When most people think about changing their body
shape, they usually focus on just losing weight. Books and magazines about
dieting are among the most popular in the world. Dieting is an important part of
staying fit and healthy, but losing weight by means of dieting takes time,
losing weight too fast can cause great health problems. Dieting means changing
one's eating habits to a healthier pattern, but many women mistake the concept
of dieting and think that the less one eats, the better. As a result, they lose
health as well as weight.
Aerobic exercise is a moderate
intensity workout that, over a certain period of time, will improve the body's
use of oxygen. Nowadays aerobic exercise has become a very trendy workout among
youths. Not only is performing aerobic exercise interesting, but it is also very
beneficial for health. There are different types of aerobics like jogging,
swimming, kickboxing, fitness walking, inline skating, bicycling, etc. Aerobics
strengthens the heart and lungs. It is also especially popular with
women.
But neither of these two methods, dieting and aerobics,
can help shape the body. To do this you need to build muscle. So, if a firmer
and shapelier body is your goal, 60 percent of your exercise routine should
involve strengthening moves, and only 30 percent should be aerobic
exercises.
For a proper body-shaping routine, you should plan
three strength-training sessions a week with weights. Use weights which are as
heavy as possible while still allowing you to do 8 to 12 reps of each exercise.
Do one to three exercises for each muscle groups-for example, chest and biceps,
or back, shoulders and triceps.
You should combine this with
fast-paced aerobics activities, like swimming, cycling, walking, running, or
in-line skating, plan three to four workouts a week, 15 to 20 minutes each,
increasing the pace each week.
As you build muscle, you may
find that you gain weight in spite of all of your calorie-burning exercise.
Don't worry. It's probably muscle, which is denser than fat. And muscle is also
a calorie-burning tissue. With more muscle, you can burn more calories, even
when you are not exercising.
When you are trying to build
muscle, you need two to three serving of protein a day, but the main part of
your diet should be carbohydrates. And in order to get the energy you need for a
high-intensity workout, you should eat something, especially carbohydrates, an
hour or so before your workout.
While weight training wilt firm
and shape your body, it has other benefits too. It improves bone and muscle
strength and burns calories, leading to improved health and a higher quality of
life.