My toning exercises…

This is what I have come up with for myself over the past few weeks.

For the upper body I have started with 3 lb dumbbells and after 2 sets of 20 reps becomes easy I will bump it up to 5 pounds but will not exceed 5 pounds. The key to toning if you do not want body builder muscles is to do less weight with more reps. This is my goal. I want to have long lean muscle tone.

Upper body reps:

• Front fly’s – take weights with semi bent arms in front of chest and extend arms out to side and back to chest again.

• Side flies – with arms down at side extend arms up to side with palm facing side of body in fists and back to legs again.

• Bicep curls – 2 ways. One with arms down by waist and flex weights up to chest keeping elbows at sides. Second, extend arms out to sides and flex arm and bring fists to shoulders.

• Triceps: – 2 ways. One with arms flexed (bent) with fists facing forward up by chest and elbows at sides and slowly bring the weights back behind body with extension while keeping elbows at sides. Second, take arms up over head and keep palms inward with elbows stuck to head. Bend arms back and keep elbows and fists in same position.

• Shoulder press – Arms bent and raises weights straight up over head and come back to beginning position keeping a nice “L” angle at ending position.

For the lower body I use leg weights that I can have anywhere from 1-5 pounds on each of them. I started with 3 pounds and have already increased to 5 pounds. Women are genetically stronger in the lower body then men so this comes pretty easy for me to increase.

Lower body reps:

• Lay on back and bend one leg and almost straighten the other and kick the straightened leg 16 times. Goal is to have my thigh hit my shoulder like it did back in High School. Do this on both legs.

• Circle leg 8 times keeping the same position as above. Bring straightened leg up to chest then out to side and around to floor and then back up to chest. Then 8 times reverse the circle on both legs.

• Bring one leg straight up and bring to chest and extend the other leg out at a 45 degree angle and hold while switching leg positions and at the same time keeping the shoulders off the ground. Do these 2 sets of 8 and then do this for a very slow set of 8-10.

• Standing up sitting down while doing some stretching.