Congratulations to all those who made it part of their new year's resolutions to get fitter this year and an even bigger congratulations to all those who are managing to stick to it.
Even if you've slipped up on your resolution to get fit, don't feel too despondent. Every day is a new day to start afresh and, starting today, I'll be bringing you regular posts revealing the most effective exercise routines to slim down and tone up to ensure that you are well on your way to getting the fabulous body you have desired in no time at all!
So, whether you are an avid keep fit fanatic or a complete novice, whether you have been keeping up with your new year resolution to get fit or fallen of the treadmill wagon, all of the routines and advice on my fitness and health pages will be applicable and beneficial to everyone wanting to see the best results.
Enjoy and stay beautiful!
Today's Routines: For a Flatter Stomach & Slimmer Thighs
For many, the lower part of their body, which includes the stomach, butt and thighs, is where they would love the most work done and thus, today I have include several exercises that concentrate on these areas.
As with all of the routines that you see on my fitness page, you can decide on the combination of routines you choose to do to, either choosing a few to concentrate on or all of them for a full workout. With all routines, aim to do the amount of repetitions and sets stated.
Do not rest between sets, instead moving from one to the other in quick succession in order to burn the maximum calories.
You can choose to do each exercise one after the other, and then repeat them three times (rather than repeating each exercise three times before moving onto the next one) for added variety.
For routines that include weights, you should choose weights that are not so light that you can do the seventh to tenth rep as easily as the first few but never choose weights that are so heavy that you cannot even do three! (That is, unless you want to bulk up!)
Exercise sensibly by warming up before and cooling down afterwards in order to avoid stress and injuries to the body. For the first five minutes you can warm up by way of light cardio exercises to get the heart rate going. Skipping, jogging or running on the spot are all ideal.
To cool down, stretches are ideal. I will add a few cool down stretches in a separate post that should be implemented into all workouts.
I would highly recommend that you incorporate some form of cardiovascular exercise into these routines - again, in the form of skipping, running or jogging on the spot - for twenty minutes and aim to workout for a minimum of forty five minutes a day, four times a week to see maximum results quickly.
Stomach
With all my exercises I advise that you keep your stomach taut, even when breathing out. As you wish your stomach to be in a bikini is how you should firm it! This will assist in training the muscles to tighten and eventually it will become second nature to you. (Imagine pulling your belly button into your spine.) This is a technique that should be applied to your everyday life and within a short space of time, along with these routines below, you will notice a significant difference.
~ Lying on your back with your body straight, cross your legs and lie them flat on the ground and place your hands behind your head (to support your neck). With your chin facing towards the ceiling, crunch up as far as you can, exhaling and using your stomach muscles as opposed to your neck. Hold for five seconds. Inhale as you go back down slowly, maintaining a tight stomach throughout. 3 sets of 20 reps. On your twentieth crunch, do not go back down but hold for five seconds before doing a further twenty crunches, breathing normally throughout and tightening the stomach even more.
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