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Cassey Ho: Change your workout with the seasons – Metro US

Cassey Ho: Change your workout with the seasons

Cassey Ho: Change your workout with the seasons
Photos by David Kim, reprinted from “Hot Body Year-Round.” Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of

Few people are looking forward to spring more than California girl Cassey Ho, creator of the massively popular Blogilates workouts on YouTube. Not only does it bring the flowers and sunshine she craves, but it’s a chance to be outside again — and rev up her routines.

“I will go hard all year round; but for a lot of people, they want to move with how they feel,” she explains. “So you don’t want to push someone so hard that they feel like, ‘Hey, I might as well just sit on the couch and do nothing.’”

After going from a one-off video made for her friends and family in 2009 to an exercise empire of 2 million subscribers who can’t get enough of her pop music-fueled workouts and nutrition guides, Ho is releasing her first book, “Hot Body Year-Round,” today. Check out the video preview of her spring routine:

To keep her beloved Pilates fun (she’s been a fan since coming across it on TV at age 16), “Hot Body Year-Round” adds a seasonal element to her workouts. But she doesn’t just take her mat outdoors; the exercises change with the time of year, so the stretching-focused routines of winter are now giving way to more intense burning and toning sessions leading up to summer.

There are also grocery lists of seasonal produce to keep your workout on course with nutritious meals that have natural variety.

“I wanted to really motivate people to be inspired throughout the year, because I know you have your bikini season when you think, ‘Let’s go hard!,’ and all of a sudden it’s back to school and it’s holidays and nobody wants to move anymore, they just want to eat,” she says. “And so, along with the seasons you have the ebb and flow of how hard you want to go.”

We’ve got three of her spring moves — hop to it!

Works: Inner and outer thighs, butt

Balance on your side with your left palm and left knee on the mat, pelvis and chest straight forward, right hand on your hip. Beginners, you may lie on your side with one hand underneath your head and the other in front of you for balance. Lift your right leg to hip height and begin to circle your whole leg forward. Repeat 20 times, then circle it backward, then switch sides and repeat.

Works: Upper and lower abs

Lie down, pressing your lower back into the mat. Keep your legs straight, toes pointed, one leg out parallel to the floor, while raising the other leg up to the sky. Keep your elbows pointed outward and lift your chest to do a crunch. Repeat 10 times with each leg.

Works: Quads, butt, lower back

Keeping your back straight, bring your left leg behind you into a lunge. Both knees should be at 90-degree angles. Push off the ball of your left foot and raise your left leg into an arabesque with your arms stretched out behind you.