In this write-up, the second of a 2 piece
article, we continue our discussion on what you need to do in order to get that perfect Bikini Body.
Exercise
Now comes exercise, the other essential in
any Bikini Body workout or program. What to do, how to do it. How long to do it
for.
30 minutes of Cardio 3-5 times a week has
been recommended. Whether you go for 3, 4 or 5 times may depend on your goals,
but personally, I would start with 3 times so has not to do too much too soon
and become discouraged when you are not able to meet up with the demand.
Examples of cardio include running, biking, walking, jogging, hiking, indoor
aerobics etc. These type of exercises tend to leave you breathing deeply while
you are doing them. They improve heart health and increase the metabolic rate
even after the exercise is done.
There are other tips that will help you in
this aspect of the program, namely; exercise with a friend. This will enable
you to stay motivated especially if that friend is aware of your exercise
goals.
Make it enjoyable. Pick an exercise you like.
If you like jogging, go for that. If your thing is more like sports, then you
might prefer the front yard basketball work out, squash or tennis ball
knock-about to, say the aerobics course. This way there is a greater tendency
that you will persist in it.
In addition it is a good idea for you to also
join an exercise gym? Why? Simple, being around other people will not only keep
you motivated, the fact that you are paying for that gym membership will also
make you feel duty-bound to stay the course.
Make simple life style changes. What do I
mean? Okay, so if I was to take a brief look at the itinerary of some of us, Im
sure even I may come away feeling slightly overwhelmed. One likely reason for
that could be because it is activity filled. This inadvertently may not give
room or time for you to do a formal exercise.
The way to get around that is to
integrate exercise into your lifestyle or daily routine. So for example instead
of driving to your local grocery store for a newspaper every Saturday morning
why not rather stroll there. Instead of taking the lift in your office in the
morning, why not take the stairs. Or what about cleaning the house, raking or
mowing the lawn or some other activity that requires you to be on your feet and
moving.
Toning Up.
What's that all about? Well, when people say
they want to tone up, what they mean is that they want to lose fat and add a
little muscle so that they look lean and strong but without adding so much
muscle that they look like a body builder. You should aim to achieve this by
doing yoga, Pilates or other total body toning exercises. These will improve
posture, flexibility and mood.
Secondly you should look to toning up your
arms. You can do this by doing push ups and lifting weights. 10-20 reps is
good. Experts aver that resistance chosen is too light when you are able to do
more than that and too heavy when you perform less.
When it comes to work outs, though others
defer, it is advised that you should avoid crunches since this can damage the
spinal disks. From experience, sit ups have been found to be quite effective
though.
It is also advised that you strengthen your
legs by doing exercises like lunges, squats which will also help you tone your
butt. The use of a stationary bike will help achieve similar results.
Staying Motivated
Finally staying motivated is essential to
staying on track and meeting those set goals. So important is this that I have
devoted a whole part or segment to it. So how do you stay motivated? First
things first, you should keep a food and exercise journal. This will help you
to record and keep track of your progress and alert you when you are slacking
and need to rev up again. Importantly since you can see the progression of your
improvement, it would spur you on towards your target.
Also it has been found
that keeping track of what you eat will enable you do better at losing weight
than people who don't. The same applies to exercise.
Further you should find a weight loss partner.
Somebody who like you has weight loss goals. You will be able to encourage each
other, and stimulate a healthy competitive drive when motivation levels are
low. This means you will likely be out exercising together and getting feedback
and motivation drives from off each other.
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