If you want to get long and lean, you need workouts that are designed to enhance flexibility and develop long, supple muscles. A good lean body workout also boosts your cardiovascular system to burn fat. Each of these workouts emphasizes total body development rather than pumping up specific muscles, so you get the lean frame and healthy shape you want.
Strength Training
Done correctly, weight training can give you long, lean muscles, not bulging, cartoon biceps. The key is to choose the right weights and exercises. According to "Strength Training," the key to getting a lean shape is high repetitions of lighter weights, and doing exercises that work multiple muscle groups, such as push-ups and pull-ups. This keeps you from overdeveloping any one area while helping you build overall muscle.
Yoga
A yoga workout combines resistance and cardiovascular elements, according to Glenda Twinning, author of "Yoga Fights Flab." You use your body weight as resistance, which means muscles are fully engaged, and the breathing practice keeps your cardiovascular system working to burn calories. The result is a workout that develops long, lean muscle without any complicated equipment or needing to spend time in the gym.
Pilates
According to "Pilates For Every Body" by Denise Austin, the exercise system was devised by a nurse and ex-gymnast Joseph Pilates to help rehabilitate bed-bound patients. Pilates focuses on strengthening the deep abdominal muscles to help realign and reshape your body, and on working your muscles through a full range of motion so they become longer, leaner and stronger. Austin notes that Pilates is widely used by dancers, athletes and celebrities, because it helps create a long, toned body shape.
Cross-country Skiing
If you want a vigorous, total body workout to burn fat and build long, lean muscle, cross-country skiing -- either outdoors or on a machine -- is ideal. Steve Gaskill, author of "Fitness Cross Country Skiing," notes that it builds high endurance levels and uses more muscles than nearly any other single workout. If you have never skied, you can begin training using a machine. However, getting outdoors offers a greater fitness challenge and is a great mind-body workout.
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