Best Exercises for Women

Every woman is familiar with those tricky trouble zones that take a little extra work to tighten and tone (lower abs, anyone?). After a lot of exercise trial and error, I’ve finally found a solid set of moves that help me shape up and feel confident in a swimsuit, my favorite skinny jeans, or a sexy  dress.

Read on for the top 10 exercises that works wonders on your stomach, inner thighs, booty, and shoulders plus tips on how to add them into your workout routine

.

1.Squat -  Stand with your feet hip-width apart, hands clasped in front of your chest. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat. Lift your body up a couple of inches, then lower back down. That's one rep. Do 15 reps.

2.Stepups-

 

Stand in front of a bench or step and place your left foot firmly on the step. Press your left foot into the step and push your body up until your left leg is straight. Lower your body back down until your right foot touches the floor and repeat.

Keep your chest up and core engaged the entire time. Keep your weight balanced evenly, not leaning too far forward or too far back.

3.Shoulder Stand-

Shoulder stand is a powerhouse of a pose. It's full of benefits and tends to be more accessible than other inversions. In addition to stimulating the thyroid gland, this pose also relieves stress and depression, improves digestion, opens the shoulders and neck, and strengthens your legs, butt, arms, and abs.

If you have neck issues, fold one or two thick blankets under your body so that your head rests just off the blankets on the floor, and your shoulders and arms are on the blankets.

As with everything in yoga, remember that if it doesn’t feel good, skip it. Don’t forget to breathe and have fun!

4.Planks-

 The plank can be as easy or hard as you make it; it's your job to make it hard to get the most out of it. That means creating full-body tension. You want your whole body rigid for the plank, so you should maintain some tension in your shoulder blades, drive your upper arms, from elbows to shoulders, perfectly perpendicular to the ground, maintain a ton of tension through your core (obviously) and squeeze your quads to straighten your knees. It's better to hold a truly focused plank for 30 seconds to a minute than to hold a lousy plank for 4 consecutive minutes

5.Single-Leg Deadlift-

Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand on your left foot. Lift your right foot behind you and bend your knee so your right lower leg is parallel to the floor.

Bend forward at your hips, and slowly lower your body as far as you can. Pause, then push your body back to the starting position. As you come up, think about using your glutes  to push your hips forward instead of lifting from your back. Keep core engaged and chest up during the entire movement.

6.Side Lateral Raise- 

Pick a couple of dumbbells and stand with a straight torso and the dumbbells by your side at arms length with the palms of the hand facing you. This will be your starting position.

While maintaining the torso in a stationary position (no swinging), lift the dumbbells to your side with a slight bend on the elbow and the hands slightly tilted forward as if pouring water in a glass. Continue to go up until you arms are parallel to the floor. Exhale as you execute this movement and pause for a second at the top.

Lower the dumbbells back down slowly to the starting position as you inhale.

Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.  

7.Dumbbell Bicep Curl- 

1. Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand at arm's length. Keep your elbows close to your torso and rotate the palms of your hands until they are facing forward. This will be your starting position.
2. Now, keeping the upper arms stationary, exhale and curl the weights while contracting your biceps. Continue to raise the weights until your biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbells are at shoulder level. Hold the contracted position for a brief pause as you squeeze your biceps.
3. Then, inhale and slowly begin to lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

8.Tricep Dumbbell Kickback-

1. Start with a dumbbell in each hand and your palms facing your torso. Keep your back straight with a slight bend in the knees and bend forward at the waist. Your torso should be almost parallel to the floor. Make sure to keep your head up. Your upper arms should be close to your torso and parallel to the floor. Your forearms should be pointed towards the floor as you hold the weights. There should be a 90-degree angle formed between your forearm and upper arm. This is your starting position.
2. Now, while keeping your upper arms stationary, exhale and use your triceps to lift the weights until the arm is fully extended. Focus on moving the forearm.
3. After a brief pause at the top contraction, inhale and slowly lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position.
4. Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.

9.Leg Raises-

Start by lying down on the floor or a mat. Unfortunately, it gets tougher from here. Lay flat with your arms at your sides and legs stretched out next to each other, then raise those legs. Even if you can’t hold them perfectly rigid, keep your legs as straight as possible, and lift them until they are pointing at the ceiling, or as near as you can get. Make sure your toes are pointed.

Then lower them back down, being careful to keep your movements measured. The return journey should be at the same pace at which you raised your legs. Lower them until they’re hovering just above the ground, and then raise them again. Shoot for three sets of 10 reps, or simply do as many raises as you can – keeping the pace steady – in a set time as part of a circuit.

10.Sprint-

Sprinting workouts develop muscle tone and short-term endurance by improving your muscles’ ability to burn glucose through your anaerobic pathways. Sprint workouts improve your lactic threshold, which will effectively allow you to go harder without having your muscles give out on you, according to Rice University. Sprint workouts can improve your performance at both sprinting and long distance running, though the best performance training closely mimics your actual race distance and speed. To avoid injury, warm up with a run and some running-specific dynamic stretches.

Don’t stop trying just because you’ve hit the wall. Progress is progress no matter how small.😀