Workout tips for women: Five best exercises for a fabulous, fit body!

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Many research has linked a sedentary lifestyle to a number of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression and more.

To worsen the matter, new research claims that if a person sits all day, exercise has little influence in combating heart disease.

Perhaps, our sedentary lifestyles hardly leave us with any time to focus on the most important part of our lives, our health.

But, you can get in shape after being sedendary by making some healthier choices in your daily habits such as eating well, exercising and avoiding harmful substances.

Kiran Krishnakumar, a Delhi based fitness trainer has come up with some simple exercises for women to help tone up each and every muscle of our body and strengthen the core.

"If you have been struggling to join the gym or find time for a physical activity, commit now to taking 15 minutes off from your schedule and doing the following exercises," said Kiran.

Push Ups

To begin with, go for five Push Ups. One cannot really go wrong with pushing up to tone up the body, especially the upper part, including the chest, shoulders and collar bones.

In addition to all the toning, the exercise helps in burning a lot of fat and calories, so a double whammy there! It is pretty much a straight-forward exercise, requiring core strength.

"Get down on all fours and keep your hands wide apart for them to fall in line with the shoulders and keep your feet closer together. Now, lower down your body until it is about to contact the ground and just in that moment, push yourself back up regain the first position. For best result, lift up your hips and utilize the core strength of your body to complete the exercise. For best results, repeat set of five pushups five times," she added.

Squats

The go for 15 Squats. It is another classic exercise for toning the body and burning fat. The exercise works on our legs, especially inner thighs and calf muscles and well, a toned up leg seldom goes out of fashion. Most importantly, squats build our strength and stamina, which goes a long way ahead in giving us freedom in life, in terms of health and fitness.

"For perfect results, do 5 repetitions of 15 squats each," said the expert.

Crunches

Thirdly, tone up your abs with 10 crunches. Crunches isn't an exercise one would like to miss, regardless of how occupied she might be in the day.

The exercise, basically works to tone up the very epicenter of the body, which has a more generative effect and ensures optimum health and fitness levels.

In addition, to ensuring the best energy levels throughout the day, the exercise works on improving the digestive system and is really recommended, given the sedentary lifestyles of today.

"As you get comfortable with the routine, try and do more crunches within the 15 minutes time-frame that we are working with," Kiran continued.

Lunges

Fourthly, do five lunges for each leg. A favourite for athletes and weight trainers, lunges make a regular appearance in cross and weight training. In fact, the exercise also makes appearance in yoga, in certain asana regimen.

"Basically, put one leg in front and bent the knee, the other leg curved flat on the ground behind. In the beginning you may take support from the wall for balancing, but eventually, use the strength of the body for balancing. Do five Lunges for each leg for best results," she explained.

Planks

Finally go for 15 Second plank. Planks, perhaps gives us the most intense workout and hence, are highly recommended. Along with strengthening the spine, regularly doing the exercise will make our abs rock solid.

Speaking about planks, the expert explained, "Simply lie down on your stomach, with your elbows perched on the floor in front of you. Raise your toes while straightening your body to resemble a plank. Hold the stance for 15 seconds before lowering yourself back down."

"Remember, it is important to warm up before any sort of work out. Since you would be working out at home, without the supervision of a trained professional, you have to be sure of what you are doing. If you have a treadmill at home, I would recommend running for at least 10 minutes, before starting with any form of physical exercise. Yoga and stretching, combined with on the spot running would also add up to provide you a decent warm up session. Also, having a glass of hot water at least 15 minutes before working out will warm the body up from inside, ready to withstand the physical endurance," she added.

So women, put on your gym shorts or yoga pants and follow these simple hacks to stay in shape and achieve the ideal weight goals at home.

(With ANI inputs)