Fit Body Form

Want to build a body with the look of your dreams, but not sure where to start? Everyone has their own vision of what a nice body looks like, and that’s okay. But no matter what you want to look like, keeping your body healthy, fit, and strong is an important part of living well.

1. • Do cardio for at least 150 minutes a week.
     Aerobic activity burns fat and gives you an athletic appearance. Cardio is an essential part of a healthy body and working towards a nicer body. Through cardio, you’ll gain endurance and energy, making your body feel and look more active. Over time, it can also be both fun and relaxing. Steady-state cardio might look like a 30-60 minute jog or light-to-medium intensity work on a stair or rowing machine. Cardio supports healthy weight goals, improves blood pressure and blood sugar, decreases your risk for heart disease and stroke, improves sleeping habits, and elevates your mood. Your 150 minutes of aerobic activity might look like walking briskly, an easy bike ride, or just spending time cleaning the house.

1. • Practice strength training 2-3 days a week.
     Strength training gets you a lean, powerful build. Strength or resistance training with weights isn’t just for bodybuilders: it strengthens your muscles and increases your metabolism, letting you burn more calories at rest. Although hitting weights can feel intimidating, you’ll get the hang of it soon, and can tone, tighten, and define your muscles. It’s typically recommended to do anywhere from 2-3 days of strength training each week. Do exercises that workout each major muscle group in your body, like your arms, legs, core, and back. Try doing bicep curls to target your arms. Perform weighted squats to work your legs and glutes. Try renegade rows to strengthen your core and abs.

1. • Do bodyweight exercises when you can’t hit the gym.
     Bodyweight exercises sculpt your body without requiring fancy equipment. To meet your 2-3 time a week strength training guideline, you never have to leave the house. Some of the best exercises you can do to get a toned or shredded body fast can be done with just your own body weight. By increasing the amount of repetitions you do for each exercise, you build up greater strength. Get into the habit of doing some of these extremely effective exercises a few times a week, especially when you can’t make it to the gym:^[6]Doing push ups, which work out your chest, shoulders, and arms. Performing squats, strengthening your glutes and the rest of your lower body. Doing pullups, which work out your back and the rest of your body. Performing crunches, which are a great ab workout. Holding a plank, which builds your core strength.

1. • Vary your exercise routine with HIIT workouts. HIIT workouts keep your body transformation journey exciting. HIIT workouts, or high-intensity interval training, have become praised as an especially efficient workout. They’re best done in combination with traditional cardio and strength training. HIIT workouts are interval training exercises that alternate between very high-intensity exercises and moderate-intensity exercises, strengthening muscles and burning fat.. These types of workouts burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time, especially calories from fat, and have been shown to keep your metabolism raised long after the workout was completed. Although HIIT workout classes are popular, you can also do HIIT at home.

1. • Take a rest day at least once a week. Rest days are crucial if you want to see any progress. If you want your hard work in the gym to pay off, you’ll need to give your muscles a chance to relax and recover. It’s during this recovery time that your muscles will become stronger after a workout. You can either take a complete rest day, which means no exercise at all, or an active rest day, which might include a light jog or some stretching.^[10]The amount of rest days you should take depends on your training regimen. If you’re looking to bulk up with big muscles, you’ll probably need to take more rest days each week to give your muscles time to grow.

1. • Eat a balanced and nutritious diet. Your diet is the foundation that keeps you healthy and strong. Maintain a balanced diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, and protein sources like fish, poultry, beans, eggs, and nuts. This sort of diet gives you an excellent balance of food types that will keep you well-energized, healthy, and strong. Best of all, this kind of food lends itself to all kinds of tasty meals. While you don’t need to avoid them completely, processed foods like pastries, candy, processed meats, and chips tend to get in the way of your body goals. If you’re trying to build muscle, be sure that you’re getting plenty of lean protein from sources like chicken, eggs, fish, or tofu.