Bikini Body Breakdown
With bikini season looming, if the sight of your not-yet-ready for summer body is sending shivers down your spine, it may be time to consider a speedy, multi-tasking fitness routine that will target specific problem areas whilst building up stamina and overall body fitness. Alongside chemistdirect.co.uk, Celebrity Fitness Trainer Dee Thresher has developed an easy to follow programme to get your body bikini ready, enhancing your body shape and toning your contours in just four weeks to really help women to look as best as they know they can on the beach this summer.
Dee advises: "The best way to tone the body is to strengthen muscles and to really make a difference to body mass, it's also important to include cardiovascular exercise. This means 'heart and lungs'. You need to get breathless for 30 minutes at least 3-5 times per week to 'fat burn'. Cardio exercise can be any of the following: walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, trampolining or rowing. My routine targets specific bikini body issues with simple exercises to get you ready for your summer holidays."
Problem Area – Bingo Wings
These occur when the triceps area becomes un-toned or loose skin has pulled away from the muscle causing it to sag. For most people banishing bingo wings is a case of toning up the tricep muscle. Try these two exercises:Tricep Dip:
• Use two filled water bottles as hand-weights
• Using a coffee table or a chair, place fingers in line with shoulders and your bottom close to the table
• Bend and straighten the arms targeting the back of the upper arm
• Repeat 12 times
Arm & Chest Press Up:
• Place your hands on the floor just wider than your shoulders
• Angle the body in a diagonal with your bottom below the shoulders
• Keep knees on the floor and tummy pulled in tight with a strong back
• Lower and lift by bending your arms taking your chest as close to the floor as you can.
• Do 12 repetitions
Problem Area - Sagging Bottom
A sagging behind is one of the most common bikini worries, but the good news is this large muscle responds quickly to exercise and targeted toning can dramatically help change the shape of your saddlebags.Butt Lifts:
• Lie down on your back with knees bent and feet on the floor hip width apart
• Lift hips off the floor to create a ‘bridge’ position
• Take right leg off the floor and hold foot up towards the ceiling
• Pulse hips up and down
• Do 20 repetitions then swap to the left leg
Problem Area: Wobbly Thighs
Where you gain body fat is purely how your body responds to excess calories and for many women their thighs show the first signs of excess fat accumulation. Tone and tighten those thighs with this exercise:Wobble Reducer:
• Lie on your side with hips stacked on top of each other
• Keep our bottom leg bent out behind you
• Extend the top leg and hold it just higher than hip level
• Pulse the leg 20 times up and down
• Repeat on the other side
Problem Area: Muffin Top
Flabby tummy fears are heightened during the summer months but even slim women can have a muffin top because it's not just a case of being overweight. Having children and getting older can change our body shape, leading to wider hips and a less than firm tummy. These three exercises target and strengthen the ‘corset muscle’ or internal abdominals leaving you with a flatter tummy and smaller waist:Muffin Top Work Out:
• Lie down on your back keeping shoulders on the floor
• Place your fingers by your temples with your elbows wide
• Drop knees to one side and lift and lower the shoulders
• As you raise your shoulders off the floor lift and lower your top leg
• Repeat 20 times
Muffin Top Work Out 2:
• Use a hand weight or filled water bottle
• Lie on your back
• Lift both legs off the floor
• If possible lift your head off the floor also
• Holding a hand weight, scissor your legs then start to pass the weight through your legs in a figure of 8 motion.
• Do up to 40 repetitions
The Plank:
• Lie down on your tummy
• Place elbows with arms bent into the side of the body
• Use your hands to lift up onto your knees keeping elbows under shoulders and bottom below shoulders
• Imagine breathing your stomach back to your spine and hold for 5-10 breaths
• To advance this exercise, come up onto your toes and hold.
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