Do you remember when Halloween was all about the candy? A homemade costume and a pillow-case bag were all you needed to run from house to house and greedily stock-pile enough M&Ms and Twizzlers to last you until Christmas.
The college version of Halloween has no resemblance to that. Now Halloween is all about excuses; the excuse to party, the excuse to party multiple nights in one week/weekend, and, most importantly, the excuse to wear something Mom and Dad would never approve of.
Halloween is simply a fashion show – emphasis on show. Showing a little more leg, showing a little more stomach, and showing a little more cleavage. It’s a time where you have a free pass to walk the line between skimpy and skanky.
Your only problem, the college curse of the curves is upon you. The Freshman 15 and general stress from heading back to school has set in. Whether it is because of one too many pizzas after late nights out, too much soda from trying to stay awake studying, or just your general lack of effort to hike across campus and get to the gym, your body is probably not in the shape it was when school began two months ago.
You don’t have time to rediscover the perfect you of August, but you still can shape-up before stepping into that extra-small costume. Read below for Her Campus’s guide to looking and feeling better in just one week so you can rock Halloween night and the inevitable Facebook photo albums that come with it!
Sailor
Legs
Are you wearing a short skirt? Then it is probably time to think about toning up those legs. The elliptical may look like a big complicated mess, but really it is a user-friendly machine. It is also a great way to not only get a cardio workout, but also target the muscles in your legs. Shelley Wagner, a Female’s in Training (FIT) personal trainer at Wilson’s Fitness in Columbia, MO, recommends doing a twenty-minute elliptical workout to engage your thighs and glutes. Instead of worrying about going fast, Wagner says you should increase the resistance level on the elliptical.
“If you are trying to shape-up you want to do something where you are activating your muscles and where you feel a little different. I would focus on whether or not you feel like your legs are working and getting tired than on whether or not you feel like you are going fast,” said Wagner.
If you can’t get to a gym, squats are another way to begin toning your legs and you need nothing but a little floor space in your dorm room. Squat exercises engage the muscles in a good portion of your leg and specifically target the glutes and hips. Try doing three sets of 20 squats with a short rest between each set. According to Wagner, the most important part of the exercise is making sure to do it correctly.
“You want to make sure when you squat that your knees do not go in front of your toes and that they stay back. You have to think about moving your hips first and bending at the hips and then the knees,” Wagner said.
If you can make it to the gym, do the twenty minutes on the elliptical and then follow up with squats on the mat.
Your Leg Workout:
- 20 minutes on the elliptical machine at a resistance level that feels difficult
- 3 sets of 20 squats
Cheerleader
Stomach
We all know not everyone is cut out to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, but on Halloween anyone can be a part of the Texas squad or any cheer squad for that matter. Toughest part about pretending to be an athlete is that you have to try to have the body of one. Showing some stomach could take a lot of guts – no pun intended. One of the best exercises for flattening your stomach and defining (or finding) your abdominal muscles is the plank. To do a plank:
- Lie face down resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor or in loose fists
- Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows
- Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels. If you tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals it prevents your butt from sticking up in the air or your back from sagging in the middle
“Planks strengthen your core and teach your ab muscles how to hold everything in naturally without you having to suck-in,” Wagner said.
She recommends you hold the plank position for as long as you can and attempt to be able to hold it for up to a minute. You can work the plank into your workout multiple times between other exercises or as a break from cardio.
If you want to add another stomach exercise option to your workout routine, try long arm crunches. This exercise takes the traditional approach to crunches and corrects some common problems people make. To do a long arm crunch:
- Lie on a mat and extend the arms straight out behind the head with hands clasped, keeping the arms pressing against your ears
- Contract your abs and lift the shoulder blades off the floor like you would during a normal crunch
- Keep your arms straight and pressing against your ears, this will help you avoid straining your neck and using those muscles to pull you upward
- Lower and repeat 20 times for 3 sets
“When I do ab work consistently for a week, I really feel like it makes an impact on my body. That little bit of extra strength even helps me improve my posture and the way I carry myself. That helps me look better immediately,” Jennifer Link, a student at University of Missouri, said. “I am dressing up as an Olympic gymnast for Halloween so I will be wearing a tight leotard. I don’t have time to work out each week like a real Olympic champ, but the week before Halloween I will definitely try to.”
Your Stomach Workout:
- Hold the plank position for one minute
- Do 3 sets of 20 long arm crunches
Indian
Arms
Anything strapless, like this Pocahontas number, is bound to highlight your chest, shoulders, and arms. Losing tone in your arms is one the quickest things to happen once you stop working out and one of the hardest things to build back up in a short period of time. Working with weights may be intimidating to some, but it is extremely important.
“Cardio is important because it gets your heart rate up, increases your metabolism, helps lower your blood pressure, and helps you burn fat, but it is not the only part of a workout. I did just cardio for years and it wasn’t until I started doing weights that I started really getting better workouts,” Wagner said. “With weights you can work your upper and lower body and develop muscles in both plus weights help you be able to push yourself to do harder and more cardio.”
A lat pull down is an easy weight exercise to strengthen your arms. To start:
- Find a lat pull down bar and sit on the seat so that your quads and knees sit comfortably under the support
- Set the bar to a weight that makes you feel a really good burn by the end of doing three sets of ten
- Grasp the cable bar with a wide overhand grip, knuckles up, then pull down on the bar in a fluid motion
- Stop pulling once the bar rests lightly against your chest
- Slowly allow the weight to move back down as you raise your arms back up
This is a good exercise because it works your back muscles and the arm muscles together. On a time crunch, working multiple muscles at a time is your best way to make quick progress. Another exercise that targets the same muscles in combination is push-ups.
“I hate doing push-ups, they are one of those exercises I don’t think any girl really likes. But when I do start doing them I see quick results,” Jennifer said. “Getting ready for Halloween is the perfect time for me to just suck it up and do them.”
Push-ups can be tailored exactly to your fitness and strength level. If you are just starting to build your arm muscles, begin doing push ups by modifying the traditional push-up stance and resting on your knees instead of toes. This will decrease some of the weight you must move. Do traditional push-ups, modified push-ups, or a combination of both until you are too tired to do anymore. As you continue working out, push yourself to do a higher number every time.
Your Arms Workout:
- 3 sets of ten lat pull downs
- As many traditional or modified push-ups as you can do
Witch
Butt
As Sir Mix-a-lot would say, we like big butts. But no one likes a big flabby butt, so if you are going to wear a tight-fitting costume like this witch one, it is time to tone-up that muscle. Wagner recommends focusing on the butt by doing 20 glute bridges:
- Lie on your back on the floor in a bent-knee position with your feet flat on the floor. Place your feet hip-width apart with the toes facing away from you
- Contract your abdominal muscles to flatten your low back into the floor and attempt to maintain this gentle muscle contraction throughout the exercise
- While holding your abdominal contraction, press your hips upwards off the floor into extension by contracting your glutes (butt muscles); do not hyper-extend your back
- At the top of your extension hold it for 3 to 5 seconds
- Lower yourself back towards your starting position
Your Butt Workout:
- 20 glute bridges held for 3-5 seconds
Looking good in your costume can be the perfect motivation to begin creating your own consistent workout routine.
“I know I am supposed to eat well and exercise, but I’m a college kid and I am busy balancing school, work, friends and family,” Jennifer said. “Now Halloween is here and I’m regretting not working more fitness and healthy food into my life. I know I can shape up in just about a week, it is all a matter of being aware of the changes I want to make and making those changes a bigger priority. No matter what I know I will have fun on Halloween, looking good will just be the bonus.”
Sources
Halloween costume images from http://www.spirithalloween.com:80/womens-costumes/
Shelley Wagner, Personal Trainer for FIT (Female in Training) at Wilson’s Fitness in Columbia, MO
Jennifer Link, University of Missouri student