Want a hot body and tight booty?

April 11, 12:04 AMNutrition ExaminerCarol Bardelli

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Resistance training gets you in the shape you want to be.

What makes a body sexy? What gets your booty tight? Whether you're male or female the answer is the same. Lean muscle and low body fat equals sexy.

How do you get a great body? Resistance training builds the body you crave. It's a simple fact few people grasp. Just watch The Biggest Loser.  If you want to burn body fat and look sleek and sexy afterwards you must build muscle. Muscle plays a key role in having a fast metabolism. It's also what makes your body look sexy and firm. And you'll lose fat fast. See videos below.

Weight loss diets alone don't work. Proper diet and resistance workouts do work. The goal of resistance training, be it working out with body weight (calisthenics and isometrics), free weights, resistance bands, or machines, is to build muscle. Ladies and gentlemen, don't be afraid to do a little resistance training to get the body you really want. As little as ten minutes a day will transforn your body. Check out Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer.

The key principles to bodybuilding or resistance training (the do’s) are straightforward: stimulate muscle adequately to make them grow (micro tearing called hyperplasia), supply muscles with adequate nutrition and sleep to rebuild (grow bigger), exercise aerobically to flush out lactic acid from muscles and to aid fat burning, avoid and cope with stress to prevent cortisol release, and having the ability to exercise mental and spiritual toughness to get through challenging workouts.

Factors that influence your results:

1. Resistance Workouts

2. Diet and Nutrition including supplementing

3. Aerobics

4. Sleep

5. Stress

6. Mind and spirit

7. Genetics

Today I'll cover number 1: Resistance Workouts

The don'ts of resistance workouts are as straightforward as the do’s, but the don’ts are all too common among beginners and long time exercisers who have failed to change their body composition.

Not lifting heavy enough is the biggest don’t. Women are the guiltiest of this but I’ve personally encountered men who have failed to meet their mass goals because they don’t train hard enough to stimulate muscle. If you can lift a weight easily beyond 8-12 repetitions you will NOT stimulate growth. Unless you're practicing a training change-up for a few weeks such as higher reps, if you regularly lift too light you will impede your progress. Less is more is you lift heavy enough of a weight or use a challenging resistance band.

Working the same body parts too often is even worse. Muscle requires stimulation to grow, then adequate protein and calories, then REST. Muscles do not grow during workouts, they grow during rest. If you stimulate a muscle too often without allowing it adequate rest it will BREAK DOWN.

Proper weight lifting / resistance training protocols are available in any weight lifting book and many reliable websites like Bodybuilding.com.

A typical beginner workout looks like this:

Monday – Upper Body (Chest, Back, Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders

Thursday – Lower Body (Legs, Abs)

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday – Cardio for weight loss or rest for those not trying to lose body fat.

A typical intermediate workout schedule looks like this:

Monday – Legs

Tuesday – Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders

Thursday – Chest and Back (Your biceps, triceps and shoulders are worked again)

Saturday – Abs and Lagging Body Part (Any One Of The Above)

Wednesday, Friday – Cardio or rest.

Advanced or professional schedule

Monday – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

Tuesday – Legs

Wednesday – Back and Biceps

Thursday - Rest

Friday – Two lagging body parts like Chest and Back, or Legs and Shoulders, or Back and Biceps, etc.

Notice that in all these schedules REST IS BUILT IN. No one can work the same body parts two days in a row and expect results. The human body is not designed to build muscle mass in a situation where it is OVERSTRESSED regularly.

Be bodybuilding smart, rest each body part between workouts. If you're older you may find you results are better with two days of rest between working a body part again.

And of course, there's always an exception to the rule. Some advanced and pro bodybuilders occassionally use over training - called a back cycle or back cycling - for brief periods of three weeks or less to shock their bodies. This should be done with extreme care and is not recommended for beginners.
 

The Best Way To Burn Belly Fat

Types of resistance training include anything where a force or tension is applied to the muscle, in such forms as cable resistance, dumbbells, barbells, kettle balls, medicine balls and resistance