Toning exercises improve your physique, fitness and your cardio-vascular system.
Toning exercises that raise your heart rate are good for your cardio-vascular system, blood will be pumped around your system and your whole body will benefit.
Follow these toning exercise tips and watch 5 short videos to benefit your whole body.
Toned and supple muscles add to your quality of movement, you will become more balanced and therefore more
attractive.
It's a well known fact that if you keep your body toned and active you will slow down the aging process and you are
also less likely to become frail and weak as you grow older.
Toning Exercises Benefits
You will:
Be more balanced
Have long and toned muscles
Look younger
Improve your blood circulation
Improve your stamina
Be fitter and stronger
Streamline your body
Toning exercises
can be done with or without weights, depending on your present level of fitness.
I find starting a new exercise without weights is best, and then progress to using weights when you can do the exercises easily without them.
I found the York 10kg Vinyl Fitbell Kit in a Case
helpful when I first started toning exercises because
you get three sets of different weights in one kit. This means you can vary the weights according to the toning exercises
you're doing and it also means you can increase the resistance as you get stronger and
fitter. I found these weights ideal because they're easy to hold and use.
Do not over do it. A strained or pulled muscle will take time to heal and set your fitness program back. It’s always best to start slow and build up your strength and stamina as time goes on.
Always build on what you have already accomplished, pushing yourself just a little bit further every time you do your toning exercises.
Increase your weights as you
get stronger because toning exercises should never be easy to do. You
should challenge your body more each time you exercise.
Toning Exercises for Your Whole Body
Star Jumps
Star Jumps are an easy exercise to start with; this will help to increase your heart rate and stamina.
Begin by standing with feet together and arms
by your sides. Next, jump and land with your arms and legs outstretched so that your body forms an
X shape. Now jump again and bring your arms and legs back to their starting position i.e. feet together and arms
by your sides.
The best way to use star
jumps is to do the jumps for 1 minute and then march on the spot for 1
minute. If you can only manage 30 seconds then march on the spot for 30
seconds, repeat the star jumps and marching on the spot for a total of 4
minutes of star jumps.
Squats
Squats are good for upper
leg muscles, thighs, back and tummy muscles.
Begin with feet slightly more than shoulder width apart and hands on hips. Make sure your feet are at an angle, not pointing straight ahead. They should point in the same direction as your knees when you lower your body, so start with them pointing at ten
past ten on a clock face.
Bend at your knees and hips so that your
knees are over your feet and both your feet and knees are pointing in
the same direction. It is important that you have your weight in your
heels, not in your toes. To make sure you do this you must push your
backside out behind you as you go down, not too far or you may topple
over backwards.
For knee safety, your thighs should remain parallel to the floor do not go any lower than this, because you will put undue stress on your knee joints. Also, your knees should never protrude beyond your toes when you descend for the
same reason.
As you bend your knees and lower yourself into the squat position keep your torso upright and your back straight.
As you go down, raise your arms to shoulder level out in front of you. Stand up and place your hands back onto you hips.
If you find this too strenuous you can rest your palms on your thighs as
you go down and return them to your hips as you stand up again.
Aim for 10 squats, when you can do this
easily do your squats whilst holding a weight in each hand or a heavy
weight with both hands in front of you to increase the resistance (See
video on Fat Burning Exercise).
Jogging
Jogging on the spot is good for improving blood circulation by raising your heart rate and for toning up leg and tummy muscles.
I find it easier to do this toning exercise bare foot. Jogging on the spot can either be done with your hands on your hips or by pumping your arms in time with your legs as you would if you were jogging outside.
Put as much energy as you can into your jogging and aim to jog for 1 minute
and then march on the spot for 1 minute, repeat jogging and marching on
the spot 4 times. This is called interval training and it is a fat
burning exercise.
Pay close attention to your recovery time, the amount of time it takes
for your heart rate to return to normal after you have finished jogging on the spot. The more often you jog and the fitter you become your heart rate will return to normal quicker. Take care not to over do this toning exercise, progress slowly as your fitness levels and stamina increase.
Walking
You may also like these
walking videos part 1 and part 2. Follow along with an instructor as she
shows you a walking workout you can do indoors.
Fitness Stepper - Use a fitness stepper to tone up buttocks, thighs, hips, stomach and arms with a workout in the comfort of your own home. This method of exercise has an average calorie-burn rate of 500 per
hour and the harder you work, the better the results.
You can use it as much or as little as you like; that’s the beauty of a stepper. For maximum results though, you should strive to keep to a twenty-minute daily workout. This will ensure that you're burning enough calories to encourage as much muscle toning and weight loss as possible.
Before any workout I like to go through a series of twisting, stretching and bending
with these toning exercises to warm up.
Touch your toes with alternate hands. Stand with feet slightly more than hip width apart,
swing one arm backwards in an arc, raise it above your head, over
the top and down in front of you, bending right down to touch the floor between your feet or if you can touch your toes. As you raise your arm really try to stretch up to your full height before bending down, try not to bend your legs at the knees, if you can only reach your shins then keep practicing until you can bend all the way down. Repeat this exercise 20 times.
Touch your toes with both hands together. This is a similar exercise to the one above but in this exercise you raise both arms together and then bend down and touch your toes or the floor with both hands at the same time. This will help to tone up muscles at the back of your legs but if they are tight you may have to practice this until your can do it properly. An extension of this exercise is to walk your hands away from your feet and then back again. Repeat this exercise 20 times.
Twist at the waist. Stand with your feet hip width apart and raise both arms out sideways level with your shoulders. Now slowly turn your upper body to the right so that your arms rotate but your hips and pelvis stay facing the front. Return to your starting position and the turn to the left. Twisting from the waist will help to give you a slimmer, shapelier waist. Repeat this 10 times.
Side Stretch. Stand with your feet a little more than hip width apart and raise your right arm above your head so that it is pointing straight up next to your right ear. Put your left hand on your left hip. Now lean your hips to the right and stretch
through your right side so that your upper body curves over to the left and you feel all the muscles down your right side lengthen into the stretch. Repeat on the other side and then repeat these two exercises 10 times.
Leg Stretch. Stand with your feet slightly more than hip width apart and turn your body to the right so that you have one foot in front of you and one foot behind you. Step forward with your right leg keeping your torso midway between your
feet and place your hands on your hips. Bend both knees and slowly lower your body towards the floor so that your left knee almost touches it.
Do not let your right knee go in front of your right foot. Hold for the count of
fifteen, gently bounce your body up and down in time with counting. Straighten up but keep your feet exactly where they are and turn all the way round to your left so that you can repeat the whole exercise on the other side.
Leg
Lunges. Watch these short videos to see how to do leg lunges
properly:
Toning
Exercise Video
1: How to Do Front
Lunges
Toning
Exercise Video
2: How to Do Walking Lunges
Toning
Exercise Video
3: How to Do Side Lunges
Toning
Exercise Video
4: How to Do Plyometric Lunges (More Advanced)
These toning exercises will improve your balance and flexibility as well as help you to tone up your body. Do these
toning exercises everyday as a warm up before you do your workout routine and you will soon see results.
Toning Exercises After
Pregnancy
If you can spare about 15 minutes a day to have a flat stomach after pregnancy and transform your figure back to how it used to
be then you should start working out at home with the Fit Yummy Mummy Home Workout Plan.
Don’t be fooled into thinking you can get a flat stomach
by doing 15 minute easy workouts. This fitness program isn’t a push over. The
toning exercises and intervals are flat out challenging but so worth it!
If you want a flat stomach
again then Fit Yummy Mummy Home Workout Plan is a quality fitness program that is specifically designed for busy mums looking after children.
These toning exercises are suitable for women of all ages and you don't
have to have had a baby to benefit from the flat stomach exercises.
How fast you tone up depends on how often you do toning exercises and how unfit you are now.
For the best results you should aim to do toning exercises three times a week and alternate the days with resistance training. For instance, do resistance training with weights
Monday, Wednesday and Friday and do toning exercises Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday with Sunday as a day off.
If you commit yourself and set aside time
every week you should see a marked improvement in your body shape and tone in as little as four weeks. You will actually feel fitter and more energetic after just a few days of doing toning exercises.
If you feel you are getting nowhere it is time to change the way you workout. Working out to be busy will NOT get you results. Productive workouts on the other hand - not only leave you feeling energized, excited to workout and stronger.....they actually GET YOU RESULTS!
Information provided on Beauty-Secrets4U is for your general knowledge only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should consult your doctor with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your
health.
helpful when I first started toning exercises because
you get three sets of different weights in one kit. This means you can vary the weights according to the toning exercises
you're doing and it also means you can increase the resistance as you get stronger and
fitter. I found these weights ideal because they're easy to hold and use.
, it could be the solution
you've been looking for.
