Workout to Tone Your Whole Body for Teenage Girls

Workout to Tone Your Whole Body for Teenage Girls
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If you are a teenage girl wanting to firm or tone your entire body, begin a specific conditioning regimen. Target your shoulders, chest, arms, back, abdomen, buttocks and legs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests children and teenagers perform at least 60 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, including three days of strength training.

Upper Body

Dumbbell curls are essential for strengthening your biceps. Curl a dumbbell toward your shoulders while keeping your elbows close to your body. To tone your triceps, perform triceps extensions by holding a dumbbell with both hands behind your head and raising and lowering the weight. Military presses, performed by raising dumbbells from your shoulders straight into the air above your head, tone your shoulders. Perform back-strengthening bent-over rows by bending at the waist and pulling dumbbells toward your belly button then lowering the weights toward the floor. Move on to dumbbell bench presses to tone your chest by pushing dumbbells straight into the air as you lie on a weight bench. Finish your upper body workout with twisting crunches, performing a traditional crunch, but twisting left and right as your chest approaches your knees.

Lower Body

Start your lower body workout with front squats. This exercise targets your quadriceps, hamstrings, hips and glutes. Keep your back straight as you bend at the waist and knees to bring your buttocks toward the ground. Move on to lunges, which help tone your quadriceps and buttocks as you step out in front of your body with one foot and bend both legs to form 90-degree angles. Finish your lower body workout with calf raises, performed on the edge of a stair or step. Raise and lower your heels with your toes pointed in front of you.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is necessary for trimming excess fat from the body. Many aerobic exercises work multiple muscles in the body while burning calories, such as swimming, rock climbing and playing racquetball or singles tennis, helping to further tone your body while providing a beneficial cardiovascular workout. Perform 60 minutes of aerobic exercise every day for best toning results.

Toning Implementation

The weight used and number of sets and repetitions you perform will determine the type of muscle you will develop when strength training with weights. Using heavier weights for fewer sets and repetitions will produce larger, stronger muscles. However, if you want to tone your body and develop long, lean muscle mass, use lighter weights for more sets and repetitions. For toning, complete three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions of each strengthening exercise three days a week, taking a day of rest after each workout to allow proper muscle recovery.

References

Article reviewed by Jessica Lyons Last updated on: Jun 22, 2011

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