Our body’s a temple and we should take the best possible care of it. It’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle through our diet and fitness. I don’t know about you, but I want to be a fit girl with lean, sexy muscles. I don’t find skinny sexy. It’s easy to be overwhelmed when trying to decide what are the best exercises for women. So to help save you from a headache, I’m sharing four total body exercises I perform every single time I go to the gym. Three of these exercises I try to perform daily.
1. Squats – I do not want a flat, pancake mom butt. I refuse to wear mom jeans showcasing a flat butt. I think we can all agree that a rounded derrière looks so much better and squatting away can give you the butt of your dreams. Did you know that squats don’t work just your quads and glutes, but also work your hamstrings, calves, lower back (pregnancy can really weaken your lower back) and your abs giving you a total body workout? To intensify your squats, add weights and you will burn even more calories. Today, I squatted 90 pounds! I’m so close to triple digits!
2. Planks – A basic ab plank is one of the best all-around ab exercises for building a strong core, beautiful posture and abs to die for. The plank is a fantastic total body strengthening exercise that engages muscles of the back, arms, shoulders and legs. With swimsuit season right around the corner, it’s time to plank daily!
3. Pull-Ups – My five-year-old niece can bust out an insane amount of pull-ups. Oh to have the strength of a young gymnast. I’ll be the first to admit that I was intimidated the first time I was at the gym and attempted the wimpiest pull-up ever seen. I’m currently performing assisted pull-ups until I have the upper body strength to do a pull-up on my own. I’m hoping to be able to do one pull-up on my own before summer arrives. I love pull-ups because they strengthen and sculpt your arm muscles, shoulders, back, and core with every rep. Pull-ups also builds muscle mass and muscle mass boosts your metabolism.
4. Push-Ups – I’ve added push-ups to my workout so I can create stunning sculpted arms, shoulders and chest. I’m doing “real” push-ups with my son to help him strengthen his elbow he broke when he was four-years-old. I can feel the burn the next day from my push-ups and can see a difference when I’m wearing tank tops and swimsuits which are an everyday staple here in Florida.
It’s easy for women to cop-out of doing exercises that are seen as manly in fear of gaining a man’s physique. I don’t know where or how we as women decided we should perform an insane amount of cardio to sculpt the body we dream of, but adding weight and strength exercises helps us burn fat and develop a lean, muscular body. One of the things I like most about all four of these exercises is that they are a total body workout. When an exercise works a variety of muscle groups, you’re getting an extra bang out of the time invested in your workout.
What are you favorite exercises?
