In a segment of NBC California Live’s “Tune Up Tuesday,” hosts Dani and Blanca Shaheen interview fitness expert Reena Vokoun. The conversation opens with the idea that wellness starts with small, manageable steps—placing gym gear by the door and committing to baby‑steps. Reena cites a 280% rise in sculpt‑style workouts in 2023, describing them as a blend of yoga, Pilates, and barre that improve core stability, balance, and deep muscle activation. She demonstrates three portable, beginner‑friendly moves that can be done anywhere: a plié squat with arm raises, three variations of leg lifts (outer thigh, inner thigh, and behind‑leg lifts) performed with “airplane” arms, and curtsy lunges combined with chest‑press arm movements. She recommends 3 sets of 10‑12 reps for each exercise. Transitioning to nutrition, Reena shares a popular smoothie recipe (banana, almond milk, spinach or kale, mixed berries, peanut or almond butter, and dark chocolate chips) and notes market trends indicating a growing popularity of smoothies over the next four years. For mental wellness, she introduces diaphragmatic breathing—hands on the abdomen, inhaling through the nose to expand the diaphragm, exhaling through nose or mouth—highlighting its benefits for blood pressure, heart rate, and stress reduction. She also promotes journaling, citing NBC News data on its rise, and suggests using a notebook to record feelings, gratitude, and health goals. Reena advises beginners to adopt one practice at a time, master it, then add another, reinforcing the “baby‑step” philosophy throughout the segment.
Chapters
Right now on California Live.
Mind, body, and soul. We're going to learn the moves to become our healthiest selves.
Oh, oh, oh, whoa! California! California! California! California Live!
And now for a little Tune Up Tuesday action. It's always a good time to consider adding some new wellness practices to your routine to help your mental and physical health. And California Live contributor Blanca Blanche Shaheen is with a woman who is passionate about fitness. And Blanche, some of us are in a great routine, I'm not included in that, while others are ready to hit the reset button, me. So what's the first step if we're looking to get started again?
Oh, so good, that's such a great question, Dani. You know, Rome was not built in a day. You know, Roman statue, you need baby steps. And as somebody that has been a fitness instructor for 7 years, the best advice for me was to just put my sneakers and gym gear at the door so they're There are no excuses. But right now I'm in the W Hotel in San Francisco where we're going to get some great tips from somebody who's very passionate about fitness. Reena, good to see you.
Good to see you, Blanche. Thanks for having me today.
Now, Danny in the studio had a great question of how to get started if you don't know where to begin.
Yes, I would recommend starting with your physical health first.
Okay.
In 2023, sculpt workouts have increased in popularity by 280%. Wow. Yeah, they stem from yoga, from Pilates, from barre-inspired workouts. They're great for core stability and balance, for spinal alignment and working those deep muscle tissues and fibers.
Well, that sounds good to me. Can you show me a workout that somebody can take anywhere that even a beginner can master?
Yes, I'm going to show you 3 moves. These can be done anywhere, and I would recommend about 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps. Sounds good. All right, so we're going to start with a plié squat. So we're going to turn our knees and toes out. All right, we're going to pull our navel back into our spine, and we're going to bend our knees as we bring our arms down. And then we're going to come up on our toes and relevé as we lift the arms up. So we'll do 2 more reps of this. You come down in that plié squat and then bring those arms up overhead as you again tuck in that core.
This is a great warm-up, and I'm feeling it in my glutes already. That's great.
Absolutely, it's a great warm-up exercise. So the second one are 3 variations of leg lifts. So we're going to bring our arms out into airplane arms, and you're going to feel them working just from doing this. You're going to tuck in the core again, and then from your hip, you're going to lift that leg up and down off the ground, working your balance, working your outer thighs and your glutes. We'll do one more rep, lifting and lowering. Right, then what we're going to do is turn that toe out. You're going to point your toes and you're going to keep your arms out and lift and lower to now work the inner thigh.
Everyone wants to get rid of those inner thighs, right?
Exactly, exactly. So those are great for that deep muscle tissue. And then we're going to come back into leg lifts behind. So lift those arms out again.
She's got her arms out the whole time, so you're building tension on those shoulders, which is really nice.
It really is. We'll do one more rep, just lifting and lowering that leg. It does work the shoulders and again works that balance and upper and body strength.
Balance is the first thing we lose as we age, so this is great balance work.
Exactly.
Final, final move.
The final move are curtsy lunges. We're gonna start with our right leg first. Step behind, you're gonna bring your arms up into 90-degree angles, and you're gonna do chest presses as you curtsy lunge. Stepping down.
Exactly.
Using your lower body, tucking in the core, and working those pectoral muscles.
Yeah, and the glutes and outer thighs too.
Exactly. It works everything.
Well, great. So now that we've mastered all the exercises, they always say, you know, abs are made in the kitchen. You can't ignore the nutrition aspect.
That's right.
And I'm I'm looking at a nice-looking smoothie over here. If you could tell me what this is all about.
Yes, so smoothies are on the rise according to MarketWatch. They're expected to grow in popularity over the next 4 years. This is one of my favorite smoothies that I make at home about 3 or 4 times a week.
All right, what's inside of it?
Yes, this smoothie, exactly, it's delicious. It has 1 banana, about a cup of almond milk, a cup of spinach or kale, a cup of mixed berries, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter or almond butter, and a teaspoon of dark chocolate chips.
Well, if I could incorporate chocolate in every meal, that would make me a very happy woman. This is great because it has healthy fats, it has fiber, and it has filling protein. Now I'm looking here at this notebook. Oh, before we get to the notebook, actually, we want to tackle mental wellness. So where can somebody start with mental wellness?
Yes, so one of the easiest ways is to start with something as simple as your breath. Breathwork is also very much growing in popularity according to Forbes. So one of my favorite forms is diaphragmatic breathing. So you're gonna place your hands on your abdomen, you're gonna inhale through your nose as you expand that diaphragm out, and then you're gonna pull that diaphragm back in as you exhale through your nose or your mouth. Do you feel your belly rising and falling in your hands?
It's very meditative. I really like this. I could do this probably several times a day, would you say?
And that's That's the point of it, is to do this as many times throughout your day to really calm your mind, calm your body down. It lowers your blood pressure, it lowers your heart rate, and it's a great mental health tool to have in your toolkit.
Excellent. Now, another aspect of mental health is something as simple as a notebook.
Yes.
Right?
According to NBC News, notebooks are growing in popularity, and journaling specifically this year. And what's great with notebooks is that you can write down how you're feeling. If you're going through a tough or challenging experience. You can write about it. It can be very cathartic to get those thoughts and feelings out. But on the flip side, you could write about things that you're grateful for. You could journal about a positive experience that you're having, or even write down your health and wellness goals for this year.
Yes, I feel like if you write down your goals, you can't worm out of it. Like, you have to fulfill them, right? Do you think everybody has to do these, all 4, every single day?
You know, yeah, I think it can be overwhelming for some people to try to tackle do so many different health and wellness challenges at once. And so what I would recommend is just starting with one at a time, really mastering that, and then moving on to the next, um, practice and the next one.
Yeah, full circle, the baby steps. Thank you so much, Reena. I really appreciate your time.
So great to see you as always.
Yeah, so there you go, Dani. It's never too late to fulfill those New Year's resolutions, and hopefully Reena's provided a nice template to get everyone started out there.
Yeah, I'm ready for the March reset. I'm doing it. Thank you very much, ladies.
