Techniques for Sculpting Your Body
Sculpting your body burns away fat and tones your muscles to accentuate your natural shape. To sculpt your body, you should follow a regular exercise routine and consult with your health care professional to design a healthy diet. There are several different exercise techniques available to sculpt your body, so select one that fits your lifestyle.
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Cardiovascular Exercise
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Cardiovascular training raises your heart rate and burns away fat, while building lean musculature. To tone your entire body with cardiovascular exercise, you must incorporate different types to target all major muscle groups. Jogging, stair climbing and cycling will target the muscles of your legs and core. Swimming and skipping rope will target the muscles of your legs, core and arms. Hiking and rollerblading will tone all of the muscles in your body. When performing cardiovascular exercise, monitor your heart rate to ensure you do not overwork your body. Find your target heart rate range by subtracting your age from 220 and multiplying this number by .70 and .85. If you are over or under these numbers, adjust the intensity of your workout to bring yourself back into your target range. To sculpt your body, perform 40 to 60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, three to five days a week.
Bodyweight Exercise
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Bodyweight exercises tone the muscles in your body without the aid of exercise equipment. Examples of bodyweight exercises include squats, calf raises, lunges, leg lifts, leg extensions, donkey kicks, crunches and back extensions. To sculpt your entire body, build a routine that includes at least five different body weight exercises. Perform three to four sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise, three to five days a week. When your muscles no longer feel a strain from the workout, increase the intensity by doubling the amount of repetitions per set.
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Weight Training
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Weight training utilizes barbells, dumbbells and weight lifting machines as resistance to sculpt and tone your muscles. You must select the weight you lift carefully to ensure you do not injure your muscles. Choose a weight that allows you to perform six repetitions before feeling a burning sensation in your muscles. Select a different weight for every exercise you perform. Examples of exercises to include are weighted squats, butterfly presses, leg presses, biceps curls, triceps presses, arm raises and chest presses. Perform 10 to 12 repetitions of each exercise in your routine, two to three days a week to sculpt your body.
Circuit Training
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Circuit training involves both cardiovascular exercise and weight training or bodyweight exercises to tone your muscles. An example of circuit training is performing one set of each bodyweight exercise in your routine. Take a 30-second break before switching to two minutes of cardiovascular exercise, such as skipping rope. After finishing the two minutes of cardiovascular exercise, perform a second set of each bodyweight exercise, followed by cardiovascular once more. Each set of bodyweight and cardiovascular exercise is one circuit. Perform four to five circuits, three to five days a week to sculpt your body.
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References
- Photo Credit exercise image by .shock from Fotolia.com
