Any type of exercise is good. But we wanted to know which at-home exercises were most likely to give you the results you want—in the least amount of time. To find out, we went to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), a nonprofit organization that certifies personal trainers. We surveyed more than 3,000 ACE certified trainers by e-mail, and we got more than 500 responses. Based on their experience, here's what personal trainers rate as tops.
Best Total Body Workout: Swimming
To target all your muscles, hop in the pool. Both your upper and lower body will be working, and to maintain proper alignment, your abs and back will get in on it too. Another key reason that trainers choose
swimming: It's low impact, so you're less likely to get injured. In addition to an aerobic workout, the water adds resistance, giving your muscles another challenge.
Note: If you're going to make swimming your primary form of exercise, complement it with weight bearing exercise such as walking, jogging, tennis, or weight lifting. This will help keep your bones strong.
Best Ab Workout: Crunches on an Exercise Ball
This won top honors because it's an intense workout that allows you a greater range of motion. "Balancing on the ball requires the
core stabilizer muscles in your back to contract, in addition to the abdominal muscles," said one personal trainer. It takes less time to fatigue, so you don't have to do as many of these as you would traditional floor crunches.
"It's also the hardest exercise to cheat on," said another trainer. Since this is an exercise that ranks high on difficulty, beginners may want to start with crunches on the floor.
How to do Crunches: Position the ball so that it's supporting your back. Your feet should be flat on the floor. Start with your arms extended in front of you, then slowly curl up. Hold, then lower. For more of a challenge, place your hands behind your head.
Best Butt Workout: Lunges and Squats (tie)
These moves were chosen for many of the same reasons: You can do several variations, you can do them anywhere, and they work your leg muscles in addition to your gluteal muscles.
Here's what one trainer had to say: "Lunges help develop
balance and posture." While another chose squats because they "simulate everyday functions such as getting up from your chair. As we age, strong legs become a necessity for balance, hip stabilization, and coordination."
How to do Lunges: Place your right foot about 2 to 3 feet in front of you. Keeping your right knee directly over the ankle, bend that knee, at the same time dropping your left knee toward the floor. Your left heel will come off the floor. Don't lean forward. Hold, then press into your right foot to push yourself back up. Repeat with your left leg in front.
For a more advanced move, start with your feet together and step forward or backward into the lunge. Then push yourself back up to the starting position. Note: If you have knee problems, you may want to skip this exercise and do partial squats only.
How to do Squats: Stand with your back to a chair and your feet about shoulder width apart. Bending at the hips and knees, lower your butt until it's almost touching the chair. Looking down, you should be able to see your toes as you bend. If all you see are knees, you're bending too far forward; keep your knees behind your toes. Then slowly stand up.
For a greater challenge, hold dumbbells at your sides. If you have knee problems, stick with partial squats-lower yourself only halfway to the chair.
Boost your metabolism and fight over 40 fat with this training
plan.
Best Arm Exercise: Pushups
Still a favorite of professionals! "If you were to do only one arm exercise, this would be the best for toning and firming," one trainer said. Pushups target mainly the chest muscles and the triceps in the back of your arms.
As another trainer put it, "When the triceps are developed, they add a nice look to the arms." In addition, the core muscles-the abs and back-are stabilizing you, so they're getting stronger as well.More praise: "Pushups are also a fabulous confidence booster. Many women don't think they can do them until they try, and then they see progress-fast!" If you can't do pushups on the floor, try doing them against a wall or leaning on a table or railing.
How to do Pushups: Lie facedown on the floor, hands by your shoulders and knees bent. Press your palms into the floor, straightening your arms. Keep your head, neck, back, and hips in line as you lift your body off the floor. When your arms are almost fully extended, hold. Now slowly lower, but before you touch the floor, push back up.
Advanced move: Do pushups on your toes instead of your knees.
Best Calf Exercise: Heel Raises
"Ten million dancers can't be wrong," said one trainer. For shapely calves, 75 percent of the trainers voted for heel raises.
The advantages of heel raises is that they concentrate specifically on the calves, they're easy to learn, and results are rapid.
How to do Heel Raises: Stand with your feet about hip-width apart. In the beginning, hold onto a chair or wall for balance. Rise up onto your toes. Hold, then slowly lower. To make this move more difficult, try doing it one leg at a time or holding dumbbells.
Best Short-on-Time Exercise: Walking Stairs
Can't fit in a workout? Trainers recommend that you hit the stairs. "Without taking any extra time, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator—which usually takes just as long to arrive anyway," suggested one trainer. Plus you can do it at work, home, shopping, even when you're traveling.
Walking stairs gets your heart rate up, strengthens your lower body, improves posture, helps prevent osteoporosis (it's a weight bearing exercise, so it helps build bone), and improves stamina. You'll also burn about 45 calories walking up and down stairs for 5 minutes.
You won't gain a pound this season with this easy, do anywhere stair climbing
routine.
Best Workout When You Don't Want To: Dancing
The simple reason, according to many trainers: It's fun! "In my house, we have 'dance time' while preparing dinner or washing the dishes," said one. "We all bop around to our favorite CDs. It's a great way to incorporate exercise and quality time into our everyday routine."
"Good music will make your toes start tapping. Soon you'll be dancing-and not even thinking that it's exercise. Dancing lifts your spirits and burns calories," said another trainer.
Lose weight while you work by putting some muscle into your household
chores.
Best Exercise When You're Pooped: Stretching
If you're going to plop down in front of the TV instead of exercising, at least do some stretches. Said one trainer, "Stretching increases bloodflow without being too taxing, giving you that little boost you may need to get going." Even if you only stretch, it will help you rest better, so your body will be ready to go for your next workout. And most trainers believe that we all need to stretch more anyway.
Best Exercise for Better Posture: Pinching Your Shoulder Blades
This move reverses the daylong effects of slouching around and hunching over the computer or steering wheel. "Doing this helps maintain the spine in its erect and neutral position. It opens up the chest area and prevents the rounded shoulders syndrome," said one trainer.
"It activates the trapezius and rhomboids, the muscle groups responsible for holding you in alignment," explained another. Equally important, it's easy-so you'll be more likely to do it.
Best Exercise for Walkers: Hamstring Stretches
Trainers are hot on the importance of stretching, but they feel that people aren't getting the message. For walkers specifically, trainers encourage this move because hamstrings are likely to be tight, which can lead to injuries and back pain. Being flexible also improves walking posture.
How to do Hamstring Stretches: Standing, place your right heel about 6 to 12 inches in front of you, with your toes pointing up. Put your hands on your left thigh for support. Bending your left knee and leaning forward from the hips, shift your weight back, sticking your butt out, until you feel a stretch in the back of your right leg. (It'll look as if you're half-sitting.) Keep your back straight. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds. Do two or three stretches with each leg.
Walk of the weight in 6 weeks with fitness guru Chris Freytag's walking
boot camp.
How to Find a Personal Trainer
For more information on finding an ACE-certified personal trainer, call (800) 825-3636, or visit their website,
acefitness.org.
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Omg, I finally got my fill today! Holy cow, I was afraid I'd be back where I started if it didn't happen soon.
Ugh, after that emergency unfill, I've been able to eat burgers (bun and all) and all manner of things I shouldn't be able to. Being self-pay, I HATE having to go back and forth on this. However, I am also gaining a few pounds and feeling pretty upset and stressed about it. I need to figure out when's the best time to do this and get back on the pony.
A good fitness program involves cardiovascular (cardio) exercise, muscle toning, and stretching for flexibility — it can help keep you vital and ward off dangerous threats to women's health, like heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes. And while men and women can benefit from similar workouts, women can and should tailor their own fitness routine — one that’s just right for your body’s needs and wants. 
"Women absolutely need a well-rounded fitness regimen," says Kristy Altman, ACE certified group exercise instructor and managing director for the Knoxville Track Club in Tennessee. "Women need to lift weights to build strength, and they also need stretching to maintain their flexibility." The third part of a well-rounded women’s workout routine? Cardiovascular exercise. Cardio gets your heart pumping, while weight-training exercises target your arms, abs, thighs, butt, and calves.
Many women shy away from heavy weight-lifting exercise, but strength training is still an important part of an overall women’s fitness routine. When lifting weights, start out using lighter weights and more repetitions for better muscle toning, says Altman. You can use weight machines or free weights at the gym or work your muscles with resistance bands — whatever is more comfortable for you. 
Even if you start toning your muscles with very light weights — such as a 3-pound weight in each hand for curls — you can gradually add more weight as you develop strength and become more able to do the exercises with correct form. When you can complete three sets of 8 to 12 repetitions each, for instance, challenge your muscles by increasing the weight, says Altman. 
Cardiovascular exercise is the cornerstone of women’s workouts. Cardio activities help you burn calories and maintain a healthy body weight — both very important parts of women's health. "First, we all need cardio. Women tend to carry weight in their stomachs and hips and, because there is no such thing as spot training, cardiovascular exercise will help to keep that area lean," says Altman. Running, biking, swimming, tennis, hiking, and walking — these are all good cardio choices. 
You can accomplish more from your workout by targeting multiple areas of the body at one time. "Any exercises that multi-task are awesome for women — anything that’s working more than one muscle group at a time," says Altman. "We can work out core-abs in almost any weight-lifting exercise if we focus on engaging those abdominal-core muscles." Focus on your abs during your workouts, and you'll have a taut tummy and strong core before you know it. 
Altman suggests adding balance bicep curls to your workouts. Stand on one leg and do six to eight bicep curls. Then stand on the other leg, repeating your curls. These curls provide muscle toning in your arms while also strengthening your abdominals. Overhead tricep extensions are a good addition to arm workouts: Hold a medicine ball or a weight above your head, with arms straight up; then lower it toward your back moving only your forearms. Now press up by straightening the forearms overhead to work your triceps — work your calves at the same time by standing on your toes as you do the movement. 
We all know that exercise isn't only about good health — women want to look great, too. So don't forget to tone your lower body. Lunges are a great addition to women's fitness workouts, as they target the thighs and buttocks, areas where many women need to focus on muscle toning. Try doing your lunges while holding a medicine ball to make the movement a little tougher, and do wall squats to tone and strengthen.
Great workouts for women don’t have to be all about the burn. Yoga can help you relax and de-stress before or after a long day — and it also works your flexibility to keep you limber as you age. Altman suggests yoga poses like the downward-facing dog, the forearm plank pose, side lying twist, and seated forward fold. These poses involve stretching and muscle toning, making them great choices to add to your fitness mix.
Omg, how long has it been? I haven't even checked. It's been a whirlwind around here with my last week or two of this semester coming to a close. I love how every professor wants huge papers and research done at the close of the semester, don't you? o_O
