Toning

Part By Part

Toning is not possible by lifting weights alone. The real way to tone is to use exercises that involve whole body activities and maybe dumbells after you've gotten used to them. Other factors play a part in toning, such as dieting or eating less junk and more healthy foods and cardiovascular exercises are a must. These allow you to lose body fat so that while you're doing these full body exercises, you can increase muscle but loose body fat. This will allow you to acheive a leaner and less bulky look.

Abs- Doing thousands of crunches will get you no where if you're looking for toned abs. You have to work each part of your abdomen. The obliques, rectus abdominis, and transverse abdominis. The transverse abdominis is the muscle group that develops core strength and core stability. To increase this muscle, simply take deep breaths and while exhaling flex your abs. Just breathing deeply will increase your core strength and breathing doesn't require any manual labor so just do a couple of sets of ten a day.

The obliques are the muscles that aren't typically worked out on the most because they aren't affected by a regular crunch. It's hard to describe to you what you can possibly do but here are some examples. Circular motion crunches (2 seconds swirling to the left, 2 seconds in the middle, and spending two seconds on the right side of your body are circular crunches) or doing leg lifts but moving your legs in the same circular motion.

Doing a V crunch (picture in the upper right) is one of the best ways to work the rectus abdominis muscle. The V crunch burns the most fat and allows results in a couple of weeks.

Legs- To tone your legs stay away from lifting weights. Try all different types of cardiovascular exercises as in biking, running, walking, elliptical, or stair stepping. Doing exercises that require whole body movement are the best in toning the legs. Do an excessive amount of lunges, squats, and moving the legs in any motion repetitively to tone them the right way. Slow reps will show the most improvement. While doing a squat, attempt to make every movement going down and up as slow as possible.

Your bottom- The greatest way to shape your bottom is to do the slow repetitions of squats and lunges while adding more weight each time. Another great leg toner is the "mermaid" just lay flat on your stomach, lift your arms and legs up higher than your torso, then kick and fan your arms up and down, over and over again. Another one of my favorites is to lay in a crunch position but keep your upper body on the floor but push your pelvis towards the ceiling. Then hold for as long is comfortable. Both of these exercise have proven to be effective for me and sometimes even leave you sore the next day.

Arms-The best way to tone your arms is to use free weights of a low, easy weight that can be lifted repetitively. Doing arm curls, and other comfortable movements with your arms will help you significantly.