How to handle autumn trends

For every outfit an exercise

I never worry about wearing oversized boyfriend shirts, but the crop top makes me sweat with nerves.

This winter is about mini skirts, but they look far nicer with toned legs. You need them anyway to walk half decently in high heels. I haven’t even mentioned the wide belt yet, one of the absolute must-haves of the upcoming season. Hello wasp waist. There’s work to be done.

There is a specific workout for every trend. Here they come:

You could call it a belly button top. Seen a lot this winter with a long jumper underneath. Very simple, work those abs. Download the 30 day ab challenge on your iPhone as quickly as possible and start doing them every day. Buy a ball for at home, this is no luxury item. You can do so many exercises with it. See, I’m also a huge fan. Abs in the making.

It is essential to include cardio in your workout. Run regularly. And don’t stop after 15 minutes. No, keep going for at least a half hour. At least.

You can hide a multitude of sins with thick tights. A dimple here or there. Don’t panic, I have them too. And yes, I hate them. Clean eating helps a lot. Not too much fat or sugar. Drink lots of water and go to the sauna every now and then, it’s good for the circulation. Massage your legs while steaming in that 80 degree box. It helps move the fatty deposits (that’s what cellulite is) and diminish them. It doesn’t matter how small or big you are. Almost every woman has some.

Okay, the legs need to be a little toned of course. Yes, here they are, the squats and lunges. I despise doing them, but this exercise seriously changes your body. There are handy apps for this one too. The 30 day lunge app and 30 day squats app. Do them all. Everyday.

Not everyone can wear a sleeveless dress or top and certainly not at any age. Unless your name is Madonna or Anna Wintour, who hang out in the gym on a daily basis. Anna gets up at the crack of dawn every New York day to play tennis. I haven’t decided how I feel about such heavily muscled arms (especially at that age), are they sexy?

But fair is fair, flabby arms are not very flattering in a pretty top. Slender arms it is. But you need to train for them.

Exercise 1:

Stand with your back against a couch or chair, bend your knees and place your arms behind you on the couch or chair. Keep your knees bent and push yourself up. Do 3 sets of 30 reps. This trains your triceps. Say bye bye to flabby arms.

Exercise 2:

Stand with your knees slightly bent and your legs at hip width apart. Hold a small weight in each hand. You choose what weight to use. If you don’t have any at home, you can use two (filled up!) water bottles. Lift your hands up till shoulder height. Try to keep them there for a minute. Then turn your arms in little circles, also for one minute.

Exercise 3:

Pull ups on a bar. Take care, that shower rail will absolutely not hold your weight, rather look out for monkey bars during your jog. Or do it at the gym. This exercise is hard, but a gift for the biceps. The more often you do it, the easier it gets. Try it.

Yep, you need a slim waist for this one. You could wrangle yourself into a corset (I’m sure Kim K does that every day), but it’s more fun to buy a hula-hoop. Put some fun music on and do loads of twists every day. It looks easy, but it is serious business. I just cannot get this right. I’m not sure if it’s my balance or maybe I just haven’t tried hard enough. After the hula-hoop do a little yoga.

Who knows, maybe even carrying several full bags (shopping!) counts towards achieving toned arms.