I am trying to get my work out on, but......I need your help!?

Question

I have officially committed myself to working out, but I just dont know what exercises I need to do and how many of them I need to be doing for it all to be productive. Let me tell you a bit about my body. I used to be 105lbs, had a baby and weighed 145lbs afterwards, so I am dealing with a body that stretched and is carrying more weight then its used too. So now I have lost weight (down to 134lbs give ot take). Now I want to start really toning what I have left. I dont want to loose anymore weight. Let me tell you my trouble spots:
Thighs - rub slightly
Legs - just want to tone up
Butt - want to make it tighter
Arms - want to tone the under arm above the elbow
Abs/Sides - needs to be tighter

I will be working out at home. I have some equipment already, treadmill, balance ball, ball bells, resistant bands and floor pad. Now I have all this, but not sure how to work them, to get results. I have a trip at the end of May, that I would like to have a tighter body by then.

Can someone tell me wich exercises will work best for me and the amount of reps per exercise?

Thanks again!!

Answer 1

Squats, sets of 20 reps. (meaning if you tried a 21st rep, you would not be able to complete it). Do no more than 3 working sets. I'd probably only suggest one working set the first week or two. (By working set, I mean a non-warmup set).

Do pullups to tone up the arms, shoulders, and back (no more than 3 working sets). Do dips also to tone up the arms (also build up to 3 working sets). Tight abs come from cardio. I know my town has one of those park trails with random work stations every half mile for dips, pullups, and situps. Hopefully your town has one of these.

For cardio I suggest 'high intensity interval training'. Basically, after warming up, you do intervals of all out effort intertwined with recovery intervals. Depending on your conditioning, you'd sprint for 30 seconds, jog slow for 30 seconds, sprint for 30 seconds, jog for 30 seconds, for a few minutes starting out, build it up to at most 20 minutes of intervals. ( I could go no more than 3 minutes my first time last year).

Answer 2

Like someone said, squats will help. For starters make sure that you are drinking an adequate amount of water because your muscles need it. There is an exercise called the plank that you can do and basically it works your core muscles. The way to do it is you get into a modified push up position but rest on your elbows and forearms while up on your tip toes. You do this and hold for as long as you can. Try to do this after your workout as kind of an exclamation point.