Say hello to your checklist for a hotter you. Follow these fun, practical strategies, and the results youโve been after are in the bag!
Every woman is familiar with those tricky trouble zones that take a little extra work to tighten and tone (lower abs, anyone?). After a lot of exercise trial and error, Iโve finally found a solid set of moves that help me shape up and feel confident in a swimsuit, my favorite skinny jeans, or a sexy cockatil dress.
Read on for the top 5 exercises that I find work wonders for my stomach, inner thighs, booty, and shoulders plus tips on how to add them into your workout routine.
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How to do it: Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand on your left foot. Lift your right foot behind you and bend your knee so your right lower leg is parallel to the floor.
Bend forward at your hips, and slowly lower your body as far as you can. Pause, then push your body back to the starting position. As you come up, think about using your glutes to push your hips forward instead of lifting from your back.
Keep core engaged and chest up during the entire movement.
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How to do it: Lie on your left side with your knees straight. Prop your upper body up on your left elbow and forearm. Raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders. Hold this position for 30 seconds. Turn around so that youโre lying on your right side and repeat.
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For a strong backside that will turn heads wherever you go, Marta Montenegro, a Miami-based exercise physiologist and strength and conditioning coach, recommends completing 100 kettlebell swings nonstop with a moderate weight at the end of a legs workout. If you canโt access a kettlebell, do deadlifts and hip-thrusters instead. โWomen tend to overemphasize the quadriceps even when they think they are working the butt. With these two exercises, you'll have no problem engaging the glutes and posterior muscles of the legs,โ Montenegro says.
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It's easy to get lost in a killer playlist or Friends rerun on the TV attached to the elliptical, but mindless exercise makes all your hard work forgettableโand you can forget about seeing results too. โThere is a huge difference between going through the motions of an exercise and truly thinking, feeling, and engaging the key muscles,โ says Kira Stokes, master instructor at the New York City location of indoor cycling studio Revolve. โBe conscious of and enjoy the sensation of your muscles contracting and the feelings of growing stronger and more powerful with each rep.โ
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Not being able to do a pull-up doesnโt mean you shouldnโt step up to the bar. Simply hanging on for as long as possible can improve your upper-body strength, Montenegro says. Concentrate on keeping your body as still as possible, and youโll naturally recruit your abs, hips, and lower back in addition to your arms, she explains, or slowly move your legs in circles or up and down to further engage your abs.