Summer Beach Body Exercise Plan

With bathing suit season coming up quickly, you need to get your body into shape so you can show off your washboard abs, killer legs and toned arms. To do this, you will need to combine cardiovascular exercise to burn the fat with a strength training routine to build some muscle and give you a toned, chiseled look. You can't go from 'flab to abs' in a few weeks, but if you start early enough, you will be able to make a huge difference in the way your body looks.

If you are trying to reduce your body fat percentage, you need to start doing high intensity cardiovascular exercise. This is true whether your problem area is your entire body or just one area such as your abs, thighs or arms. If you try and only target that one area, you won't see any results. You can't burn fat by doing crunches or bicep curls. Even if those exercises did burn fat, there is no way to control what area of your body the fat will come from. This is known as spot reducing and it is impossible.

If you are just starting to exercise, it is especially important to combine a flexibility regimen with your routine. Stretching takes only a few minutes and can go a long way in preventing soreness and injuries. You should warm up before you stretch by walking, jogging or biking lightly for five minutes. Next, pick one stretch per muscle group and hold it for 15-30 seconds. Do two to three sets per muscle. This should not take more than ten minutes.

Cardio will help you burn the layer of fat so that you can show off the muscles underneath. You should be doing cardio three to six times per week. The first two weeks, three times [per week] will be enough. Starting off slow will allow your body to adjust to the exercise. This will help prevent any injuries, especially if you do not normally workout. Increase the amount of cardio you do by one day per week after the first two [weeks] until you reach five or six [days of cardio per week].