How To Exercise For Different Body Shapes

1. How To Exercise Pear Shape Bodies

Women with pear shapes have an endomorph body type – by nature they have slower metabolisms and store their fat in their hips and thighs. If this sounds like you, your exercises should ideally be a mix of cardio and strength for fat-burning and defining your upper body to balance out your curves.

Here is a quick routine to get your metabolic system working:

3 rounds of:

100 skips (implement words)

10 squat press (implement words)

10 kettle bell swings.

Squat press:

This exercise is designed to work a variety of major muscle groups simultaneously. The downward squat works your quads, calves, thighs, abs and obliques, and the upward motion targets your shoulders and biceps. These squats will really get that heart rate up and burning calories while also improving strength.

2. How To Excercise Apple Shape Bodies

Like pear body shapes, apple body shapes are also endomorphs, as their slow metabolism means their fat gets stored in their midsection. This weight actually has far more health implications than the weight on pear shapes, but thankfully fat stored around the belly is also easier to shed.

Turn up the intensity

For our girls with the apple figure, we recommend ramping up your cardio – and no, we don’t mean strolling on the treadmill to your favourite pop hits for a whole hour. Cardio exercise is far more effective when you up your intensity to the absolute max for short bursts at a time.

Cardio will help you shed off that body fat more than it will for any other body shape. If you can’t find the motivation, round your friends up and register for a social sport.

Here are three options to try:

• 10 minutes of sprinting for 20 seconds followed by a 40 second jog
• Skipping for 1 minute followed by a wall sit for another minute
• Shadow boxing with left and right punches for 45 seconds followed by 3 burpees

3. How To Exercise Straight Shape Bodies

Then there are those who sport a thin, lean and straight frame. With no hips or bootie to speak of, the ectomorphs struggle when it comes to gaining fat and muscles. Some may have a svelte and slim physique – for others, this comes off as boyish and rectangle.

The focus here is on strengthening and shaping your frame with more muscle by honing down on weight training. Full body workouts can actually help you gain more curves on your frame when balanced out with tightening the body’s core muscles.

Ramp up your strength exercises with low reps of the following exercises:

Deadlifts

As its name suggests, this is the master of all weightlifting exercises to build the upper and lower body like no other movement. When done right, this move increases your core strength and adds to stability. Just make sure to use the correct form, keep your lower back neutral and lift up by pushing your legs, not arms.

Front squats

In contrast to back-squats, front squats involve moving the barbell to rest on the front shoulders. They put more emphasis on the quads rather than the glutes and work more of the core. They are great for those who want to give their back a break and work the legs to practice deeper squats.

Body rows

The body row is perfect for anyone wanting to progress to full bodyweight pull-ups as it uses the same muscle groups. The intensity can be adjusted to suit any fitness level to build and tone the upper body. Remember to maintain a straight line with the body as you pull up and beginners can bend the knees and use more of the heels to push up if required.

Shoulder press

This exercise can be performed using dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, resistance bands or a machine, so it’s perfect for all fitness levels. Hold the weights at shoulder level with elbows bent, straighten your back, stabilize your core and press the weights overhead by extending your arms. Then just return to your starting position and repeat to not only improve muscle and bone strength, but improve stability to assist in everyday activities.

4. How To Exercise Hourglass Shape Bodies

The hourglass body is officially the most sought-after body shape for its attractive curves and narrow waist. This body type tends to distribute fat evenly around the body so the focus should be on accentuating the curves by gaining more muscle.

Horizontal and vertical push and pull

Much like how it sounds, a horizontal exercise simply involves moving a weight horizontally, either towards your chest or away from it depending on whether the movement involves pushing or pulling.  Pair up bench presses with bent over rows for a standard exercise of horizontal pushing and pulling.

The same deal goes with vertical pushes and pulls – we’re talking overhead presses for your pushes and chin-up exercises for your pulls. These upper body exercises will help plump up your chest and tone your back.

Remember to also match upper body movements with lower body exercises including leg presses, squats and lunges. Exercises that keep your thighs toned will also help to define and lift your booty.

Trim your waist

You might think ab exercises will help keep your core thin so to emphasise your curves but, building ab muscles actually thickens your waist and can give it a boxy look. Aim instead to work on your obliques, the muscles that run along the side of your abdomen. The more toned up they are, the more your curves will start to show themselves.

V-sit twist

The best exercise to torture your core with? We’ll go with the v-sit twist. See if you can do this exercise while holding onto a weight in your hands.

 To get your body fit in 28 days with Fitaz’s guide, click HERE.