The Secret to Creating a Strong, Toned, Hourglass Shape Body
There is a secret to creating a sexy, shapely, killer body that is strong and still feminine. In this article I will explain to you the secret that makes my workout method work for any woman looking to achieve natural toned curves that can be maintained for life without dedicating enormous amounts of time to exercise, cardio or strict diets.
I believe women have a common goal of aquiring, improving, and maintaining a strong but feminine, lean physique. Since we no longer run after our food and our modern day living requires less, strenuous, physical labor this means it is important to allot a small, yes small, portion of the day (30 min to 1 hr) to really get the heart pumping and physically stress the body to achieve a strong and more firm physique and simultaneously Illiminate unwanted or unnecessary fat. Also, with just this form of exercising, unless it’s to compete in a bikini contest, or you want to quickly lose weight (I strongly discourage) a strict or harsh diet is never necessary.
After many years of observing and studying winning competitors in the fitness industry from bikini models to olympic athletes, body building to crossfit, their clients and success stories around the world, I’ve compiled the loot and taken the best tactics with an eye for variety to keep things interesting and a back to basics approach.
I don’t like complicated exercises, or back breaking burpees, they’re just not my style. My idea of a workout is a little old fashioned and a little more pump, focused primarily on lifting heavy weights with fundamental calisthetics like push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups and zero cardio.
What’s my secret?
The secret trick to my fitness routine and what makes it successful is performing compound/super sets lifting weights. A compound set is pairing two exercises targeting two different muscle groups performed back to back. A super set is the same thing but for opposing muscle groups. The back to back exercises are performed with little to no rest, roughly 30 seconds or however long it takes you to switch from one exercise to the next.
By performing back to back exercises your heart rate becomes elevated and remains there for a lengthy period of time which is how my method allows for no additional cardio activity.
Achieving that “hour-glass” figure
I LOVE working shoulders, back and butt which is absolutely what gives the body it’s sexy hour glass shape. I have soooo many routines and variations of them that have given me an incredible shapely figure. My workouts focus strongly on shaping these areas of the body so you’re garaunteed, if following the routines, to bring the same sexy shapeliness to yours!
How is it done?
The exercises should be performed in a focused, controled manner, repeated until failure. This means if the exercise calls for 10 repetitions (1 rep=1 motion of specific exercise), by the 8th or 9th rep you should struggle to push or pull the weight. This is what builds and firms the muscle and builds strength.
As strength increases, you’ll begin to move more weight around, this is known as “progressive overload”, being able to do more reps, maybe just 1 or 2 in the same workout the following week, then adding more weight after an additional week or two performing the same routine. The feeling when you get to this point in your workout is indescribable, you will have to see for yourself!
A full-body workout that targets every muscle over the course of a week should be done no less then 3 weeks consecutively, I recommend doing the routine for 4-6 weeks. While you will undoubtedly feel the benefits of a full-body workout within a week, it takes about 21-30 days to SEE the results of your workouts. My hope is that you will fall in love with this form of exercise and you’ll want to keep going.
What does it look like?
An example of one of my compound/super sets would be to perform a seated overhead dumbbell shoulder press, complete 8-12 repetitions, put down the weight and immediately grab a single dumbell and perform a seated dumbbell tricep overhead extension for the same number of repetitions, or close to and always to failure.
OR another might be to perform a barbell bent-over row (back), complete 8-12 repetitions, set your weight down and immediately pick up an EZ bar and perform a standing bicep curl for 8-12 repetitions.
I also like to work shoulders and legs on the same day, using this technique which will really gets the blood flowing when you switch from a deep squat set to an upright EZ bar shoulder row. You will feel the burn for sure.
What about cardio?
As mentioned with my method, cardio is hardly necessary and to tell you the truth, you won’t see a lot of information about cardio on my blog. Let me give you some insight into the why behind my limited cardio mindset and you decide for yourself what you prefer.
Let me first say, if you enjoy cardio, jogging, marathons, things of that nature I commend you and you should definitely follow your heart. You can still use my method as an additional form of exercise to increase strength, muscles and overall sexiness. But, if you’re like me, I cannot stand running, even when I did competitive soccer in school.
In all my years of examining and understanding fitness, strength training and methods to working out, cardio was always an element that helped achieve a more firm body so I took it as somewhat necessary.
In 2013 I started jogging a few miles every morning before work and once I could keep my breath and built up some stamina I started enjoying myself. Then, in May 2015 I met up with a trainer in an effort to increase my strength and muscle definition. I found out that I was burning too many calories to achieve the muscle I desired.
Say what? Burning too many calories? I lifted heavy and ate well but just wasn’t getting the results I wanted so I enlisted the help of a personal trainer to give me new perspective. Well it worked and after some tweaks I gained 20 pounds of lean muscle in less then 6 months, simultaneously decreasing my fat percentages. The ticket? Cardio can be necessary and helpful, it just needs to be really intense, in order to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. My trainer had me do 20 minute sprint intervals that looked like this:
This was intense guys and I HATED IT! But you know what? It worked, I shed fat weight without losing muscle. I got in the best shape of my life! That all being said, this is THE ONLY CARDIO METHOD I will ever use in my routines and/or recommend to anyone for the rest of my life.
Keep in mind, fat stores are only tapped into either through severe calorie restriction or a heart rate elevated to 110 bpm (beats per minute) and remains there. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
Use this sprinting method as you’d like. It will give you results quickly. As mentioned earlier, I don’t like cardio and using my method of compound/supersets lifting weights, it isn’t an absolute must. Building muscle using my method (weight-lifting) will help you burn unwanted fat so no cardio is required!
Well, if you’ve made it this far, maybe I’ve hooked you enough to try my workouts OR you’re here to learn more about sculpting the body you want. Either way, I’m glad you’re here and want to explain a little more about the whole weight-lifting thing.
What’s the deal with weight-lifting?
Bodybuilding is a long time sport, been around with popularity since the late 1800’s and has grown ever since. Men and women around the world compete on stage offering their physique to critics to be picked apart for big prizes. Bodybuilding is based on weight-lifting so when the term comes up it is most often associated with the hulk-like figures that strut around in tight tanks and tiny shorts.
When bodybuilders lift they will primarily focus on one and sometimes two muscle groups a day, using very low repetitions and extremely HEAVY weight. Rest is very long between exercises and a lifter will typically workout for 2 to 4 hours a day. Be at ease, that is not how we’ll be working out ;)
Weight-lifting is so much more then that and there is so much more involved with the whole “body-building” that I won’t get into here but will say, lifting weights is the basis of a firm, strong, and toned body.
Building muscle burns more calories then exercise alone AND once you’ve established your muscle base, requires far less calorie burning exercise to keep unwanted weight, and fat off and keep your sexy shape. It’s quite spectacular so I’m going to share below the exact workout routine I’ve used for years (adding new exercises every 3-4 weeks) that has given me non-stop shape, tone, and that hour-glass sexiness.
A typical week using my method to tone and sculpt looks like this:
Monday: Shoulders & Triceps
Tuesday: Back & Biceps
Wednesday: Rest OR Pilates/Yoga
Thursday: Chest & Legs
Friday: Rest OR Pilates/Yoga
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest
OR another of my favorites:
Monday: Shoulder & Legs
Tuesday: Back, Biceps & Butt
Wednesday: Chest, Triceps, Abs
Thursday: Rest (lifting 3 days in a row, I am pretty sore on this day)
Friday: Pilates/Yoga
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest
The reason I do 3 days a week opposed to 4 or 5 is because I enjoy life outside exercise and the gym, AND I’ve found if I have more rest days I feel better then if I exercise more days. However, if you have interest or the time to devote to working out, GIRL GO FOR IT! When I added 20 pounds of muscle I worked out 6 days a week. If you want results faster, spend more days a week exercising, it’s really that simple.
For my workouts I do 3-5 exercises for each muscle group. There are many variations of exercises but I’ve stuck with the basics to keep things simple.
I use mostly free weights - barbells, dumbells, and EZ bars which are all commonly found in most gyms. Another favorite you’ll see in a lot of my routines is a smith machine, a barbell secured to a track on a sturdy frame that is a safe alternative to a freestanding barbell on a squat rack. Since it’s important to lift heavy, using the smith machine allows you to lift without a spotter.
I like to incorporate some machines but put them at the tail end of my workouts as these are primarily good for isolating the targeted muscle and completely wearing them out.
Make sure to warm up just before the routine for 5-10 minutes. I prefer a cardio machine or just take a brisk walk outside or jump rope and see how long you can last. I ALWAYS stretch and it takes about 5 minutes to do so but ensures you won’t injure yourself during the routine. GO AT YOUR OWN PACE! My workouts are intense and make sure you’re using heavy enough weight that you struggle towards the end of each set of repetitions.
So, without further ado…
since the hourglass shape is best developed through shoulders and a nice rear….
Here is what a day exercising shoulders and legs using my compound/super set method looks like!
Lift well ladies and remember to have fun!