“In the real world, Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.” Lindsay Lohan summed it up as her character, Cady Heron, in the movie Mean Girls. For most college girls, Halloween no longer means running door-to-door collecting candy in pillowcases or carving pumpkins to scare ghosts away. Instead, it is a night where it is socially acceptable for girls to wear spandex shorts, revealing tops, fishnets, stilettos, and some form of animal ears.
With the temptation of dressing slightly racier than usual, comes the fact that you still may be packing on that freshman 15 you gained a year or two ago. No worries, UCF Recreation and Wellness group instructor Melissa Lewis shares 5 steps in order to tone up before Halloween:
1.Shoulder Bridge: Lay down on your back with feet and hip distance apart, knees bent, and arms by your side. Inhale, and as you exhale push your heels into the floor, tighten the backs of your legs, and lift your back off the floor. Inhale in this position with your hips lifted and exhale to release back to your starting position. Repeat.
2. Kickback: Start on all fours with your back in a neutral position. Beginning with your right leg on the floor, slowly but forcefully kick until your leg is parallel to the floor. Then bring it back to the starting position and repeat. Do this 12 times on each leg twice. At the end of each set, hold the leg in the kickback (parallel to the floor) and pulse for 10 seconds. This will tone your gluteus, hamstrings, and core.
3. Tricep Kickback (with leg extension): Begin on all fours with a five pound dumbbell. Hold the dumbbell in your right hand with arm raised at a 90 degree angle. From here, bring your arm parallel to the floor. To engage the core and legs, extend the opposite leg into the air parallel to the ground while doing the kickbacks (right arm is kicking back so that the left leg is extended in the air),
4. Plank: Lay down on the floor with your forearms and palms on the ground. Lift your body off the ground, keeping your back straight and your rear down. Hold this position for 60 seconds. Repeat 3-5 times.
5. Pushups: Make sure you position yourself correctly in order to do your pushups effectively. Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder length, tuck your elbows in, push your abs out, squeeze your gluteus, and make sure that your neck is in line with the rest of your spine.
Some other tips Melissa recommends in order to tone up in a short period of time is to take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to class instead of drive, and utilize the group exercise classes at the UCF gym. Most of these exercises will work more than one muscle group at a time, which is helpful when wanting to tone up in just a few weeks. So if you’re hesitant about wearing that revealing two-piece pirate costume, or need to shave off those pumpkin spice lattes you’ve been drinking all month, try out some of these exercises to help yourself better fit into “Girl World” on Halloween.