TONE UP YOUR WHOLE BODY

Sometimes when I chat to my ninjas and ask them what their fitness goals are, a pretty common answer is “I want to tone up”. Getting toned is a mix of building muscle and decreasing your body fat percentage and you need to boost up muscle to get those nice toned shapes. There’s more to it then looking good you know, exercise makes you feel amazing as well!

I like tabata for this reason. It’s a kind of training where you work out for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds, repeating eight times for four minutes.

By speeding up our metabolism and decreasing our body fat, we increase our lean muscle mass as we turn it into fat fighting lean and green machines. When training in tabata regularly, your metabolism speeds up permanently. Your clever body will replace fat with lean muscle and muscles are little fat furnaces that burn calories all day long, even when you’re not working out.

Try every exercise for 20 seconds with a 10-second rest for four minutes duration. Just remember, there’s always a rest around the corner!

Speedbag: With both of your hands make a fist. Raise your fists in the air so that your arms are at a 45-degree angle. Your hands should travel in small circles continuously rotating in the air as you mimic hitting a speed bag. Start off slow to get your rhythm and build to higher intensity until those hands are flying so fast they’re a blur.

V snap: Begin by lying out stretched on the floor. Brace your core and make sure that your back is flat on floor by pushing your belly button down to your spine. At the same time raise your arms and legs and sit up into a V position as you aim to touch your toes.

Curtsy squat: Start from a standing position and step your right leg behind you to the left so that your thighs cross over, bending both knees as if you were curtsying. You will feel it working the outside and inner thigh as well as your calf and butt. Sink low so your knees are as close as you can get them to the ground.