Home Body Shaping Workout Tactics for Women

Body shaping is the wise use of certain principles of exercise, fitness and smart nutrition to manifest desired changes in the body. Much too often, the term is confused with other types of exercise programs that are not conducive to firming and shaping the female body, safely and efficiently.

There are several elements of body shaping, although not all elements apply to all women. Fat removal, cellulite reduction, skin tightening, feminine muscle shaping, inches lost, changes in body composition levels, shaping curvy thighs or a rounder butt, toning up the arms and shoulders, losing stomach flab - these can all fall under the heading of body shaping for women.

Two ladies with very different goals can follow the same type of fitness program while adhering to nutritional plans that are structured to be in line with their goals, and dependent on their starting points, with measurable progress and consistent success.

A woman who is sixty-two pounds over weight and wanting to lose body fat has the same body, a human body, as a woman who is slightly under weight and wants to gain a few pounds of muscle weight and shapely, sexy flesh, through body shaping exercises, while improving her overall level of health and fitness. Although there may be differences in natural physical abilities of coordination or strength they can both do the same type of exercise or workout routine. Differences in caloric intake and the quality of foods eaten will be a key factor that brings each of these women closer to their individual body shaping goals. Goals may range from looking great with no clothes on to being able to fit into a specific clothing size.

On a more spiritual level a body shaping goal may be to 'feel' sexy, confident and full of energy to burn.

Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise may be slightly different. The woman who wants to lose body fat to achieve body shaping results, will devote a larger amount of time to cardiovascular exercise (twenty-five - forty minutes) as compared to the woman who wants to build up certain areas of her body to become more shapely (fifteen - twenty-five minutes).

Some body shaping programs attempt to combine the resistance exercise with cardiovascular or aerobic exercise. While this is not easy, and most programs fall short of doing this successfully, it is quite possible - especially when the body shaping program uses body-weight exercise principles. The benefit of this type of program is extremely conducive to what body shaping is all about.

A body shaping program is not usually found in the gym setting. You either have individual programs of weight training and machine exercises or large group classes doing some form of aerobics with some basic body shaping moves. True body shaping takes advantage of gravity, body-weight and kinesiology to bring about changes in the female body through full body conditioning and targeted muscle shaping exercises and workouts. When these factors are combined properly, you can realistically expect to see definite results within three to four weeks - especially when a moderate amount of attention is payed to nutritional intake and daily calories.

The best body shaping programs should be portable - meaning you can do them anywhere and anytime. Leaving no room for the typical excuses of not sticking with 'the program' and allowing you to make continuous progress toward the body shaping goals you have defined for your body and your self.

Fitness Consultant, Joey Atlas, M.S., is the producer of the top Body Shaping Workouts for Women.

Also see Exercise dvds for Body Shaping Exercise DVDs.