I must admit I hate headlines like this, as there is so much more to getting in shape than just 5 exercises. But if I was to assume you have your Nutrition under control, you have no injuries or health concerns and need an exercise program to get you in shape that does not take an enormous amount of time to do but gives you a big bang for your buck, then this is it. This is targeted specifically to the female population and has a real focus on toning the butt area! The biggest mistake most girls make in trying to get toned and in great physical shape is using too much cardio and when they do use weights, they do too many reps with light hand weights. The fear of "getting big like a guy" is still in many girls minds. Trust me you cannot get big even if you wanted to. You lack the most important hormone needed to do this which is testosterone. In my 11 years as a trainer ALL of the girls who lifted big weights got smaller not larger. Their muscles tightened up and they developed the athletic sporting appearance in their body. The exercises we are about to share with you are some of the best ones we have used over the years and continue to use today.

It seems like a crazy statement to make. For if you are improving your fitness surely you are improving your health, right? What people fail to understand is that Health & Fitness are two different things. To truly become fit, you must become health first. In that order. You cannot effectively use fitness methods to get healthy. And unfortunately this is what most Group Training programs are all about. It is all about trying to do endless push ups, burpees, running and other more endurance type training activities to get people to "feel the burn" and be exhausted after every workout. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against group training as it can be great fun and give people a strong bonding that individual training cannot. As long as it is used correctly, people are evaluated before starting and has a way of slowly teaching you how to progress safely and efficiently into more difficult exercises and programs it is awesome. The strange thing is people want to have the look of an elite athlete, in particular a sprinter that you would see at the Olympic Games, yet the training methods, exercises and even the nutrition and recovery methods are nothing like that of a sprinter! Not even close to doing what a sprinter does. That is the same as telling me 1+1=15. When 1+1=2. Today I am going to share with you why most group training programs are causing more problems than they solve, how to find a good group program to join and lastly what things you must be able to do, before joining a fitness based program. There are many good programs out there, you just need to know what to look for.

When it comes to choosing the "best" exercise for building strong leg muscles one of the first exercises brought up is the leg press. Yet when you analyze this movement closely and actually see what it does to your body, you will find it close to last on your list of leg exercises, along with a few of it's buddies the leg extension and leg curl. True strength is more than just muscle size and it is definitely never created from training with machines. When it comes to rehabilitation after a knee injury it seems logical to find a safe way to train and get your muscles back by using machines like the leg press. Most people would regard rebuilding strength and muscles as the number one priority, and completed at the expense of balance, stability, coordination and even how you move! Even the sports world who rely on skills are corrupted with this logic. I cannot tell you how many times I have started training with a new client who tells me how strong their legs are and that they can push 300--400kg on a leg press, yet when I test them for functional movements such as Squats, Lunges or a single leg stance they can barely lift their own bodyweight! This article we are going to look closely at the leg press and show you why squats are superior to this exercise in so many ways.