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"   Me (in Adidas workout gear\u2013my favorite!) with Lauren Birckhead, my fab trainer. I&amp;#039;m trying to do a sit-up and it&amp;#039;s....not quite working. Have you ever been so sore that you feel as if your arm might actually be broken? That&amp;#039;s me right now. 6:30 a.m. found me bolting out of bed in a I&amp;#039;m-going-to-be-late-and-Lauren&amp;#039;s-going-to-kill-me-via-workout panic. Through some speed-walking/subway miracle, I got to Complete Body Development all of two minutes late, which is totally excusable (I think...??).  I have to say, though, working out really, really hard is like a drug\u2014except you&amp;#039;re high off of the endorphins. I can&amp;#039;t remember the last time I&amp;#039;ve felt so unequivocally happy. We did a combination of pilates and sprints today (alternating between 30 seconds at a full-on run and 30 seconds walking for what feels like forever but is probably only about 5 minutes). As hard as it was, by the time I got home from the gym, I was humming along to Michael Buble on my iPod and grinning from ear to ear....at nothing. I guess alcohol isn&amp;#039;t the only means of inexplicable happiness.  Anyway, apparently I have a pretty weak core (stomach, back, entire midsection), so we&amp;#039;re doing a lot of lower back and stomach moves to strengthen and tone the area. My favorite involves a medicine ball (I&amp;#039;d never even picked one up before a couple of days ago!)\u2014you sit on the ground, lift your legs a few inches off the ground and lean back, balancing on your butt. Then you take the medicine ball and twist from side to side with it touching the ground on either side of you. This worked ab muscles I didn&amp;#039;t even know I had. Try it out and tell me what you think!  `Til Monday, ladies! xoxo "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a449/happy-4198/>