Our Sponsors

Exercising The Upper Body

Exercise the upper body when you exercise your lower body to maintain a pleasing and uniform appearance.

Staying Fit will walk you through some simple and effective upper-body exercises that you can perform without the need of expensive equipment.

Exercising the Lower Body

Do most of your problem areas revolve around the lower body? You are not alone there! The lower body acts as a magnet for excess fat in both the sexes, albeit differently; most men tend to gain weight around the abdominal area whereas most women gain weight below the waist. Unfortunately metabolism works less effectively in the lower body than it does in the upper body. This means we need to pay extra special attention to exercising the lower body to keep that fat at bay or to effectively burn off the existing fat.

Making & Breaking Exercise Blocks
Ideally, you will need to exercise for at least 30 minutes, 3 days a week to effectively burn off lower body fat.

While theoretically it is possible to take these 30 minute blocks and break them into three 10-minute routines over those 3 days, it is not a very good idea. Studies show that breaking up the 30-minute blocks is not as effective at burning fat. This is because during the first 10-15 minutes of exercise our body burns only sugar. It is only after 15 minutes of exercising that the body actually begins to burn the stored fat.

When you plan a routine for exercising the lower body it is best to begin with at least 15 minutes of aerobic exercises so that your body can begin burning the stored fat. A good starting point for exercising the lower body includes aerobic activities such as brisk walking, jogging, bicycling and swimming but these activities should always be combined with exercises that get all the muscle groups of the lower body working.

Some Simple Lower Body Exercises:

Body Weight Squat:
This is an exercise that focuses on the front and lower section of the thigh and buttocks. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, your hands at your sides with your toes pointing forward. Inhale and begin to sit, most of your weight should be in your heels rather than the toes (You can tell if your weight is on your toes if you knees start to feel strain). As you lower raise your arms to balance yourself. Continue to lower yourself until your buttocks begin to feel a stretch. You shouldn’t go any lower than your hips above your knees. Once you feel the glutes stretch, rise up and exhale tensing them. Repeat about 12-15 times. If you need you can use a chair to help you until you get used to doing without.
Body Weight Calf Raise
This develops the calf and leg muscles. Put both feet with your knees straight on the first step of a set of stairs. The edge of the step should be at the middle of your foot, leaving your heels to dangle at the back. Lift your heels above your toes and breathe out. Breathe in and lower them below the toes to stretch the calves. You should be feeling pressure on the big toe to the little toe as you raise you heels. If you don’t move adjust the position of your feet until you do. Do this 12-15 times.
Assisted Squat:
Stand in front of a door with your feet spread wider than your shoulders and hold onto a towel that has been wrapped around the door knob. Using to towel to stay stable bend your knees and lower your but making sure to keep the weight in your heels, keep going until your but is parallel with the floor. Make sure you can see your toes and keep your ab muscles in as you work.
Front Lunge:
Take a huge step forward with your right leg and lower into a lunge position, keeping your abs in with your knee behind your toe and your knees at 90 degree angles push through the front heel to rise back up. Repeat several reps on the right leg and then switch.