Category: Women

Each of us has that trouble zone we’re self-conscious about and want to tone up. For many it’s upper arms and they fear hot weather, sleeveless blouses or dresses. The good news is that by adding the right exercises to your workout routine you can start strengthening the muscles in your arms rather quickly.

In this article, you’ll find out what are the exercises that tone your arms. Practice them regularly and you’ll love your sculpted arms.

Achieve Strong, Fit And Sculpted Arms

If tightening and sculpting your arms is your goal, add these exercises to your fitness regimen three times a week. Perform one set of 10 repetitions of each, and then repeat the whole circuit two times.

1. Plank Shoulder Tap

• Start in a high plank position with your palms flat on the ground, hands shoulder-width apart, shoulders stacked directly above your wrists, legs extended behind you, and your core and glutes engaged. Your body should form a straight line
• Lift your right hand off the ground and tap your left shoulder while engaging your core and glutes to keep your hips as still as possible.
• Do the same thing with your left hand to right shoulder. That’s 1 rep.
• Continue, alternating sides.

Tip: To make this easier, try separating your legs a little more.

2. Bicep curls to push press

Although you can use weights for this exercise, it can be just as effective with household items like a can of food or bottle of water.

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your back straight.
• Hold your dumbbells (or household or office item) in each hand with your palms facing forward and your arms extended down to your sides.
• Keep your elbows close to your body as you curl your biceps — lifting the dumbbells to your shoulders in a controlled motion.
• Then, turn your hands outward so your palms and wrists are pointed toward the ceiling as you press the objects upward above your head. Extend your arms all the way to the top.
• Slowly bring your items back down the same way you came until your hands are at your sides in the starting position.
• Complete 10 reps

 

The triceps are what people are referring to when they say that their arms are flabby. In order to tighten this area and reduce “jiggle” it’s necessary to strengthen the backs of the arms. Next two exercises will help you achieve that.

3. Triceps Kickback

• Holding weights in both hands, lean forward with a flat back. Hug your elbows in towards your sides and pull them up towards the ceiling.
• Keeping your elbows still, kick the weight towards the back of the room by moving the lower half of your arm back and up towards the ceiling.
• Hold for a second, feeling the back of your arm tighten, and then release back to the starting position.
• Repeat 10 times, and complete 3 sets total throughout your workout.

4. Triceps Dips

Well known exercise. Classic for a good reason. Build your triceps by using only your body weight. Use a chair, couch or sturdy coffee table as a base.

• Place your hands shoulder-width apart on the furniture you’re propping yourself upon.
• Shift your pelvis and bottom forward so there’s an 8 – 15 cm (3 to 6 inch) gap between your back and the object — giving you clearance as you dip down.
• Bend your legs in a 90-degree angle with your feet planted firmly on the ground, or extend them out in front of you (but don’t lock your knees).
• Slowly lower your body down and back up, focusing on engaging your triceps.
• Complete 3 sets of 10 reps.

5. Downward Dog to Push-Up

This is one of those exercises that train multiple muscle groups. Downward dog to push-up targets your core, pectorals, deltoids, and triceps.

Here’s how to do it:

• Start in a downward dog position. To get into a downward dog, start from an all-fours position with wrists under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Engage your core, lift your knees, and straighten both legs as your head drops naturally between your biceps and you come into an inverted V-shape. In downward dog, your arms and back should be straight and your hips piked up to the ceiling. Your heels do not need to touch the floor, but you should feel a nice stretch in the back of your legs.
• From this position, lift your right hand and reach back to tap your left toes. Allow your torso to naturally rotate open so you can tap your toes. If you can’t reach your toes, tap your shin or knee.
• Return to downward dog and roll forward into a high plank or modified plank (by gently lowering your knees to the floor).
• From your high plank or modified plank, do a push-up by bending both arms at the elbows and lowering your chest toward the floor in a smooth movement.
• Push back up to return to your plank, then pike your hips to return to your downward dog. Now lift your left hand and tap your right toes.
• After you’ve completed the toe tap, roll forward into a plank and do another push-up.
• Continue your downward dog, to toe tap, to push-up progression.

 

6. Plank sidewalk

With this exercise, you’ll tone your abdominal muscles as you strengthen your arms.

• Set a timer for 1 minute before starting this exercise.
• Begin in a high plank position with your arms extended beneath your shoulders and your palms planted firmly on the ground.
• Extend your legs behind you with your toes pressing into the floor. Your core should be engaged and in-line with the rest of your body.
• Rather than remaining stationary, walk your hands and feet to one side. Take 2 or 3 steps in one direction (or as much as your space allows).
• Then, return to your starting spot and take the same amount of steps in the other direction. Continue walking side to side until your time runs out.
• Extend the exercise by 30 seconds or more if you need more of a challenge.

Keep practising these exercises and very soon, in a few weeks, you’ll notice that your arms are stronger and look much better. You’ll love your arms, be more self-confident and you’ll proudly show them off 🙂

 

Do you want to have a slim, trim waist? We all want to be healthy, happy and look attractive, to be self-confident. Are there simple exercises that slim your waist? There are, and if you do not have problems with excess weigh, go straight to exercising.

But if you are overweight, only exercising won’t do the job. As usual, healthy diet and regular workouts are the most effective in this case. In order to get a smaller waist you need to lower your OVERALL body FAT percentage. So, exercising and nutrition will get the job done. You should avoid fatty and sugary foods. Your diet should include healthy foods rich in fiber, protein, healthy fats, and many other beneficial elements. It is also highly important to drink necessary amounts of water. In this way you’ll flush the toxins out of your body, improve your overall health, skin and hair condition, and melt excess body fat. However, it is important to combine your proper diet with effective physical exercises in order to get the best result.

Whatever the case, be aware that it does’t happen overnight.

It Takes Work To Get There

Yes, results won’t magically appear the next day. It takes dedication and time. Most beginners fall into the trap of going all out and lose motivation along the way, but you could start with low-intensity workouts with balanced meals and see a change over a few weeks.

Aim for up to four days of low-intensity exercises over a week. Start out with one set of each of these exercises, one after the other and slowly increase the number of times you repeat the routine with 45 to 60 seconds rest in bet

Exercises That Slim Your Waist

Strong core is very important for your overall health. And it should be strengthened working from all angles. But in order to tighten and trim the waist you should do core exercises which focus on the lateral and oblique muscle groups.

• Flutter Kicks

Lie down on your back on a mat with palms underneath your glutes. Raise your legs in a straight line so that they lightly hover over the floor. Tighten your core and kick up and down while alternating both legs. Don’t let your feet touch the floor and don’t lift your lower back off it either.

Do this for 20 seconds and then repeat twice.

• Side Plank With Rich Through

Start in a side-plank position with your right forearm planted firmly on the ground and your left hand holding a dumbbell on the ground in front of you. For extra stability, you can stagger your legs, placing your top foot just in front of the bottom. Engaging your core and keeping the dumbbell as close to your body as possible, raise your left arm straight overhead. With control, lower the dumbbell back down and twist directly under your torso. Return back to starting position.

Do 15 reps on each side.

• Russian Twist

General tips for this exercise:

 

1. press your feet into the floor
2. Breathe steadily and deeply. Exhale with each twist, and inhale to return to the center
3. As you twist, keep your arms parallel to the floor or reach down to tap the floor beside you
4. Engage your abdominal and back muscles throughout the exercise
5. For more stability, cross your lower legs
6. Maintain a straight spine, and avoid slouching or rounding your spine
7. Allow your gaze to follow the movement of your hands.

Here’s how to do a Russian twist:

1. Sit on your sit bones as you lift your feet from the floor, keeping your knees bent.
2. Elongate and straighten your spine at a 45-degree angle from the floor, creating a V shape with your torso and thighs.
3. Rich your arms straight out in front, interlacing your fingers or clasping your hands together.
4. Use your abdominals to twist to the right, then back to center, and then to the left.
5. This is 1 repetition. Do 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 16 repetitions.

* Variation of this exercise is weighed twist:

Choose a weight that allows you to maintain proper form.

Hold a dumbbell, weight plate, or medicine ball between both hands.

Twist the same way as the original variation, keeping the weight at chest level or tapping it to the floor each time.

• Toe Touches

Start by lying on your back with your legs extended perpendicular to the ground and your feet flexed. Holding a dumbbell in both hands, reach your arms toward your feet as you lift your shoulders off the ground. Return to the starting position.

Do 15 reps.

• Squat To Rotating Press

Stand with feet shoulder-length apart and raise your hands with dumbbells in hand. Lower yourself to a squat position then curl weights towards your chest and press upwards with your body rotating to the right. Pivot with left heel and then return to start position. Repeat on the other side. Do 12 reps on both sides.

• Reverse Crunch

Lie down on the floor on your back with knees bent. Keep your arms by the side. Lift your feet off and bring knees towards your abs. Your toes should be pointed upwards. Don’t lift your head and neck off the floor. Come back to starting position and repeat 12 times.

• Plank Kick-Through

Start in a plank position, body in a straight line from head to toe, shoulders stacked directly over your wrists. In one sweeping motion, rotate your body to the right as you kick your left foot through. Open into a side-plank position, extending your right arm straight overhead. Return to plank position and repeat on the opposite side.

Do 15 reps, alternating sides.

Quick Tips to get a slim waist

• Improve your posture and walk with confidence
• Wear push-up bras, pencil skirts and sweetheart neck dresses
• Drink a lot of water (to improve digestion)
• Eat six small meals a day (this avoids overeating and bloating)

I do hope you like this article and find it to be helpful. I’d just like to add that you don’t have to do all of these exercises. Start with simpler and less demanding ones, increase number of reps as you progress and then try more demanding ones (e.g. adding dumbbell or weighted plate). Adjust number, kind of exercise and number of reps to your current possibilies and slowly (over time) increase it.

Thank you for reading this article. You can leave any questions or comments below.

One of the most problematic and stubborn zones of your body to slim down is the inner thigh area. It is quite hard to tone it and reduce excess fat. In this article, you’ll learn why it is so, and how to slim inner thighs.

Excess Fat

It is impossible to spot reduce your body fat. For example, if you want to get rid of your belly fat, you should lose your overall body fat as well. It is the only tried and tested approach to whittling your waist effectively.  That’s why if you want to reduce your inner thigh fat, you should stick to a traditional weight loss plan – establish healthy eating habits and work out on a regular basis, full-body workouts plus exercises that target your inner thighs.

Exercises That Target Inner Thigh

Inner-Thigh Circles

To do it:

• Lie on right side, supporting head with bottom arm bent. Bend top leg and place foot firmly on the mat in front of the bottom leg, holding on to ankle for support. Point bottom foot and lift leg up high.
• In a swooping motion, trace a circle with the lifted leg (lift up each time to initiate the circle and target the inner thigh more). It might be helpful to imagine you are drawing circles on the back wall, lengthening the inner thigh, and keeping abs pulled in tight,  and your whole core stable.
• Do 10 to 20 circles in each direction, and then switch sides and repeat.

 

 Curtsy Lunge

How to:

• Begin standing with your feet in a wide stance.
• Keeping your chest upright and shoulders down, cross your left leg behind the right and squat down into a curtsy position.
• From the lowered position, push your body back upright, bringing your left leg back to the starting position.
• Next, repeat with the right leg.
• Alternate legs for 15–30 seconds, or perform 10–15 repetitions on each leg.

Optional: you can hold dumbbells in each hand as you do this exercise. Dumbbells can increase the resistance.

 

Sumo goblet squat

This exercise helps not only reduce inner thigh fat, but also tones your butt and helps to get rid of belly fat. Here’s how to do it:

• Stand upright. Then spread your feet wider than your shoulders and place them at a 45-degree angle.
• Keep your hands together under your chin or grab a dumbbell.
• Next, do a deep squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep your back straight and your knees out. Don’t round out your lower back and don’t lift your feet off the ground, while performing this move.
• Get back to the starting position.
• Do 15 reps.

 

Lying Frogger Crunch

How to:

• Lie on the floor with your knees bent and open to the side, in a butterfly position, with your arms resting on either side of your body.
• Raise your head, shoulders, and legs at the same time, crunching your rib cage toward your pelvis.
• Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. That’s one rep.
• Complete 20 reps.

 

Plie squats

• Stand with feet in a wide stance, with your toes and knees pointed outward.
• Slowly lower into a squat position. You can keep your hands on your hips to help with balance. Keep your spine and torso upright.
• Slowly rise back up, squeezing your glutes at the top.
• Continue for 30 seconds total.

 

 

 

Alternating Spiderman Lunge

How to:

• Get into a plank position with your hands placed directly under your shoulders.
• Bend your left leg and bring your knee to meet your left upper arm. Then repeat on the right side.
• Return your left leg to start, then your right. That’s one rep.
• Complete 20 reps.

 

Single-Leg Lateral Lunge

How to:

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart, hands on your hips.
• Take a big step to the side with your right leg, then push your hips back, bend your right knee, and lower your body until your right knee is bent nearly 90 degrees.
• Push back to start. That’s one rep. 
• Complete 20 reps on each side.

 

Make Changes In Your Nutrition

As I’ve said at the beginning of this article – excess fat can form on the body if you take in more calories than your body can use or burn off. Only exercising won’t be effective without changes in your nutrition. Your diet has to be healthy and well-balanced to provide your body with all the necessary nutrients. It should include many fruits and veggies, lean meats, fish, low-fat dairy, whole grains and good fats. It’s self-explanatory that you should avoid alcohol, bakery, sugar in any form, processed, fried and sweetened foods. Besides, remember to control your portion size, calorie intake and drink necessary amounts of water.

Notes

Just one more thing before I leave you. In this article, I gave you many exercises that target your inner thighs. These are all great exercises but it doesn’t mean that you should include all of them in your workout. Choose a few that suits you, include them in your workout routine and from time to time try some new one, add it or replace one, and so on. As you progress you’ll find it challenging to include harder ones, increase the number of reps or include dumbbells.

Be persistent and ‘listen to your body’ – don’t push yourself too much. It takes time. Don’t worry, all will be well. Love yourself:)

Yes, you can work your abs at home without the need of a trainer or fancy equipment. In fact, I love squeezing in abs workouts throughout the day when I’m stuck in the house all day. It’s a great way to get a boost of energy while really focusing on my core. I find that doing “smaller” abs exercises frequently is great for getting faster results than I might get if I only focused on abs for a few minutes during a full workout. How you approach it is really up to you!

You may not realize just how many combinations of abs workouts you can use to get strength and definition in your abs. Having a few different abs workouts in your toolkit is really the best method for making sure you don’t get bored. You’ll also get better results because you’ll be sculpting your entire core instead of just focusing on one area time after time. What’s the best abs workout for women? I’m going to be sharing my absolute favourite abs exercises right here!

The Plank Crunch

This is a full-body exercise that will challenge, and in time, strengthen your entire core, especially obliques, arms and shoulders.

• Begin in a high plank position. Your hands should be positioned directly below your shoulders. Do your best to make sure your body is in a very straight line.
• Next, bend one leg. Bring your knee toward your shoulder on the side that you’re bending. You should be actively “crunching” your obliques as you do this.
• The upper portion of your body should remain still as you perform the movement.
• Hold that position for 2-3 seconds.
• Return your leg to the starting position to do another rep!

This exercise is as simple as it looks. However, it is very demanding. Keep your focus. Whenever you return to the starting position, check your body position – remember, in plank your body should be in the straight line.

Perform 2 sets of 10 reps each leg. Make a small pause between sets.

The Side Crunch

This exercise is focused on obliques.

• Legs are slightly bent at the knees and turned aside, for example, your right side. Place your left hand behind your head (fingertips touching the area right behind your ear). Your elbow should be pointed forward.
• Place your right hand so that your palm is on abs and close to the crunched side. (By doing so, you can feel and control correct reduction of oblique core muscles.)
• This is your starting position.
• Now exhale while lifting your upper body aside, crunching your left obliques, try to reach with your left elbow as close to your left hip.

It’s recommended that you do two sets consisting of six to eight reps on each side.

Bicycle crunches

This exercise uses all the abdominal muscles, including the rectus abdominis – the front ab muscles

that make up the six-pack. Here’s how to do it:

• Lie on your back, bend your knees and pull them towards your chest.
• Place your hands behind your head. Fingertips should be placed behind your ears.
• To engage your core, contract your shoulder blades as you lift each side off the floor while straightening one leg and rotating your body.
• With each rotation, your elbow should reach towards your opposite leg’s knee.

Perform two sets of 10 alternating reps.

Seated Leg Lift

This exercise is great for beginners who are struggling with “getting it right” with more complicated ab workouts. Here’s how you do it:

• Sit on the floor. Your legs should be extended straight in front of you.
• You’re going to need to lean back slightly while keeping your core engaged and firm.
• Next, place your hands down on the ground on either side of your glutes.
• Take a deep breath before lifting one leg roughly 15 cm (six inches) from the ground.
• Hold like that for five full seconds!
• You can then put your leg down.
• Repeat with your other leg.

Do about a minute’s worth of these while alternating legs before taking a 20-second break. You can repeat this for up to five rounds to create a nice circuit. This exercise certainly looks simple. It is actually very simple to learn. However, it’s a bit deceptive because you almost certainly will struggle with some serious burn if you don’t typically do workouts that work your muscles in this way!

It’s Ab Day!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my take on the best abs workout for women! These ab workouts are so simple that you really have no excuse for not making today ab day! Again, you can simply stop whatever you’re doing to pepper these workouts in throughout your day without any need to get into workout clothes or bring out workout equipment. Just make sure you’re checking with your doctor before you start any new ab exercises to make sure that your health and fitness are in check for starting something new. I also stress the importance of really studying each workout carefully to ensure you can execute every step without any injury or strain. And don’t forget to stretch after a workout.