If you are overweight or obese, achieving a healthy body weight can help you maintain a healthy level of blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol. Combine full-body toning exercises, aerobic activity and a nutritious meal plan to help you achieve your weight loss goals. Strength training creates lean muscle mass that boosts your metabolism by using more calories. For toning with weights, use a low amount of weight and perform two to three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions of exercises that target every major muscle group.
Upper Body Toning
Perform a full-body toning workout by lifting light weights at least twice a week, allowing a minimum of 48 hours of recuperating time between workouts. Target your shoulders with dumbbell shoulder presses, raising the dumbbells from your shoulders into the air above your head. Move on to arm toning with hammer curls and triceps kickbacks. To perform hammer curls, hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides with your palms facing your body. Curl the weight toward your shoulders. Bend forward at the waist, holding a dumbbell in each hand, to perform triceps kickbacks. Push the weights behind you by straightening your arms. Concentrate on your chest with bench presses. Lie on your back on a weight bench and hold a barbell at your chest, then raise it into the air above your chest. Stand behind a barbell placed on the floor to perform bent-over rows. Bend forward at the hips, grasp the bar and pull it toward your abdomen by bending your arms.
Lower Body Toning
Immediately after performing upper body toning exercises, finish your full-body workout by concentrating on your glutes, hips, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Hold a barbell across your shoulders or a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder-height. Perform a squat by bending forward at the waist, bending your legs and lowering your buttocks toward the floor. Lunges are performed by stepping forward with one foot and bending your legs until they form 90-degree angles. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and raise up on the balls of your feet to perform floor calf raises.
Circuit Training
Combine toning exercises with aerobic exercise for a beneficial full-body workout. You can use free weights during your circuit workout, use body weight resistance exercises, or combine the two. Choose five or six exercises that target a variety of muscle groups. Perform one set of each exercise consecutively before taking a two-minute rest. For example, perform 10 hammer curls, 10 triceps kickbacks, 10 shoulder presses, 10 bent-over rows, 15 squats and 15 calf raises before resting for two minutes. Repeat the circuit five or six times to complete your circuit training workout.
Aerobic Activity
Aerobic activity can burn hundreds of calories an hour to help you shed fat from around your body. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests performing at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of intense aerobic activity every week. Try bicycling, jogging, running, jumping rope, tennis or swimming to blast fat from your body faster.
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