In order to shape and sculpt the body you desire, you need to know how your body functions with the basics of fitness. Your body is a highly adaptable, complex system of muscles, nerves, and connective tissue (bones, joints, ligaments and tendons), and when stressed, has the ability to improve itself in a variety of ways (ie, fat loss, muscle gain).

If you’re looking to tone and shape your body, learning how your body adapts to stress (workouts) is essential to gaining the body of your dreams. Learning these principles will help you on the road to re-shaping your physique.

INTEGRATED TRAINING

Your body requires “stress” in order to change. This “stress” comes in a variety of forms and can be used in many ways. Integrated training is a concept that integrates all the components of fitness into one progressive system. This simply means that you use a variety of exercises (stress) and switch it up often so your body doesn’t get used to the stress. If your body gets used to the exercises, then it gets “bored” and stops adapting, and then you plateau. Have you ever had this happen to you? When you experience changes in the beginning, and then it stops? That’s why you have to keep your body guessing with a variety of exercises that you switch up consistently. There’s a famous quote that states, “The exercises that will give you results are the exercises you’re not doing.”

The following are a list of the different “sections” of fitness. These are specific to sculpting and shaping, each designed to do different things. There’s resistance training, cardio training, core training, balance training, and flexibility training. Don’t miss the section at the end known as periodization training. This is the progression part of the system. It is not only recommended, it is essential to your program. But first, let’s explain the components:

Resistance Training

Resistance training, or weight training, is absolutely essential for fat loss or muscle gain. It’s also a must for shaping and sculpting your body, since muscle is the primary component of your shape. Let’s look at these two components individually to understand them better, starting with fat loss and toning.

Resistance for Fat Loss and Toning

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to reduce body-fat is avoiding the weights. The reason is that your muscle is your metabolism, (the rate at which your body burns calories). The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn, the more fat you lose.

Fat loss is all about calorie loss, and if your body is burning more calories per day from weight training (because it increases your metabolism), even on the days you’re not working out, then that will help you reach your fat loss goals even faster. The toning you experience is simply the muscles getting pronounced and shaped while you reduce body-fat. You see, your body-fat is covering up your shape-giving muscles, and when you lose your body-fat, you can see their beautiful details and shape. If you’re only doing cardio, you’re not increasing your metabolism, because cardio has minimal effect on metabolism, (the rate at which your body burns calories). So, why not just lift weights for fat loss? Why do cardio? Many reasons. Remember, these components are synergistic; each section covering what the other sections don’t. So, each one is essential.

 

Resistance for Muscle Building

No other component of fitness allows you to break your muscles down like resistance training. Your muscles will then become bigger and stronger with good nutrition and proper recovery. A balanced, high-intensity resistance-training program will help sculpt and build the physique you desire. How much resistance do you need? Look at periodization below.

Cardio Training

Cardio is the quickest way to burn the most amount of calories, and since fat loss is all about calorie burn, every time you do cardio you’re getting one step closer to your fat loss goals. An intense cardio session typically burns between 400-500 cal. (calories) whereas resistance training burns anywhere between 200-250 cal. per session. And since there are 3,500 cal. in 1 LB. of body-fat, the more calories you burn the better.

It also helps you shed excess water weight which will make you appear toner and leaner. You see, the extra salt and sugar we consume in our diet makes us retain excess fluid between our muscles and skin, making us appear more “bloated” than we really need to be, even if you have low body-fat. You may even notice the difference in your body and face after only one intense session of cardio (I always notice the difference in my face, giving me a more youthful appearance).

Over the years I have come across many people looking for the cut, tone look in there muscles. They’ll be doing tons of shape giving resistance training but neglect the cardio. Remember: cardio is essential for cutting up, (drastically reducing body-fat), and seeing details in your physique.

Also, cardio is the number one component of fitness for overall health and wellness. Heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S., so remember to incorporate this life saving component into your program. It also drastically fights depression! Clinical studies have shown that cardio is better than anti-depressants for increasing your feelings of wellness and happiness.

Core Training

Nothing completes a physique like a perfect posture with a well-sculpted midsection. This requires resistance training for your core muscles (see Resistance Training) in a systematic methodical way. Most people think of the “six pack” as their core, but that’s only a small slice of the pie. Your six pack, or rectus abdominis, is only one muscle group out of the twenty-nine muscles found in the core (core muscles are all the muscles connected to your spine).

In addition to looking great, your core muscles help you stabilize your body while working out with intense exercises, essential for instigating the body’s adaptation processes (losing fat, gaining muscle). Your body won’t change unless you work it out with high intensity, and you need a strong core to help keep you safe in those intense exercise situations. Otherwise, your form will be poor with a lack of control, leading to an unbalanced, unattractive (and non-functional) physique. That’s why you must top your training off with a well-designed core-training program.

Balance Training (or Stabilization Training)

Balance is the key to life. Every component in your fitness program must be balanced. This is not only referring to amounts of each component in your program (resistance vs. cardio vs. core) but how you work them out. More specifically, balance training (or stabilization training) is essential for making sure all the parts of your system (or body) are working synergistically and evenly. This will translate into how your body is proportioned and shaped. Some people overuse their arms and not their chest and back. Some people over use their thighs (quads and hamstrings) and not their glutes (butt muscles). If you know how to work all the muscles evenly with perfect control, not only is it functional and healthy, it looks better! Studies have shown that the human eye sees proportionality as more attractive than anything else, so training with balance is essential for your dreams of building your perfect body.

Flexibility Training

Flexibility training lengthens and tones your body’s muscles by increasing joint mobility and muscular extensibility (muscle length). This is important because resistance and cardio training shortens the length of your muscles, and over time (without proper flexibility training), limits the range of motion in your joints. This will limit your ability to exercise at maximum capacity and decrease your ability to lose fat and gain muscle.

Statistics also show that people who participate in a flexibility program burn on average of 15% more body-fat than those who do not.

Periodization

Have you felt the frustration of never seeming to reach your training goals? Or reaching a training plateau where progress seemed all but impossible? These typical concerns are one of the major reasons for using a long-term training plan. Periodization training, in essence, is nothing more than that- a training plan which changes your workouts at regular intervals of time. As mentioned earlier, this is simply to prevent your body from getting used to any specific type of training, allowing you to progress naturally to your sculpting and performance goals.

Periodization training involves manipulating or changing training variables, such as the number of repetitions performed per set, exercises performed, the amount of weight lifted, and rest periods between sets. You don’t have to be a competitive bodybuilder or athlete to benefit from periodization training-everyone can benefit from it.