Body Toning Exercises for Men

December 14, 2011

A toned body along with well built muscles is a dream of every guy. Body toning simply means increasing your muscle mass simultaneously lowering the body fat percentage.To tone up your body you need to brush aside the layers of fat and allow the muscles to be seen.

A good workout is no doubt a key to tone up the body. Men usually enjoy working out in the gym but a well planned home workout plan with a proper combination of cardio and strength training exercises can help in achieving the desired “beach body” look.

Let’s have a look at few of the body toning exercises for men with videos for your convenience:

Plank: Plank is one of the best exercises to build endurance in abs and backs. Lie face down on floor or on a mat with palms on the floor. Raise yourself off the floor resting your weight on the toes and the elbows. Keep your body flat from head to heel. Hold this position for 20-60 sec, lower the body and repeat this cycle 5-6 times.

Ghost Skipping: Simple and fun exercise that can be done anywhere and anytime. It’s a high impact cardio exercise to burn off the extra fat and also tone up the thighs, hips and calves. Keep your feet slightly apart and start jumping as if the rope is passing under the feet and over the head. Simultaneously move your arms as if actually jumping the rope to engage your biceps, triceps and shoulders. Complete a total of 100 reps

Pushups: One of the classic exercise for building chest, triceps and shoulders. Place your hands on the floor just beyond shoulder width apart. Keep your back straight and your knees straight and parallel to the floor. Slowly lower your body so as to touch your nose to the floor and then return to the start position by pressing yourself upward. To make it more vigorous also try diamond pushups, wide grip pushups, cobra pushups etc. Perform 2 sets of 12 reps each.

Squats: Squat is a form of compound exercise that particularly targets your quadriceps, calves, hamstrings and glutes. It also engages the core and back muscles to maintain the balance during the movement. Stand straight with your feet hip-width apart. Standing up tall, put your shoulders back, lift your chest, and pull in your abdominal muscles. Lower down, as if sitting but keep your upper body particularly back as straight as possible. You could also stretch your arms out in front for added balance. Perform 2 sets of 12 reps each. Read more

Body Toning Exercises for Women

December 9, 2011

If you are looking for a good body toning exercise program then you have come to the right place. Here is an effective, time saving, intense 15-20 minute body toning exercises for women that can be done anywhere. This workout will make your heart race in as little as twenty minutes.

Before you get started keep the following things in check: be adequately dressed, take short breaks of 30 secs to 1 minute before moving on to the next exercise, lastly perform as many repetitions as you can. If you feel any discomfort while performing the exercise then maybe your posture is incorrect, stop immediately, refer to the video again and then continue.

(All videos have been linked to the headings of each exercise. Click on the exercise name and it will take you to the relevant video/image)

Body Toning Exercises for Women:

Lunges: Work on the thigh muscles. Start by standing with arms at your side, abs tight, back straight, and head neutral. Step forward with your right leg while bending the left knee almost to the floor, making sure your forward knee stays behind the toe. Hold for a count of two and return to starting position. Repeat this for other leg. Perform a total of 15 reps.

Jog: Three minutes at lighter pace.

Calf Raise: While placing your hands against the wall for balance raise up high on your tiptoes. Return to the normal position. Repeat for a total of 35 reps.

Stair Climbing: Climb 40 stairs up and 40 stairs down. If you still have stamina left you can repeat this one more time.

Standing Side Crunches: To perform standing crunches, stand with feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. While lifting the right leg, bend the knee 90 degrees and turning thigh out to side. Place both hands behind your head and crunch your right elbow to right knee 20 times. Repeat with second leg.

Wall Push-ups: A classic toning exercise that works all areas of the arms plus the chest muscles. To perform wall pushups stand about 3 feet in front of a wall, hands outstretched, facing the wall. Lean forward towards the wall with hands touching the wall. Push the body back, with your hands to return to the normal position. Repeat for a total of 40 reps. Read more