Ways to remove stretch marks

Tighten & Tone

While you can't “spot reduce” problem areas (sorry!), you can make almost any body part appear firmer and sleeker with toning exercises. Whether you are looking for an ab workout, butt workout or are focused on another trouble zone, toning exercises can help you get the body you want.

Resize Your Thighs Workout

Some things, like duct tape and ivory soap, are everyday essentials. They're the tried-and-true standards we can't live without. So it goes with certain thigh sculpting exercises. Squats, lunges, hydrants and leg lifts are the heavy artillery of thigh resizing, the go-to moves when you need to get the job done.

This workout revisits these thigh firming essentials and serves as a primer for chiseling and toning your lower half. It's also a refresher course on proper form. After all, anything worth sculpting is worth sculpting to perfection.

Do 1 to 3 sets of each exercise, 12 to 15 repetitions per set. If you do this routine faithfully at least twice a week, you should begin to see tighter, shapelier legs in about a month. And when you're ready for a change in your toning routine, try the souped up versions of these moves, the essential updates.

1. Essential Squat Works your butt, front and back of thighs.

(A) Stand tall with your feet hip width apart and your hands clasped together and held up at chest level with your elbows bent. Square your shoulders and lift your chest.

(B) Bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor; don't allow your knees to move forward of your toes. Hold a moment at the bottom of the movement and then stand back up to the start, taking care not to lock your knees.

Essential Squat Update Works your butt, front and back of thighs, inner thighs, outer thighs, calves. (A) Roll up a stretch mat and place it under the center of a step platform. Stand tall on the platform with your feet hip width apart and your hands clasped together and held up at chest level with your elbows bent. Square your shoulders and lift your chest. Work at maintaining both ends of the step balanced up off the floor. (B) Bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor all the while trying to maintain a balanced position on top of your step platform. Slowly stand back up to the start taking care not to lock your knees.

Strong & Sexy Arms Workout

Is it right to bare your arms? Yes, if they're buffed and tank top-ready. A well-toned upper body is the perfect warm-weather accessory, something no well-dressed woman should be without. Fortunately, with a little extra effort, a sculpted upper body is within your reach.

Upper-body muscles usually respond quickly to resistance training because they don't get used much in everyday life. Putting them through their paces two to three times a week results in a tighter, firmer appearance. And because more firmness equals more strength, you'll have an easier time pushing that lawn mower, lugging your patio furniture out of storage and playing beach ball with your kids.

I've designed three complete upper-body routines for you. The No Frills version requires only an exercise band or tube (which you can buy in any sporting goods store for under $10). The Basic Bells program calls for the use of free weights or dumbbells and can be done at home or at the gym. The Machine Moves routine is an easy upper-body weight-machine circuit that can be done at virtually any gym. Of course, you can try all the moves if you want to create your own mix-and-match routine.The Ab-solute Truth

Getting Your Stomach in Shape

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about the correct way to work your abs. Since this subject seems to be on everyone's mind, I think it is a good time to do a detailed review of abdominal training fundamentals. Here's what you need to know:

It's all one muscle. There has long been a misconception that there are “upper” and “lower” abs, but in fact your abdominals are one long, flat sheet of muscle that runs from the bottom of the breastbone to the top of the pelvis. You work the whole muscle with virtually any abdominal exercise you do. Reverse crunches are no more effective for working the lower fibers of the abdominal wall than standard crunches. If you want to get more of those lower fibers working, concentrate on keeping your abs pulled in tight as you do each repetition; focus especially on keeping that “cummerbund” region below the belly button pulled inward.

Mix and match. Your muscles think it's a big yawn to do the same exercises week after week, so after a while they stop responding. That's why even though most ab exercises you do target the same muscle fibers, it's a good idea to change up your routine on a frequent basis. Throwing new and different moves at your abs keeps them in a constant state of adaptation, and ultimately that translates into better results.

Don't wait to exhale. Breathing is perhaps the most neglected yet most important aspect of ab training. By exhaling strongly through your mouth as you lift and inhaling through your mouth as you lower, you work deep muscle fibers that would not otherwise get into the act.Butt Toning Exercises

How to Sculpt Your Rear

Question :

How can I tone my butt? What exercises can I do in the gym and at home that will make it more perky?

Answer :

Squats are my favorite lower body exercise. They recruit more of your large leg muscles than any other exercise and are great butt toners. You can do squats in the gym or at home. You can do them with your own body weight, while holding dumbbells in your hands, or, for more resistance, with a barbell across the back of your shoulders (use a spotter when you do this).

Here's how to do a squat:

1. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart (wider if you have long legs) and your feet parallel, or slightly turned out.

2. Cross your arms in front of your chest, or hold dumbbells in your hands and rest them on your hips.

3. Inhale as you squat, going no lower than the point at which your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep your head up and your back straight. One way to keep your head up is to focus on a point high on the wall, near where it meets the ceiling (unless you're training in the Astrodome).

4. Exhale as you stand up. Straighten your legs completely, but don't lock your knees. Also, make sure your knees don't jut out beyond your toes. This avoids knee strain (which is also the main reason for not going lower than knees parallel to the ground) and won't recruit your hip extensors as much. Do up to 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions.

Squats are a power exercise, and you should eventually do them with some added resistance. There is a lot to keep track of while doing squats. It is very helpful to do them in front of a mirror.

One tried and true floor exercise that works your butt is the kickback. Start out on a mat on your hands and knees, with your weight evenly distributed among your points of support. Draw one knee forward underneath you as far as you can, and then extend your leg straight behind you. Although the exercise is called a kickback, the extension of your leg should be smooth and gentle. Avoid excessively arching or rounding your back while doing this routine. Do this on one side for 15-25 repetitions, and then change to the other side. When this gets easy, wear ankle weights for more resistance.

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