The Best Full Body Workouts For Women

As a woman you need to focus on many areas within your fitness regimen. It is important to burn calories for weight control and essential to build muscle to keep your metabolism high. Also, you may want additional work for the abdomen, hips, thighs and buttocks since these areas are where women tend to carry extra weight. The best workouts will target all of these areas to keep you healthy and happy.

Cardio Kickboxing

Cardio kickboxing is a very effective workout for building muscle and burning calories. In a typical one hour cardio kickboxing class you will burn 500 to 600 calories due to intervals of lower body work such as kicks and squats, upper body work using the arms and sports-like drills of jumping rope, shuffling and running in place. In addition to burning a high number of calories, a kickboxing class uses the core muscles to continually rotate the torso as you punch and block, which helps keep the tummy fat under control. The lower body work which includes several types of kicks as well as squats and jumps, helps to tone and sculpt the hips, thighs and buttocks for a sleek physique without building bulky muscle. Cardio kickboxing classes can be found at most fitness centers, and will sometimes include actual heavy bag work with boxing gloves, which will increase both the calorie burning and upper body toning you get from the workout.

Boot Camp

Boot camp is a group workout that can be found at most fitness centers. An instructor will lead you through multiple drills for both strength and cardiovascular fitness, typically alternating every two to three minutes with little rest in between exercises. Although some classes will use mostly body weight only for resistance, most instructors will use additional equipment to keep the exercises interesting and effective as well as to offer modifications and advanced options. You can expect to see strength exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges and planks in many variations which will tone and sculpt you all over. Your cardio drills will include running, jumping, lateral shuffles and obstacle course drills to get your heart rate up and burn the calories. Boot camp is guaranteed to give you an effective full-body workout, burning up to 650 calories per class.

Pilates Reformer

Although Pilates work on the reformer does not normally provide much cardio benefit, the total-body strengthening and toning work is some of the best you can find. With concentrated focus on engaging the correct core muscles to control your movement, Pilates reformer exercises increase strength for all of your muscles while also stabilizing and strengthening the joints. Strength training on the reformer does not use heavy weights but focuses on lighter resistance and quality movement, resulting in lean and long muscles without any bulk which perfectly complements a woman's body. Although you will mostly find reformer training to be one-on-one training with an instructor in private Pilates studios, you can sometimes find small group classes at a lower cost in studios and fitness centers. Performing a reformer workout two to three times per week and maintaining a cardio routine four to six days per week would be a perfect balance to maintain your weight and fitness level.