Tone Your Legs In Time For Summer

Tone your legs workoutIt’s almost summertime which means it’s almost time for you to be ditching those long pants and start showing off your lean, toned legs. What? You don’t have nice toned legs? You are not alone.

The winter months tends to be an excuse for some of us to ditch our workouts, pack on a few pounds, and basically hibernate.

Well the time for hiding is over, and the time for flaunting is here! So if your legs are in need of a little tune up, start incorporating these 4 exercises into your workout routine and get your legs in summer-ready condition before the summer actually hits.

Learn To Love The Lateral Lunge

I have a love-hate relationship with lunges. I love how they make my legs look but I hate actually doing them, especially when I have to do a lot of them.

I’m sure I am not alone in this statement as lunges can really be a difficult exercise to power through, but there is no better exercise for toning your legs and glutes than lunges.

Simply step into a side lunge while making sure to keep both of your feet pointing forward. To ensure you are doing this exercise properly, bend your outside knee while keeping your inside knee straight.

This exercise alone will help you to dynamically exercise, target, and tone your abductors, adductors, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, hips, and quads. Push yourself to do 3 sets of 12 lateral lunges on each leg and make sure you feel that burn!

Simple Squats
It’s a staple in nearly every workout, so you know they’ve got to be good, right? Actually, squats help to target one of the biggest muscle groups in your body which ultimately helps you burn calories, and fat, more effectively.

To do a proper squat, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and bend at your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground.

Complete 3 sets of 12 squats and you will be tightening up your hamstrings, legs, quads, and your glutes. And for summer, a toned booty is necessary!

Squats With A Band

No, not a rock band, an elastic fitness band. To preform this variation on the simple squat, tie your elastic band around both your ankles. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and do you squat. Then to mix it up, take one step to the side and bring your feet back together standing shoulder width apart.

Do 3 sets of 12 side squats and you will be toning up your glutes, abductors, hamstrings, and quads. If you really want to feel the burn of this exercise, end each rep with a jump once you bring your feet back to the starting position and land in your squat position to start again. Not only will added jump help to work your muscles even more, but it will also help you burn more calories. It’s a win-win!

Feel Alive With Dead Lifts

Dead lifts are another exercise that is extremely effective in helping you to not only tone up your legs and glutes, but it also helps to work your upper body. Bonus!
Stand with your feet slightly further apart then shoulder width, holding your barbell or your hand weights in front of you.

Make sure to keep your back absolutely flat during this entire exercise, keep your shoulders back, weight in your heels, and be sure to also lower your weights as close to the floor as possible each time you do a rep.

Simply bend at the waist with a very slight bend in your knees, and as you lift the weight and straighten up, make sure you squeeze your glutes as tight as you can to get the full effect of the exercise.

Not only will you be targeting your leg muscles and your glutes but you will also tone your lower back and even your arms, making this exercise one of the most effective for getting in shape.

While these exercises help you to target and tone your legs and backside, if you want to speed up the process of toning one of the hardest areas of your body to tone, consider looking into the Flex Mini . The Flex Mini helps to tighten the backs of your thighs, and gradually gain a more shapely booty. Something I know my fellow ladies love!

Putting It All Together

Finally, while working out is a key factor in getting your legs in top summer shape, you must make sure you pair your workouts with a healthy diet and lifestyle. That means cutting out the refined sugar, starches, bad-for-you carbs, getting a daily dose of heart-pumping cardio, and trying to stay away from alcohol as much as you can.

Ultimately, living a healthy lifestyle is all about balance and not depriving yourself until you hit your breaking point. We all need a scoop of ice cream at one point or another, so make sure you don’t beat yourself up too much if you fall off the wagon one day. Guilt is one of the worst ways to motivate yourself and a little indulging is okay in moderation. Just don’t use it as an excuse to indulge every day.

AUTHOR BIO:
Vanessa is a lifestyle blogging babe whose work can be found on websites all around cyberland, including reviews on Hydrolyze, as well as various other lifestyle brands. The best part about her job? She gets to help her readers live their best lives each and every day.

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Bootcamp Workouts – Exercises That Work

It is important that when doing any bootcamp workouts you make sure that you include a lot of different activities into the routine. If you don’t then you will soon get bored and of course will lose the motivation to stick with this fitness routine in order to achieve your desired results.

If you have structured your bootcamp workout properly then you will find that you burn a lot more calories a lot more quickly than you would do when you go for a run, do some aerobics or perform any other type of workout. One of the reasons for this is that you have to constantly switch positions and so this means you are working every muscle with each body weight exercise you do.

However if you were to say ride a bike or run or use an elliptical machine over time they become less effective. This because your body begins to carry out the movements without any thought and so your body then uses far less energy to perform them. In fact within a couple of weeks you will soon begin to notice that you aren’t burning off the calories or the fat as quickly as you did in the beginning.

Yet simply by going from doing some pushups to then doing some jumping jacks or squat thrusts requires you to use a great deal more energy. Also you have to use a lot more of your muscles as you have to constantly switch things up. The great thing about doing bootcamp workout exercises is that they give your whole body a workout and will allow you to burn fat faster even if you only do 20 to 30 minute sessions a few days each week.

The kinds of exercises that one should be doing when it comes to a bootcamp workout are as follows:

1. Push Up – This is the best type of exercise you can do for improving the condition of your chest, frontal shoulder and triceps. Plus it also works well on improving the condition of your core muscles.

2. Pull Ups or Chin Ups – These are the ones that need to be done to help improve your upper back muscles and are specifically designed to target your latissimus dorsi and bicep brachii muscles. When carrying out these exercises make sure that you brace your abdominal muscles correctly to ensure that the technique you use to pull yourself up is sound.

3. Squats – Of course this is the bootcamp workout exercise that you use to improve the condition of the muscles in your legs. This particular form of exercise used in bootcamp workouts today is one that is designed to train the quadriceps group of muscles as well as the glutes ones. Also you will find it helps to improve core stability so ensuring that your spine will be held in a neutral position.

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Boot Camp Exercises: How To Find The Best Fitness Boot Camp

If you’ve never taken the plunge before then you might wonder why anyone in their right mind would even consider fitness boot camp exercises. Boot camp training is not for everyone, but if you’re prepared to work at it then you could increase your self-confidence and lose weight with this style of fitness camp.

Outdoor fitness camps are incredibly motivational and you can have so much more fun at a fitness boot camp than you would have pounding away on a treadmill in a sweaty gym. From weekly weight loss camps and fitness weekends, right up to all-in fitness vacations and health holidays, the choice of boot camp exercises and locations is almost endless.

If you decide to spend your vacation working out and getting fit at a weight loss camp then your choices are only just beginning.

On a budget and looking for quick weight loss? Opt for a no-frills, military boot camp where you get whipped into shape, Drill Sergeant style, and sleep in shared dorm rooms. Or, if you prefer some creature comforts after your fitness training you could take the more comfortable route with luxury en-suite accommodation and maybe even a health spa.

You can even find a weight loss boot camp for a special occasion such as the bridal boot camp for brides-to-be who want to drop a dress size and look fabulous for their wedding day. Want to get in shape for Summer? How about a bikini boot camp, specifically designed to tone your abs before you bare all on the beach?

The options for boot camp exercises and activities are equally diverse with options including hiking, mountain biking, assault courses, and kayaking as well as the obligatory cross-training with push-ups, lunges, dips, squats, and running. Many fitness retreats also give you the option of slightly more gentle pursuits, utilizing Pilates equipment, yoga lessons and sometimes massage therapy.

Finally, you need to choose where you want your boot camp exercises to take place and in this respect the world really is your oyster. If you really want adventure you could book an activity vacation trekking to Everest base camp or workout with the stunning backdrop of Dracula’s castle in Romania. Why not kick-start a new fitness regime with a vacation somewhere that you’ve always wanted to go?

Whether you want your boot camp exercises an hour or a fortnight at a time, you’ll benefit from one to one consultations with a personal trainer, nutritional guidance and the support and motivation from the many new friends that you’ll make along the way.

Because there are so many alternatives, it’s important that you shop around and find the style of boot camp exercises that suit your level of fitness and your budget. Whichever option you choose you can be confident that you will gain a sense of achievement and be leaner and stronger before you know it.

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Boot Camp Exercises

Would you like the opportunity to be able to get in shape in the comfort of your own home? If you would then why not think about using some boot camp exercises to assist you. These kinds of exercises are made up of elements that will not only strength but condition your body but also help to improve its endurance levels.

In fact if you were to use these exercises regularly then in a matter of weeks you will start to see some changes to the way you look and feel. Plus of course you could end up saving yourself both time and money as there is no need to join a gym to actually perform them. Also the exercises we describe below are the kind you can do when you want so won’t interfere with your normally daily routines.

So what boot camp exercises should you be looking to use to help you with improving the way you look and feel and of course in helping you to lose weight? Below we take a look at just a few of these.

1. The Pull Up – This particular exercise is designed to increase your body’s strength. It requires you to hold on to a pull up bar and then use just your arms to then lift yourself up towards it.

2. Push-Ups – These are an exercise that we all know and which play a very important part in boot camp workouts. These have been designed to build up the muscles found in your chest, shoulders and triceps. For this exercise to be truly effective it is important that you use your stomach muscles fully as these will help to stabilize the motion fully and so will ensure that you use all your upper muscles to the full.

3. Y Squat – This is the exercise to use that will help improve the lower part of your body. As boot camp exercises go this one will work on not just your glutes and hams but also your quads. Plus it is also one that will help to improve and tone up the muscles in your stomach area. With this exercise you need to stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your arms should be up in the air which results in you forming a really wide Y. Now you need to sit back so that you are in a deep squatting position whilst making sure that you don’t lean forwards.

You will notice if you are leaning to far forward as you will begin to feel your weight on the balls of your feet and toes. To return to the position in which you started this exercise you need to shift your weight back on to your heels before you push up from your glutes.

4. Planks – Of all the boot camp exercises discussed in this article this is then one that work both your abdominal muscles as well as the core ones from your hips to your lower back including your obliques.

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Pensacola Adventure Boot Camp Workout Sample

Adventure Boot Camp is a 4-week long outdoor fitness camp for women in Pensacola, FL. It is lead by the UWF Director of Strength and Conditioning Kent Morgan. Pensacola Adventure Boot Camp sets itself apart by purposeful workouts that are designed to help women speed up their metabolism, burn more fat, have fun, and meet new people. Coach Morgan designs and leads each workout. The workouts are designed to build core, knee, hip and scapular stability and to increase mobility of the ankle, hips, and upper spine. It is progressive in nature with individuals only moving to the next progression once the first has been mastered. Included in the workouts are self mobilization techniques (massage and rolling rechniques) which helps to increase the recovory and regeneration time in between workouts. All of the conditioning is done through short distance interval training. www.PensacolaBootCamp.com.

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