10 Reasons Why Women Should Start Kettlebell Training

hello,

Have you started using Kettlebell Training yet? If not why not? kettlebells are a great solution for the busy woman looking for a quick butt firming, thigh slimming total body fat burning workout.

with one piece of equipment and 20 minutes at home you are well on your way to getting the fat loss, cardio conditioning and strength building (without the fear of developing too much muscle) body you want.

read this article then head on over to Kettlebell Workouts where I have some video demo's of how to do kettlebell exercises (it's a work in progress so I am adding new videos all the time)

10 Reasons Why Women Should Start Kettlebell Training

Kettlebell training has fast become the top choice of fitness training with many top strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers and elite athletes around the world. For the benefits and fast results that you can get from the traditional Russian fitness training tool, it is no surprise that many top female celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz, Kim Cattrall, Kim Basinger, and Angelina Jolin have also turned to kettlebell training. The following is the Top 10 Reasons why women should train with kettlebell.

1. Increase metabolism
Metabolism is the key to long-term weight management success and therefore it is very important in regards to achieving the lean, toned and athletic body. As kettlebell training is a form of weight training and utilizes mainly full-body movements, it helps to raise the metabolism of the body by increasing the lean muscle mass.

2. Improved tone in the Body
Because this training increase lean tissue mass, it would naturally improved the tone in the body that would help any women fit better into their clothes.

3. Postexercise Fat Burning Effects
Kettlebell training induced postexercise fat-burning effect in the body due to its compound movements and high-intensity nature. Unlike most aerobics exercise, the postexercise fat-burning effects allows the body to use more fat as energy at rest and during low-intensity physical activities. As such, more fat will be burned.

4. Shape the Butt
It is great for shaping up the butt because many of the exercises such as snatch, swing and clean are initiated from the hip movement. As a result, the glutes muscle which is the butt is engaged very often giving the behind a great workout.

5. Cardio Fitness
With high reps of kettlebell ballistic movement based exercises, it requires high level of effort and is great for improving cardio fitness.

6. Prevent Osteoporosis
Unfortunately, women are much more prone to osteoporosis than men. It is a loss of bone mass caused by reduction of estrogen after menopause. Fortunately, kettlebell training which is a form of resistance training that can prevent this situation.

7. Prevent Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia occurs when muscular strength declines with increasing age. It is caused by the loss of muscle tissue. Again, women are very much affected by this situation because they have less muscle fiber than men to begin with. However, strength training from kettlebell can prevent loss of strength and muscle mass. As a result, it prevents sarcopenia.

8. No Muscle Bulk
Kettlebell training do not build muscle bulk because the typical training program is made up of mostly ballistic movements. Unlike grinding moves, it does not isolate any muscles group that is essential in building muscle bulk. The truth is, women do not possess the level of muscle-building hormones like the men have to gain muscle bulk with any form of weight lifting.

9. Prevent Injuries
This form of exercise focuses on movements and it differs very much from the traditional bodybuilding type training that focuses on loading strains on target muscle group. Because movement efficiency is enhanced due to kettlebell training, injuries are greatly reduced by fixing the compensation and imbalances in the body.

10. Time-saving
Most important of all, you do not need to spend hours that you would with typical aerobics program to see the results. Kettlebell training is high-intensity strength and cardio workout that forces the body to burn fat fast.

In conclusion, kettlebell training is a great training tool for women not only in terms of improving physical appearance but also improving overall health and all-round fitness. Especially for women who hit a plateau with training progress, kettlebell training can be a solution to break out of it.

TC is a Perth kettlebell instructor who provides personal training and boot camp services in the Suburb of Nedlands, Subiaco, and Claremont. To learn to more about the proper techniques of kettlebell lifting and get a week of FREE kettlebell training, please visit http://www.kettlebellbootcamp.com.au

Do you see any reason why you Shouldn't be training with kettlebells? No i didn't think so.

Short total body workouts you can do at home. No more of the incredibly inefficient marathon treadmill workouts, no commuting to the gym and no more gym fees.

Don't forget head on over to Kettlebell Workouts for some video instruction.

Fat Burning Workout Tips And Tricks

For a sexy female body,

1) Ditch the Lame Warm Up

Skipping rope and performing calisthenic exercises like jumping
jacks work the entire body, and prepare you neurologically for the
workout to come. This will allow you to get more out of each
workout.

2) Don't Be Afraid to Lift Heavy

I insist that all my female clients spend at least 2 days per month
dedicated to heavy lifting (75% of 1RM in certain cases).


3) Fight Hormones with Hormones

Use the power of lactic acid to locally attack stubborn
estrogen-based fat storage patterns.

4) Increase Training Density

Doing more work in less time has a number of incredible benefits:
increasing the rate of fat loss, aerobic and anaerobic training,
and an increase in work capacity.

5) Focus on your Assets

When it comes to squatting for your booty, go wide. For lunges, go
deep.


And for MEN,

1) Focus on Building an X-Shaped Physique

An X-shaped physique means: broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and
strong, well-developed calves.

2) Push Less, Pull More

We should focus more on the muscles of the upper back: latissimus
dorsi, teres major, trapezius, et al. These muscles, developed
correctly, will help pull your shoulders back, helping to create
the broad shouldered look that men find powerful and women find
attractive.

To prevent imbalances and help to create such a look, try to
maintain a 3:2 ratio of pulling exercises to pushing exercises.

3) Lift Heavy at Least 4 Days per Month

To achieve the increases, my clients all have at least 1 day per
week dedicated to lifting near maximal loads. In addition to the
aforementioned benefits, heavy training also leads to strength
increases, which has obvious implications for training in the
future.

4) Mix Up Your Training

For the purposes of getting lean, exposing yourself to consistently
changing stimulus is an excellent way to ramp up metabolism and
consistently increases the processes by which fat loss is made
possible.

5) Tame Your Hormones

To aid in shedding the love handles and creating a body worth
seeing naked, there are a few ways to improve insulin management
via supplementation and diet. More details on the blog...

Your Fat Burning Workouts Using Variety For Success

Someone asked me the other day which workouts should she choose to do. She was a little confused because in my articles I talk about weight training, kettlebells, interval training and bodyweight exercises. So I could see how she was a little confused.

My answer to her and all of you is use them all. You know the whole variety is the spice of life thing. When it comes to fat loss, gaining lean muscle and improving your fitness and health variety is your best path. Now I mentioned 4 different ways to exercise above do you know the combination and workouts you could put together?

Using variety will keep you motivated and focused on getting to your fitness and fat burning goals. I don't know about you but I tend to get bored easily and let's face it exercise isn't always the most exciting thing in your life. If you keep challenging yourself with new and different workouts you will start to look forward to them. Especially once you start seeing the rewards in the mirror.

The one small problem with using exercise variety like I do is you have to really plan ahead. Back in the old day's of doing the basic bodybuilding splits you went to your garage or gym or wherever you worked out and were going to do the same workout over and over.

I tend to go by feel sometimes just for whatever reason I might feel like doing a particular exercise or exercises so I do it. I don't want it to sound like I just jump into a workout not knowing what I'll do that day. I do have it planned ahead of time but I will deviate from the plan also.

What I want to give you here is how to incorporate a variety of fat burning and muscle building exercise programs to use. You do need to plan this ahead on at least a weekly basis.

Commit to Weight training Monday and Thursday use total body exercises. As an example:

#1. Deadlifts

#2. Pushups

#3. Clean and Press

Again these exercises aren't written in stone maybe for whatever reason I don't have the feel to do pushups I'll do Incline dumbbell presses instead.

Use heavy weights, keep your reps in the 4-8 range, 4-5 sets each (best for lean muscle gains and losing fat). Yes it is only 3 exercises but with these 3 exercises you have also worked virtually every muscle group, Workout with intensity, haphazard workouts give haphazard results. You workout for a purpose, burn fat, gain lean muscle and improved fitness and health.

Tuesday and Friday do some Kettlebell exercises - Use timed sets

Set a timer for lets say 5 minutes (this will depend on your fitness level adjust time up or down)

#1. Kettlebell Swings - do as many reps as you can in your time frame

#2. Kettlebell Snatch - same as above

With timed sets every workout try to do more reps than the workout before. You don't need to do 10 more reps if you can't even 1 more than your last workout is progression.

Wednesday and Saturday could be Interval Training.

Do some bodyweight circuits, Jump Rope, go outside and do some sprint intervals.

This is just an example of how you could set up your exercise week. No you don't have to workout 6 days a week this is just an example. You should set up your workout to your conditioning level. Keep your workouts short 45 minutes(for weight training) 20 minutes and under(for kettlebells and Intervals).

Like I said sometimes I feel like doing something in particular so I do it.

I guess in a round about way what I'm saying is if you say to yourself I am weight training today but I really feel like doing Intervals than do Intervals that day. You are motivated to do intervals not weight train that day. Chances are if you say I have to (instead of I want to) weight train you probably won't even make it through your workout.

Use this article as your guide. As I mentioned change out exercises for variety. Keep the workouts short (not only saves time but also helps keep you motivated). At my new web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts we talk about all kinds of different exercises and workouts you can do. We also talk about nutrition and healthy eating, motivation and goal setting. Stop by and check it out.

Check out my new web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts for more workout and diet articles. Thanks Joe

The Fat Burning Or Fat Storage Process Of Your Body

How Fat Loss Happens


The overweight and obesity problem in this country is running rampant, one problem you may have in trying to deal with it is information overload. The internet is full of the latest and greatest fad diets and quickie weight loss products. What you need is a basic understanding of how fat loss happens in your body. Learn the basics and you can in a safe and healthy way reach your fat loss goals.

Fat loss first and foremost is a hormonal event, the right hormones telling the body to release the stored “energy” in the fat cells to burn off. It is also important to know that there are also fat “storing” hormones that act in the opposite way, triggering the body to store “future energy” into the fat cells. The body triggers these hormones through many different stimulus like food, drink, exercise, stress and sleep.

Fat cells are just the body’s emergency storage tanks afterall. If we didn’t have fat cells, we wouldn’t have survived the famines of the past. It’s a built-in survival mechanism that is getting all the wrong signals today. The body wasn’t designed around constant intake of food, especially the processed and high in sugar kind. (as that is not something that naturally grows on trees!)

So we know that fat loss is hormonal. Also fat loss occurs when oxygen is present, what is known as aerobic. (which means with oxygen) The other stage is called anaerobic (without oxygen). Anaerobic training is also known more commonly as strength training.

This is the confusing part with exercise. Most people think that by doing aerobics you burn all the fat you want. Well if that was true we would all have single digit body fat levels from the 1980's aerobics craze. There is no guarantee for fat burning. What about stored glycogen? Plus if you can burn fat in an aerobic state, well aren’t you in an aerobic state all day long (minus brief times of anaerobic activity) including sleeping? So you have the ability to burn fat all day long! The only thing left is the hormones and whether they are emptying or storing.

Learning to empty the fat stores are the key!

The Fat loss hormones are insulin, glucagon, and growth hormone (GH). Insulin is a fat storing hormone, while glucagon and GH are fat burning hormones. If insulin is high, the other hormones go down (this is an important relationship to realize). Another hormone called cortisol (stress hormone) is a muscle breakdown hormone… not something we want in our fat loss quest.

Below are quick and easy points on how to maximize the fat burning hormones and minimize the muscle breakdown/fat storing hormones (not all muscle breakdown is bad, you need to break down and rebuild the cells it’s when you have excessive breakdown and minimal rebuilding that is the issue as that will lead to a loss of muscle).

Your #1 enemy, Sugar

Everything you put into your mouth counts! Why is sugar bad? Because sugar will be quickly absorbed into the blood which causes a spike in your blood sugar and with that spike the body releases insulin to take care of it (shuttle excessive blood sugar into the fat cells for storage!). Every time you put sugar into your mouth your telling your body let's store some fat and that is exactly the hormonal signal you are giving it. Remember also when insulin is high, glucagon and GH go down.

So for fat loss:

•Minimize insulin levels thoughout the day (no high levels/spikes except during the post workout window when the insulin sensitivity is maximum, it goes into muscle not fat)

•Maximize Glucagon (which is directly inversely proportional to insulin levels)

•Maximum GH (which is controlled by insulin, exercise response and sleep)

•Keep Cortisol in check (you will have some, but excessive will lead to muscle loss)
For Insulin control (and max Glucagon response):

•Keep levels low by not eating sugar or foods that quickly break down into the bloodstream (any processed foods)

•Have protein with every meal (as that will slow down the digestion of any sugars). Also protein intake stimulates the release of glucagon.

•Improve insulin sensitivity with glycogen draining exercise (weight training) which will in turn reduce your insulin resistance (which is one of the biggest reasons for obesity and a serious increase of risks for many other diseases including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, accelerated aging and more!)

For max GH response:

•Most of your daily GH is released in the first couple hours of sleep at night (75%) . Keep your insulin levels low (which means no big meals or sugar 2-3 hours before bed). So get your sleep, shorting yourself of sleep will hurt your fat loss efforts and may lead to weight gain from improper hormonal responses.

•Exercise with Intensity, whether it is weight training with short rest periods or doing interval training. Short burst of anaerobic intense exercise (lactic acid burn) will signal the body to release GH. Long aerobic activities (jogging, etc) will NOT. (The old argument of look at the body composition of a sprinter vs the marathon runner…the sprinter has more muscle and very low bf%, the marathon runner has little muscle and a higher bf% even if they look smaller).

•Exercise in a fasted state has also shown to increase GH levels (make sure you have enough energy to get through your workout, have a small meal 1-2 hours before).

Minimize excessive Cortisol:

•Keep all intense strength or cardio exercise under 45min (remember we want to increase the intensity in a short period, not the duration, less is more). Anything longer will just start wasting muscle as fuel.

•Relax, don’t stress the small stuff. Get perspective on things in your life, and detach from things that really don’t matter.

So if you can master these small steps, you will see tremendous changes. Remember that fat loss is an all day event! So eat and live your life that way! Don’t worry about how many calories you burn doing something, because that is not the point. Worry about what you eat all day and how your hormones are going to react to it. Eat the foods your body was meant to eat and live the active lifestyle your body was designed for….and you will have increased health, look great, feel great and hopefully live long and stay active. So….to sum up:

85% of fat loss is nutrition (not how many calories you can burn doing something) and you have the ability to burn fat all day long if your hormones tell your body to do so.

Eat whole natural foods (not processed), avoid all sugars (foods and drinks), have protein with every meal

Train your fast twitch muscles with weight training 2-3x a week and do interval training 2-3 times a week. Do something active everyday.

Stop stressing out, take some deep breaths, get outside to relax and get your sleep.

Flatten Your Abs And Tighten Your Butt

A Fast Track Fat Burning Workout To Flatten Your Abs

Imagine looking in the mirror in a few short weeks and you have not only lost__?__lbs of fat(fill in the blank) but you now have that six pack abs look!

Here is a fast track fat burning workout(no marathon aerobic workouts here). What you will need is 1 kettlebell and your bodyweight that's it.

Most of us tend to store fat, at least partially, in our abdominal area. This is one of the most stubborn places to lose fat from. But in trying to flatten your abs have you taken the best and fastest approach?

Are you using total body exercises in your fat burning workouts? Yeah I didn't think so.


Rule#1 If you want to flatten your abs, firm your butt, gain lean muscle, whatever, the most effective and efficient way is with total body fat burning exercises! Hands down.

What I am going to share with you here is not only the fast track approach to fat burning and to flatten your abs, but how to shape and tone your entire body.

Here are 3 total body fat burning exercises you can easily do at home to help flatten your abs and burn fat fast.

1) Mountain Climbers

Start in push-up position. Brace your abs bring on knee towards your chest. Return the knee to the starting position and repeat for the other knee. Do this in a swift tempo as though you are running.

2) Burpees

Stand up in a normal position. squat down. Put your hands on the floor and throw your feet back so you are in the push-up position. Do a push-up(if your conditioning allows) return to starting position. Yeah you got it the old squat thrust from high school.

3) Kettlebell Swing (No kettlebell? Get one or use a dumbbell)

Stand up straight with your feet just slightly wider than your shoulders while holding one kettlebell(we are doing a two handed kettlebell swing). Flex at the hips as you swing the kettlebell between your legs. Then quickly and explosively flex your butt and swing the kettlebell up to chest level. Perform the kettlebell swing for about 10 reps.

After you have finished with the kettlebell Swing, rest for about 20 to 30 seconds(adjust your rest times to your conditioning level). Then start again and do the whole fat burning circuit as many times as you can in 15 minutes.

Do this circuit of total body fat burning exercises 2-3 times a week. On off days from your weight training workouts. You are weight training aren't you? No! Start!

Make this a regular workout and in a short amount of time(along with a healthy eating plan) and that six pack abs look will be yours.

Remember total body fat burning exercises like I have just showed you are the fast track to get that six pack abs look.

Total Body Workouts; Get a Firm Butt, Slender Tighs And Tight Abs

Total Body Workouts Get A Firm Butt, Slender Thighs And Tight Abs


Total body workouts forget any thoughts or information you read about spot reducing. Spot reducing doesn't work end of story. The only way to get a firm butt, slender thighs, tight abs and get rid of that saggy arm fat is by training your whole body each workout.

Weight training, kettlebell training, interval training, bodyweight exercises and eating healthy are your keys. In this article I am going to concentrate on the training and workouts for total body conditioning. In other articles we will look at healthy eating for lean muscle gain, fat loss and increasing your energy.

By using total body workouts you will not only get faster and much better results (inlean muscle gains and fat loss) but your workouts will be much shorter. At home or at the gym wherever you workout your workouts should take you at most 40 minutes.

If you are spending more than 40 minutes you are probably not working out at the proper intensity level. Your weight training workouts will probably be the longest in terms of time. But this can also be shortened by cutting down your rest time in-between sets.

I am a big believer in variety in workouts. By variety I mean using all the training systems I mentioned above.

Let me give you a rundown on the 4 training sytems for total body workouts.


There’s different ways to build strength, add lean muscle and lose fat:

Today a begginner bodyweight only total body workouts.

• Bodyweight Exercises. Master your own bodyweight first. Pushups, pullups, situps,
squats, etc are the best place to start. Bodyweight workouts are what I would advise to anyone who is just starting an exercise program.

Here is a begginning Bodyweight program for total body workouts:
1) Prisoner Squats
2) Push-ups
3) Burpees

Stay with this 3-4 days a week for 1-2 weeks. I want you to just get your body and conditioning level ready to take on more diffucult workouts. Work up to 3-4 sets for 8-10 reps. As a beginner if you think 2 weeks isn't enough stay on it longer you will know when its time to move on.

Coming in future articles I'll be covering the following and more.


* Weight Training. Using free weights, barbell training specifically. You can build a
massive amount of strength,lean muscle and achieve great fat loss results with just a simple set of weights.

When doing Weight training Compound exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Presses, etc build the most strength, lean muscle and is still the best method for fat loss.
most strength the fastest.

* Kettlebell Training You can train at home, or go outside and get some fresh air. Kettlebell training is a form of training that will not only improve the appearance of your physique, it will give you strength and mental toughness that you did not know was even possible.

* Interval Training What most people don’t know is that intervals are the best cardio method for fat loss. An interval is a short period of exercise performed at a given intensity for a specific length of time. Each interval is separated from the next interval by a short rest or lighter activity. Intervals continue to burn calories and fat after the training session, and that’s something you won’t get from slower, longer sessions of cardio.


Total Body Workouts get A Firm Butt, Slender Thighs And Tight Abs Oh and I almost forgot get rid of that saggy arm fat!

How To Get That Six Pack Abs Look For The Busy Woman

How To Get That Six Pack Abs Look. What do I mean when I say that? It's simple the six pack abs look is just what we talk about here. Tight fat free abs, a firm and shapely butt, slender thighs and just a gererally firm toned healthy body.

Today we are talking to Mike Geary of The Truth About Six Pack Abs program. So this is just about getting six pack abs? Yes and No. Mike teaches total body workouts which I love. Why? If you are looking to lose fat( how to get that six pack abs look!) or looking to add more muscle total body workouts are not only Efficient but highly Effective.

Okay hopefully I cleared up what how to get that six pack abs look means so lets talk to Mike.

JG: Let's get right down to it. Everyone wants a flat set of 6-pack abs, yet very few people ever achieve that goal. Why do you think there's so much confusion on the subject? Is it really all that complicated of a process?

MG: You know, it's really NOT that complicated... However, with that said, to get your body fat % low enough to really see a nice set of abs, it does take a decent amount of discipline with your food intake as well as a whole new level of intensity with your workouts than what most people are used to. The thing is, most of my clients always comment that the style of eating that I recommend is actually fun, and they feel more energy due to the more natural unprocessed healthy foods they're eating and more balanced blood sugar and hormone levels in their body.

The problem is that there's so much conflicting advice out there these days, it leads the average joe or jane to over-complicate things and end up totally confused about what's the best way to train and eat for six pack abs.


JG: You've said before that abdominal exercises such as crunches and situps are extremely ineffective when it comes to achieving a flat stomach, and that they can actually make your stomach look WORSE. Can you elaborate on that?

MG: Sure... First of all, let me make clear that I'm not saying that you shouldn't do any abs-specific exercises. Rather, my point of contention is that most people spend WAY too much time focusing all of their efforts on abs-specific exercises, instead of focusing their efforts on more effective total body workouts and exercises that stimulate a much greater fat-burning and muscle building hormonal response, burn more calories, stimulate the metabolism to a higher extent, and also indirectly work the abs to a decent degree anyway.

Let me give an example of how many people typically waste too much time on abs-specific exercises...

A lot of times I see the average joe or jane spending about 15-30 minutes of their total workout just doing tons of pointless repetitions of crunches, situps, leg raises, or some other "abs pumping" exercise. Many times this comes out to almost HALF of their entire time working out.

My point here is that this type of excessive abs training is really a waste of time training a relatively small muscle group such as the abs, when that time could have been better spent on total body workouts using exercises such as squats, deadlifts, clean & presses, lunges, upper body presses and pulls, dumbbell swings, snatches, etc, etc. Compared to spending that time doing abs exercises, all of the above types of exercises will give you magnitudes more results in terms of hormonal response, metabolism increase, calorie burning, etc... all while indirectly working the abs to an extent anyway.

After focusing the majority of your workout efforts on those types of more effective total body workouts and exercises, then it's ok to spend about 5-7 minutes directly training the abs with abs-specific exercises... but the point I'd like to make is that abs training should only be a small portion of your training program as a whole, and not the majority of it.

Also, back to the topic of crunches and situps in particular... Once you've got a decent amount of abdominal training under your belt, crunches tend to be one of the least effective ab strengthening exercises since they are actually a fairly low-resistance exercise. An example of a higher resistance abs exercise would be a hanging leg raise with a proper pelvic curl-up (different than what you see most people doing in the gyms, where they only raise their knees up).

JG: How often do you recommend an individual train their abdominals on a weekly basis? Is basic, straightforward training the best protocol, or are there advanced ab training techniques that will yield better results?

MG: I usually recommend incorporating abs-specific training into your routines about twice/week, and 5-7 minutes per workout. Remember though that you're also getting indirect ab work through most of the total body workouts that should be comprising the majority of your workout time.

Beyond the typical leg raises, ab bicycles, hip thrusts, ab pikes, crunches, etc... there are definitely ways that you can take your abs to a new level that most people don't even think of. For example, some of the best abs exercises aren't usually viewed as abs exercises at all...

A couple examples that come to mind are front squats, renegade dumbbell rows, mountain climbers, 1-arm snatches, and others. Front squats are typically viewed as just a leg exercise, but if you've ever learned to do a proper front squat, you'll feel a tremendous stabilization tension required in your abs due to the weight being shifting more to the front of your body compared to the back as in back squats. If you haven't done front squats in a while, or are just learning them, I guarantee if you do a few sets of them, your abs will be feeling it big time the next day!

Renegade rows are another example of an exercise that's typically just viewed as an upper back exercise. However, while you're rowing a dumbbell up from a pushup position while stabilizing your body with your other arm, there is an insane amount of tension and stabilization strength required in your entire abs/core area. This is another exercise that really surprises people at how much they feel it in their abs.

So there you have it How to get that six pack abs look. Total body workouts not only to tighten up those abs but lose body fat, get a firm butt, slender thighs and add some lean muscle.

Get Shapely,Slender Thighs And A Firm Butt With These 4 Exercises

How you are going to have slender shapely thighs and have a firm butt with incredible shape. If you are willing to put in the time and effort with the exercises I am about to show you that new body you desire is within reach.

Many people have the top goal of achieving a set of six pack abs, your primary goal might be strengthening, slimming and toning your legs and and having a firmer butt , giving your lower body a curvier and more shapely, yet still muscular appearance.

When your body shows good tone and definition, it really enhances your the overall image, making it well worth your time and effort.

In order to maximize both the strength potential and appearance of your leg and glute muscles, there are some key exercises you will want to focus on.

By doing so, you'll be sure you're getting the most for your time spent as well as see the quickest results possible - because no one wants to spend more time doing leg workouts than they have to.

Exercise# 1 Full Squats

One of the biggest mistakes that women make when doing the squat exercise is shorting themselves of the full movement. Most times women (and men) don't go low enough on squats. When doing your squats make sure you are going down below parrallel

The primary reason being it's those last few inches at the very bottom of the squat where you're really going to call the hamstrings and glutes into play, contracting the muscles to maximum tension.


Exercise #2 One Leg Split Squat

Another exercise that's fantastic for hitting those glute muscles while giving your behind a very curved and attractive appearance is split squats. To perform this one you simply place one leg up on a bench or box behind you, while standing on the other leg straight underneath you.



Hold either a pair of dumbbells at your side or else have a barbell resting across your back and then slowly bend the leg you're standing on to move into the squat position.


To add a little extra intensity to this movement once you've got the basic squat down, try pausing for a second at the bottom before lifting upwards. Once you're comfortable with this, then take a second pause half way through the upwards portion, and then rise back up to the full standing position.

Try and go as low as you can comfortably, and then straighten the leg again until you're at the top of the position.

After you've finished all your reps on that side, you then repeat the exercise standing on the other foot. Note also with this exercise that the further your standing foot is from the leg behind you, the more you will work the hamstring muscles while if it's directly underneath the center of balance, you'll target your quads more.

Exercise #3 Romanian Deadlifts

Next up on the list are romanian deadlifts where your feet are slightly raised upon a block or board. Having this extra flexion with the foot will put slightly more tension on the hamstring and butt muscles, upping the intensity of the exercise.

Note that if your aim is primary strength development, you may want to go without the block as you will likely lift more weight, but if you aren't as concerned with max strength and more focused on just defining the muscles, this is a good variation to incorporate into your program.

Exercise #4 Box Step Ups

Finally, the last exercise you can do to target the legs and glutes are box step ups.

These will promote the development of the quads nicely, so they will be a good addition to the deadlifts just mentioned above.

To perform this exercise you basically just stand right behind a box or bench, while either holding a set of dumbbells or while resting a barbell across your back, they also can be done with just your bodyweight.

From there, place one leg directly up on top of the box and use that leg to pull the other one up to meet it.

Once you're at the top, you have the option of stepping down with the other leg leading now, or stepping down in the same manner you stepped up.

Whichever method you choose to use, be sure you then switch feet after the set is completed, so you balance the tension placed over both the legs.


Well there you are 4 exercises to get you that firm butt, slender thighs and tight abs.

What's that? Oh what do these exercises have to do with getting tight abs?

Squats (of all forms) when done correctly and with proper form are a great ab exercise. Want six pack abs? Work your squats and see what I mean.

Okay that's it for today. The rest is up to you.

SEE ALSO

Firm Butt Slender Thighs And Tight Abs for more exercises and workout information