Hi everyone. I am by no means a 'bodybuilder' but I would really like to get that healthy, lean and toned look like those women on the cover of fitness magazines. the thin skin, no blubber and no more jiggly thighs! but i don't want to get too buffed up and muscular.

I'm 5'4" and i weigh about 110 lbs. i'm not fat per se but i just can't get rid of my stubborn tricep and thigh fat!!! i've always been very active since childhood and i'm now 31. since i am familiar with the laws of gravity, i would like to grow older gracefully.

I do Tae Bo for 45 minutes about 4-5 times per week and Pilates/Yoga 2x per week about 1 hour each time. sometimes my Tae Bo workout includes upper body weights and if not, i'll do a full upper body workout along with Tae Bo.

I don't eat any greasy, fried foods and hardly any sugar. my diet is pretty healthy. lots of fruits, veggies, water, lean meats, carbs and fiber and i seem to be following all the advice that's out there. but i just can't seem to lose any inches! i don't think i'm overeating but i've been working out quite a bit for the last 2 months and i haven't seen any results. i've measured! I'm stronger and more energetic, but still the same size with tight jeans at the butt. what am I doing wrong??? any advice would be greatly appreciated!

THANKS!!!

Good news for you as a woman is that you will not get buff, only one in a couple hundred thousand or maybe more, of woman have the genetics to get buff. So along with your pilates and tae bo, I would recommend some gym time with machines and some free weights. For those arms, I would recommend some tricep extensions. 3 sets of 10. Then a couple sets of overhead dumbell presses. For the thighs, some squats could be good. use a smith machine or a squat rack to do them, once again try 3 sets of 10. But if you want a better complete body, do your whole body during the week. This would include the following excersies.

Chest- flat bench press with machine or barbell, pec dec machine or flyes
Shoulders- machine military press or free weight dumbell presses
Arms- Dumbell curls for biceps, Tricep press downs and overhead db raises
ABS- crunches flat or at a decline if flat ones are too easy, leg raises for lower abs
Back- some cable rows and lat pull downs
Legs- Squats, leg extensions and leg curls, calf raises for calves

This should get you started, if you are unsure on wha tthe excercises are, look them up on the internet, there are usually good pics of them.

Good news for you as a woman is that you will not get buff, only one in a couple hundred thousand or maybe more, of woman have the genetics to get buff.

Just to clarify this a little- You won't get buff unless you eat to get buff. Gaining large amounts of muscle requires you to eat like an animal, which I'm sure you don't do- So you don't need to worry about gaining too much size.

Hi Guys,

Thanks a lot for your advice. i guess my main concern was why am i not losing that little extra bit of flab?

problem is - i actually DO do all those exercises you mentioned. i use free weights and do 3 sets of 15-20 even! I've been told that if i want to get lean, i should do more reps and keep the weight lower ie: i now use 5lb weights.

i do all the exercises you mentioned along with the leg exercises too as well as the cardio and can't seem to get that really lean and toned look i'm after.

what am i doing wrong?

thanks again!

What is your diet? How much and how often do you eat? Do you drink a couple of litres of water per day? As far as arms go and flabbyness or whatever, I will say that seeing as I have tendinitis in my right bicep I have not worked out in about 2 months heavy, 2 weeks ago I just started back light, ie 9 lb dumbells and my excersise weights cut to no more than 50 lbs per excercise. My muscle fibers have shrunk quite a bit and my arms have become alot softer from lack of heavy weight to work them. So the maintenance I am doing just is not heavy enough to recruit the muscle fiber to grow and become tight and hard. So what I am saying is you might want to up that weight to get your muscles tightened up and firmer.

I eat a bit of everything really, lots of veggies, fruits, lean meats (all but beef), carbs and yes, i do drink a lot of water. hardly any refined sugars and very few sweets except for chocolate. no alcohol.

I eat about every 3-4 hours, breakfast is usually a ham, egg & cheese toasted sandwich with a cup of coffee, lunch is maybe noodles or pasta salad and dinner is usually lean meat with veggies either steamed or stir-fried. interspersed with snacks throughout the day, maybe crackers, wheat thins, baby carrots or fruits.

i can try increasing the weight, but then my reps would be much less than 15-20. would that matter? And i find that with heavier weights, i'm more inclined to use momentum and swing the weight which is not what i want to do.

i also do lots of squats, calf raises, kicks and stuff with the Tae Bo but the calves are not getting smaller and the fat off the thighs is not decreasing. what can i do to rid the thigh flab?

as for arms, i do 3x 15-20 reps of these exercises (not sure if they're the right names) all with 5lb weights for now.

shoulder presses
all 3 detoid lifts front/middle/back
bicep curls
forearm lifts
tricep dips
tricep kickbacks

most of all to the point of burn and exhaustion, which is what i read in the magazines.

i don't do much chest or lat pulldowns because i don't have the equipment and don't want to join a gym so i do all these exercises off DVDs at home.

i can try increasing the weight, but then my reps would be much less than 15-20. would that matter? And i find that with heavier weights, i'm more inclined to use momentum and swing the weight which is not what i want to do.

Doing 15-20 reps isn't really challenging to the muscle, you're really just training the muscles for stamina when you work in that rep range. Try going down to ten reps with a weight you can handle at that range, you'll most likely see more results. When it comes to swinging the weights up, there's an easy remedy there- Don't do it. If you can do an exercise with good form at fifteen to twenty reps, then you should be able to drop the reps down, and find a weight you can still use with good form at your new rep range- Definitely do not swing the weights, stick with proper form. It might take you a while to find the right amount of weight to use for each exercise, but you'll get there-

most of all to the point of burn and exhaustion, which is what i read in the magazines.

Burn and exhaustion have nothing to do with progress really- You can reach all your goals without them, so don't rely on them to know whether or not you've had a good workout- Rely only on your results. Yes, it can take time to see results, I'd recommend waiting three or four months when you start a new program to see if it's really working for you- The body takes time to adapt.

I was gonna say that to firm up muscles, you have to work them hard, not just light weights, I have been doing light weights for my upper body and my muscles are way softer than they were before. And this I believe is because they are used to twice the weight that I am using now.

thanks a lot guys! I will definitely give it a try. i was hoping to get results in 1-2 months, but now i guess it's gonna be more like 3-4.

I'm sorry, i have another question. I've just started a new workout DVD - the Firm Upper Body and i really like it a lot. I took your advice and the advice on the DVD and i'm using heavier weights. Actually 3 different weights - light 5lb, medium 8lb and heavy 12lb for all upper body exercises.

If I do this 40-minute workout every other day along with 45 min of Tae Bo, any ideas on how long it will take to see some results? in terms of workouts or weeks/months. Do i really have to wait 3-4 months?? I'm now about 115lbs 5'4" i think my BMI is 18 and it feels like it's taking a really loooong time to see the results i want to see - a nice and defined, lean upper body. I still have my 'gobble gobble tricep flab' I seem to have only lost like 1/4 of an inch on my legs after 6 weeks of workouts 5-6days every week. I'm getting a bit discouraged...

Just keep plugging away.

Run

i can't run, i've tried but the knee kills. what's the best results-oriented cardio exercise other than running?

elliptical trainer.

don't have gym membership. i workout at home. aerobics dvds and tae bo is my current choice, but i don't seem to be seeing any results even after 6 weeks. none at all. i've measured. it's frustrating cuz the workouts are really tough but still no results. it's like working really hard without any payoff.