporting muscles, possibly resulting in muscular imbalance or injury.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't ever use machines; rather, I'm merely suggesting that you do not spend your entire workout -- or even the majority of it -- on them. For maximum return on your effort investment, stick to free weights as often as possible during your resistance training.

I have vivid memories of frequently going to McDonald's as a kid and enjoying a Happy Meal. My metabolism revved like a jet engine at that age, so almost anything that made it down my gullet was used as energy and not stored as fat. Nowadays, If I still at McDonald's as often as I did back then, I'd probably have a body like Grimace.

It's a natural -- though very unfortunate -- fact that our metabolisms tend to slow down somewhere around the age of 25. From there, it slows down by around five to ten percent with each subsequent decade that passes. Does this mean that you're fate is sealed and that you must accept your overweight destiny? Not at all.

By exercising regularly, you can keep your metabolism decline under a great deal of control. For the most part, if you get up and start moving every day you can very well increase your metabolism, or at least keep it to around a 0.3 percent drop per decade, says Dr. John Berardi, author of The Metabolism Advantage.

Depending upon which type of exercise you perform, you mostly use one of the two types of muscle fibers.

The first of the two, slow-twitch muscle fibers, are called upon mostly during aerobic exercise (aerobic exercise in this case means the use of oxygen in the body's metabolic or energy-generating process, not a bunch of people jumping around in leotards). Slow-twitch muscle fibers react to slow, long-duration contractions. And, they're typically used at the beginning of a movement.

The second of the two, fast-twitch muscle fibers, are used more often during anaerobic exercise. These muscle fibers are utilized for rapid, short-duration contractions. Once you've started an exercise, the fast-twitch muscle fibers take the baton from the slow-twitch fibers.

If you're looking to add lean and toned muscle to your frame and drop some body fat, follow a workout program that incorporates the use of both types of the aforementioned muscle fibers.

Looking to bring some balance to your workout? Using a Bosu ball may be exactly what you're looking for. Though I wouldn't exactly call Bosu balls a new thing in fitness, it is safe to say that are now becoming very popular in gyms across the country. This is good news for you; using a Bosu ball is a great way to make some old exercises new again, and to incorporate entirely new movements into your workout.

If you're wondering what a Bosu ball is, check out the picture above and to the right. A wide variety of exercises can be performed on either side of the Bosu, making it a very versatile little piece of fitness equipment. Some standard movements, typically done on a flat surface, can also be done to target your core muscles when done on the Bosu. And, there are dozens of Bosu-specific movements that you can perform on your own or as part of a Bosu class at your local fitness center.

Here are just a few exercises to try on the Bosu during your next workout:

• Bosu Curls: Stand on the flat side of the Bosu, using your core muscles to stabilize your body as you perform dumbbell curls.
• V Cycles: Sit on the rounded end of the Bosu with your knees raised off the floor. Lean back slightly and begin pedaling an imaginary bicycle to work your abs.
• Jump and Tucks: Stand on the rounded side of the Bosu. Bend at the hips and jump high into the air, tucking your knees very briefly at the top of your jump. Land safely on the Bosu and stabilize yourself. Repeat several times.
• Bosu Back Lunge: Perform a backwards lunge as you would on a regular surface, only keep your alternating front leg on the Bosu
• Bosu Push-Ups: Standard push-ups done with the hands firmly planted against the flat side of the inverted Bosu ball. This will require you to also use your core and stabilizing muscles to maintain your balance.

Having just written about the importance of building a reasonable amount of back strength, I decided it's only right that I also suggest a method of how to go about doing this very thing. So, pull-up a chair and listen, my friend.

On second thought, pull-up yourself! Then lower yourself ... and then pull yourself up again!! The classic pull-up is one of the best exercises you can do for your upper back muscles. Just the other day, I mentioned a variation of this move -- the alternating side chin-up. However, when it comes to pull-ups of any kind, there's one problem that is frequently encountered: they're too difficult. Some people can do 50 pull-ups, while others can't even complete one. Because pull-ups are a body weight exercise, how much you weigh will play almost as big a role as how fit you are in terms of your performance.

Apart from helping to build lean, firm muscle and aid in the reduction of body fat, resistance training can help you in more functional ways, as well. While this is undoubtedly true of the entire body, I think it's particularly the case for the muscles located in your back.

As I mentioned, aesthetics is usually one of the main reasons for resistance exercise. Building your upper back, for example, will give you the classic V-taper, which will also make your waist appear smaller. That said, I still feel that the increased functionality resistance training offers is of equal importance. With specific regard to your back, resistance training will provide you with more pulling strength. We know what this means inside the gym, but in the real world it can be applied to so many tasks that involve pulling force. It can also help you throw harder; your upper back is involved in the internal rotation of your upper arms, so strengthening it gives that extra bit of power when throwing a ball. And, perhaps most importantly, a strong back can help you maintain correct posture.

It's sometimes easy to forget that exercise does more for our bodies than what meets the eye; that is, until we start to feel better and stronger after completely everyday activities -- especially those that require you to "put your back into it."

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

Mother Nature's temperatures are rising fast, and it's time for you to turn up a little heat too. What better accessory to a hot summer outfit than sleek, sexy, strong arms?

Check out The Fit List for "The 21," an exercise sure to give you some beautiful biceps fast. MizFit will help you tone up your triceps with this how-to video. And Crabby discusses the classics -- push-ups and pull-ups -- especially for women.

Add a little arm work to your strength training routine today and show off all of your hard work at the beach, pool, or backyard BBQ this summer!

Got a blog you'd like to see featured in Fit Links? Leave us a link in comments!

Have you ever visited your parents house and stumbled upon a veritable time capsule in the attic? Old photos, mix tapes you made for your high school crush, and even old clothes -- items that you had all but forgotten about now stare you in the face, just begging to be taken with you on your instant trip down memory lane.

What do you do? Of course, you pop the mix tape into the old boom box you also found and press play; you sift through all the old photos, including the entire set from your junior prom; and you eventually get the nerve to try on what were once your favorite pair of jeans. And that's when this whole situation turns from nostalgic to depressing ... and, based on a recent American Cancer Society Study, somewhat unnerving.

According to researchers, women who gained 21 to 30 pounds after the age of 18 were 40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who only gained five pounds or less. What's more, the study also revealed that women who gained 70 pounds or more doubled their risk of breast cancer. So, if your high school jeans don't even come close to fitting anymore, you may want to consider starting a regular exercise program and following a healthier diet.