Ultimate Resistance Training Exercises – For Toning Muscle

You’ve been eating healthy. You’ve been doing your cardio exercise. You’ve been good, but for some how, you’re still not content with your appearance. You’re at or near your goal weight, but you still don’t look like that picture of that guy on the wall at the gym.

Now you need to start your ultimate weight training exercises. The exercises that use weights, which target specific muscle groups, toning and building the muscle you have.

Be aware, however, this is not attack specific fat areas on your body. Spot reduction doesn’t work.  Dieting and aerobic exercise should have already decreased the amount of fat in your body. The goal here is to tone your muscles. Here are some difficult areas you can go after and the way to do it; safely and easily.

* Arms: Stand up straight with your feet about hip width apart.  Grab a five pound dumbbell (a bag of flour in a shopping bag works well).  Start with your arms over your head, weight (or bag of flour) behind your head and slowly extend your elbow lift up until your arms are straight up and down. This triceps extension works your triceps and helps to get rid of that ‘granny flab’ on the back of your arms.

* Butt and legs:  Again, start with your feet slightly more than hip width apart. Keep your back straight and bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground.  Hold this position for a few seconds if you can and rise back up slowly. This squat works your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and calves.  This squat exercise works and tightens your butt and hamstring muscles (the muscles running down the back of your legs to your knees). If you continue the squat all the way down to the ground, you can target your quadriceps (the front of your thighs).

* Love handles: Now you’ve heard of crunches, sit ups, and a hundred other exercises for abdominal muscles. You’ve probably also heard that they are useless.  They are; at least for losing weight.

The most effective exercise you can do for toning your abs is total body resistance training.  Included in this is walking or running up hills, or some kinds of machines at a gym.

The key to toning muscles is not heavy weights, but instead lower weight with a higher number of repetitions.  If your goal is toning. it will do you more good to lift five or ten pounds 25 times than if you lifted 250 pounds once.

There are even programs available that show you how to lift weights quickly to raise your heart rate and get some fat reduction as well as muscle toning.  It is not easy and not always safe, no matter what anyone tells you.  Losing weight and shaping your body is possible, but you really need to be committed to a goal. Don’t give up!  You CAN do it!

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and should not be used or interpreted as such. You should always consult a medical professional before making drastic changes to your diet and physical exercise.

About the Author: Rod Watson, Certified Personal Trainer, http://WatsonPersonalTraining.com, Rod is a retired Navy Officer who is dedicated to help other improve their health and fitness level.  Need help getting started contact Rod at rod@TailoredWorkouts.com for a customized workout, tailored just for you.