Having a strong and toned abdomen is one of the main goals of most people who start weight training. On the one hand, it is probably the most showy muscle that exists and the one we like to show off the most on the beach. However, we must not forget that the core’s function is to stabilize the body during the execution of our exercises. The forces that we use in our training have their origin in our midsection and are later transmitted to our extremities. Our body performs a coordinated action in which the core is essential.

On the other hand, we must not forget that the core is not only the abdominals, in our table of exercises to do at home we have to include both abdominal and lower back exercises. It is also important that, as we mentioned, the core aims to stabilize the body, so by performing compound exercises such as squats or deadlifts we are indirectly working our core. Finally, as they say “abdominals are achieved in the kitchen”, that is to say that for a showy six pack, we need to have a fairly low percentage of fat with a well-executed diet and then complement it with a table of exercises at home selecting from the 40 core exercises that we are going to present.

In this list of core exercises we will divide the exercises according to different factors: without equipment, with TRX, with a partner, with dumbbells.

Core exercises without equipment: to perform any of these exercises we will not need anything more than the floor and in some cases objects that we have at home such as a chair or a rag.

1. Trunk lifts on the floor: also known as “crunches” or simply sit-ups, this exercise is the most classic of all. However, we do not recommend overdoing this exercise as it is not particularly effective and has some potential for injury, so we do not believe it is a central part of our core training.
2. Extended leg lifts on the floor: similar to the previous exercise, in this case we raise the legs off the floor either at the same time or one by one while keeping the abdomen contracted. Another basic abs exercise, which targets the lower abs.
3. Lumbar extension on the floor: This is an exercise for the core that focuses on the lumbar in which we raise the trunk and legs, but lying face down.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7EmdZl3OUM
4. Flexiones delfín: es una variación de las flexiones que además de trabajar el core, también trabajará brazos y hombros.
5. Floor Pelvic Raise: One of the best known back core exercises, working both the rectus abdominis and lower back.
6. Leg Flapping – This core exercise is quite useful as it combines an isometric contraction and leg movement.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoHnFoltddg
7. Straight Arm Plank: The classic version of the plank is one of the most popular core exercises today.
8. Plank on elbows: a slightly more complicated version of the previous one, basic in any core exercise table.
9. Plank with arm and leg raised: similar to the traditional plank, but adding more difficulty by removing two points of support.
10. Lateral plank: supported on one elbow and one leg, with this core exercise at home you will focus on the abdominal oblique.
11. Reverse plank: with this exercise you can strengthen your lower back at home, in addition to working your glutes and hamstrings, which is why it is part of our list of core exercises.
12. reverse boat with leg elevation: combines isometric exercise with the movement of our legs to create a core exercise at home more complicated than the previous one.
13. Side plank with push-up – We combine a standard side plank with a push-up or push-up.
14. Hip Swing Side Plank: This core exercise lowers your hips to the floor from a side plank position.
15. Plank to squat: We go from the plank position with arms extended to the deep squat and return to the starting position. By working the lower back it is a great exercise to strengthen the back at home.
16. Climber: from the plank position we bring the knee to the chest, it can be done without material so it is a good core exercise at home.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6VbKOxPDY
17. Elbow climber: similar to the previous exercise, but this time bringing the knee to the elbow. Esta versión es un gran ejercicio para fortalecer lumbares en casa.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J4hRICVjRo
18. Elevated Feet Stair Climber: This exercise with your feet on a raised surface like a chair hits your upper body more and is a great choice for a back strengthening exercise at home.
19. Gliding Climber: For this core exercise, use a cloth to execute the rock climber by sliding your feet across the floor.
20. Spider climber: it is executed like the elbow climber, but resting the sole of the foot on the ground, it is less physically demanding, but works more on mobility.
21. Semi-circular climber: while we execute a normal climber, we rotate the torso until we create a semi-circle, helping to strengthen the abdominals at home.
22. Jumping climber: In this exercise to strengthen the abdomen at home, the feet are brought up to the height of the navel in a jump.
23. Low Jump Climber: A more complicated version but a great addition to your table of abdominal exercises to do at home, we do a low jump climber, but with support on the elbows.
24. Side-by-side climber: Same as the spider climber, but with both feet at the same time, it targets the lower back so it’s a great addition to your back-strengthening workout chart.
25. One-Handed Stepper: We continue to complicate our at-home sit-up chart with a version of the stepper, but with the addition of supporting the weight with one hand making it a core exercise for advanced athletes.
26. One-foot climber: Our last climber in our sit-up chart to do at home, it is probably the most difficult as it combines the execution of the sliding climber, but keeping one of the legs in the air.
27. Burpees: Combining cardio and plank, this core exercise is a calorie-burning machine for which you don’t need any equipment.
28. Hypopressive: controlling the breath we can work the entire core without the need for any material

Core exercises with equipment: in this case we will need simple and cheap equipment such as bands or combined with typical elements of any house to do these exercises to strengthen the abdominals at home.

29. Lateral rotation of the trunk with a band: with the band secured at a medium height, we grab the band with both hands and rotate, always maintaining the tension of the band.
30. Rotation of the trunk with a band from below to above: within our table of exercises to strengthen the back, here we will do a rotation similar to that of the previous exercise, but starting from a low point and raising our hands above our head.
31. Shrugs with a band: the shrug or “crunch”, a basic bodybuilding exercise, can be made more difficult by using an elastic band.
32. Band Reverse Shrug: Similar to the above, but raising your feet, will help strengthen your abs at home.
33. Kneeling shrugs with band: kneeling and the band held at a higher point, we bring the chest to the knees working everything with this core exercise.
34. Abdominal roller: this device can be purchased for less than ten euros and is the exercise with the greatest activation of the core. Both abdominals and lower back work, being one of the best exercises to do back at home. For other abdominal roller exercises check out this article:
    
35. Lateral abdominal roller: we perform a twist at the same time that we execute a repetition of the standard roller.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iof5KAgHwDM
36. Step of the bear with a roller: let’s add to our table to do abs at home the step of the bear while the roller destabilizes us.
37. Standing abdominal roller: if we are very advanced we will be able to with this core exercise, which is the one that most progressions reach.
38. Reverse abdominal roller: we bring the feet to the torso instead of the other way around.
39. Roller with one leg and one hand: the most extreme version of all if you are able to master it you have an iron core.
40. Dragon flags: if you have some support that is resistant and some space you can also do this exercise to do back at home.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs4PTHIeR8w

Conclusions: it is not necessary to leave the house to do core exercises that help us sculpt an aesthetic and functional abdomen, we have an almost unlimited number of core exercises to create a table of exercises to do at home that will help us reach our goals .

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Last week we talked about Powerexplosive in our review of most important influencers in Spain And this time we return to analyze what is undoubtedly another of the leaders of the fitness community in Spain due to the great community it has and the health message that it spreads on the networks and that has so far permeated.

Sergio does not have such technical and performance-focused content as our friend Power, since his content is not focused on people who want to perform, but rather seeks to get ordinary people to embrace a healthy life style where movement and real and little processed food prevail.

Access the Fitenium app where you can train dozens of routines for free.

Before opening his YouTube channel, Sergio Peinado was dedicated to personal training working in a gym, however his physical condition was not at all optimal not only to carry out his professional activity but for anyone. Sergio was significantly overweight and despite the fact that he had the knowledge to change his health and physical condition, he had a relationship with food that prevented him from achieving his goals. In this video you can learn more about his story and how he managed to change his mentality to obtain a physical change that makes you improve your appearance and especially your health.

A large part of Sergio’s secret is that he is a person with whom many people can easily identify and he does not sell a lifestyle in which to achieve significant health and physical improvements, you have to follow a perfect diet and routine. Peinado understands that the majority of the population does not have time to eat in a complex way or for long training sessions, so his proposal is based on a selection of healthy foods in simple recipes and quick workouts that can be done at home with very little equipment.

Since 2011, when he opened his channel, he has uploaded videos on quite a variety of topics, denying myths in the world such as that fats are harmful or that eating carbohydrates in the afternoon makes you have more fat. An important part of its content are fast routines such as abs in 7 minutes or chest in 15 minutes. Thanks to this close approach that empathizes with his followers, he has managed to get thousands of people to increase their physical activity and improve their health. They also highlight their videos of physical transformations within their fitness community, both theirs and their clients who inspire others to achieve their own physical change. Sergio, like anyone else, has peaks in shape and tells us how he gets back into shape once he has lost it.

Sergio offers courses and training methods through Fuertafit, through whose courses and fitness community his clients learn how to lead a healthy life and obtain amazing physical changes at a very affordable cost.

Some values of closeness, without promising things that are not possible and without selling you the magic supplement, together with an undeniable charisma and his ability to communicate, mean that Sergio has penetrated deeply into the fitness community in Spain without having the most spectacular physique in the world. . Precisely for this reason, many people identify with it and like to know how a real person leads a fitness lifestyle. His travel video blogs are also very popular, how he spends the holidays and his more personal facet. We have Sergio for a while and we want to keep it that way.

Greetings and we’ll be back next week!

If you don’t want a specific strength or hypertrophy routine and prefer a mixed strength routine that mixes the best of both worlds, you should try the 5-Day PHAT Workout.

The PHAT is a routine frequency 2 5 days. The idea is to build our base with exercises worked in ranges of strength, and hypertrophy accessories, it is also a routine with a frequency of two, so we must work all parts of our body 2 times a week.

This routine was created by legendary powerlifter and professional bodybuilder Layne Norton as well as a nutrition doctor. According to Layne, each work of a specific quality involves the use of a certain number of muscle fibers, so when strength and hypertrophy work together, this number of muscle fibers subjected to effort and fatigue is greater.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso Strength
Tuesday: Leg Strength
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Shoulders and Back Hypertrophy
Friday: Legs Hypertrophy
Saturday: Chest and Arms Hypertrophy

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym five days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do four days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our PHAT routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell plank at home if we want to continue progressing without injury.

5. When should I change the PHAT routine?

Many people wonder how long we can do this PHAT routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you drop! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or fullbody (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body.

The PHat routine 5 days

With our PHAT routine and the complementary information you can already get fit at home forgetting about the complications of a gym routine with dumbbells. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

The 4-day PHUL Powerbuilding Routine is a routine whose acronym stands for Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower, which indicates that it combines torso and leg sessions in which strength training and others hypertrophy play a leading role.

The PHUL is a 4 day powerbuilding routine. The idea is to build our base with exercises worked in ranges of strength, and hypertrophy accessories, it is also a routine with a frequency of two, so we must work all parts of our body 2 times a week.

The basic principles of this routine is to train basics every day in which we will progress, and then we will use accessory powerlifting exercises with which we will correct imbalances and improve our posture and other defects.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso Strength
Tuesday: Leg Strength
Wednesday: Active Rest
Thursday: Torso Hypertrophy
Friday: Legs Hypertrophy

Although in general this powerlifting training is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason you can only go three days a week, you can do four days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our PHAT powerbuilding routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell plank at home if we want to continue progressing without injury.

5. When should I change the POWERbuilding PHUL routine?

Many people wonder how long we can do this PHUL powerbuilding routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you get tired! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or fullbody (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body.

The PHUL powerbuilding routine 4 days

With our PHUL routine and the complementary information, you can now do your powerbuilding training and progress both in aesthetics and in strength.. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

There are people who say that you cannot train with little equipment at home, but that is not true. With just a pair of dumbbells you can do this dumbbell routine at home that will allow you to stay in shape without leaving home

This table exercises with dumbbells at home is full body and you can do it as many times as you want throughout the week, however we believe that it is best to leave a day of rest between training and training.

There are many variables to progress in hypertrophy or strength: volume, intensity, density, rest, so let’s not make the mistake of thinking that this routine with dumbbells at home falls short because you only train three times a week. It’s the best way to lay a solid foundation to then opt for other training options that are more suited to our goals.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Dumbbell workout at home
Tuesday: Leg
Wednesday: Dumbbell workout at home
Thursday: Torso
Friday: Dumbbell workout at home

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do three days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing. An example would be like this.

What is active rest? It consists of taking a break from our exercise routine to do at home with dumbbells, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the dumbbell plank at home if we want to continue progressing without injury.

5. When should I change my dumbbell routine at home?

Many people wonder how long we can do this dumbbell routine at home and still get results, the answer is simple until you drop out! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), pull-push (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or push-legs (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner you stay with this table exercises with dumbbells at home for at least 12 weeks.

6. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body.

Dumbbell workout at home

With our routine with dumbbells at home and the complementary information you can already get fit at home forgetting about the complications of a gym routine with dumbbells. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

We are going to start sharing with all our followers an optimal 5 3 1 routine for all people who want a hybrid program between strength and hypertrophy.

This 5 3 1 strength routine has a torso leg split and is quite focused on building up the basics as the best way to gain strength and hypertrophy.

There are many variables to progress in hypertrophy or strength: volume, intensity, density, rest so let’s not make the mistake of thinking that this 5 3 1 strength routine falls short because you only train three times a week. It’s the best way to lay a solid foundation to then opt for other training options that are more suited to our goals.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Torso
Tuesday: Leg
Wednesday: Routine B
Thursday: Torso
Friday: Leg

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do three days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing. An example would be like this.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our 5 3 1 routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the 5 3 1 routine if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. Substitutions:

We highly recommend doing our 5 3 1 routine with the scheduled exercises, but if for whatever reason you can’t do any of the exercises, you can substitute them as follows.

• Squat: Press + 15 reps of lower back extension (i.e. if you have 3×8 of Squat, replace it with 3×8 of press and 3×15 of lower back extension).
• Deadlift: Hip Thrust + 15 repetitions of lumbar extension.
• Romanian Deadlift: Nordic Curl.
• Stride: Unilateral Hip Thrust with Dumbbell.
• Hip Thrust: Hip Thrust on a quadriceps extension machine.
• Calf Raise standing machine: Calf Raise with dumbbell.
• Femoral Curl: Femoral Curl with Dumbbell (between the feet).
• Quadriceps Extension: You can eliminate them.
• Press Banca Barra: Press Banca Mancuerna.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Press Militar: Press Militar con Mancuernas de Pie.
• Pulley Openings: Dumbbell Openings or Pec Deck.
• Funds: Bench Press Declined Dumbbells.
• Supine Pulley Pulldown: Biceps Pull Ups.
• T-Bar Row: Dumbbell Bench Row.

6. Change of routine

Many people wonder how long we can do this 5 3 1 routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you get tired! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), pull-push (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or push-legs (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner, stick with this 5 3 1 routine for at least 12 weeks.

7. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body

The Routine 5 3 1

Body day 1:

Day Leg 1:

Body Day 2:

Day Leg 2:

With our 5 3 1 routine and the complementary information, you can now go to the gym and start hitting the irons. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

In this article we are going to show our approach to what we consider to be an aesthetic and healthy body in a woman. Before you continue reading, we want to make it clear that the most important ability to achieve this goal is perseverance. Rome was not built in a day. Once we are clear about this, we invite you to continue reading this post so that you have a general idea of what it is and how to have a perfect physique.

What is a perfect physique?

This point is almost as important as the how. It is clear that aesthetics and beauty are subjective concepts that can vary (and do) enormously depending on the person. At Fitenium we advocate a type of body that has three characteristics: health, strength and a low percentage of fat.

• Health: it is the most important characteristic of all. The bodies of the models of the 90s with an obvious underweight gestated based on starvation do not consider that they radiate beauty. A perfect body has to allow its owner to live with health and energy to have a better quality of life.
• Strength: Another stereotype that we are totally against is that women should not have muscle and be strong. For us, a beautiful girl has the ability to train and perform sportingly, for which an adequate muscle mass is needed.
• Low fat percentage: we always hear that it is aesthetic to have a toned body, right? Well, that is nothing more than gaining muscle mass and lowering the fat percentage. It is true that women due to genetics have a higher fat percentage than men, but normally 15-20% fat with adequate muscle mass ends up generating healthy and aesthetic bodies.

Starting from these bases, we will explain how to have a body 10: healthy, strong and lean.

I want to get a perfect body, what should I know?

Perfect, you have decided to change your habits to gain physical performance, health and aesthetics, now you have to be clear about some very important concepts if you do not want to become frustrated and abandon your goal without achieving it.

• Constancy: we never tire of repeating it, do you want to know those exercises to have a flat stomach and firm buttocks? Great, but don’t forget that the results are not a flash in the pan, but require a very high dose of perseverance to have a perfect physique.
• Diet: more than a diet, this is about having a healthy lifestyle, learning to eat healthy without knowing which foods we will leave for our cheat meals, which ones are more satiating and efficient, and knowing how to cook them to achieve our goals without giving up flavor is vital to be able to maintain the key point: constancy.
• Training: here you must not fail either, it is better to set realistic goals than not going 6 days a week at first and then ending up failing after a drop in energy. Later we will talk about those exercises to tone a woman’s body and how to execute them.
• You Are You: It’s ridiculous to try to compare yourself to other people. Some people move faster and others slower. Some develop some muscle groups better than others. Other people will have an easier time staying lean and others will gain muscle mass easily. And yes, we all know someone who has that enviable genetics that makes them progress very quickly without apparent effort. The important thing is to know that here we “fight” against ourselves and comparing ourselves with others does not contribute anything, especially if we talk about “influencers”, Hollywood stars and other internet salesmen who try to sell us their system on how to have the perfect physique in a few weeks.

How to eat?

As we discussed previously, this is not about following a specific diet by weighing food or going hungry, no one achieves the perfect physique this way. It is not necessary to make a great effort because it will hardly be maintained over time and that is not sustainable, which cannot coexist with our main weapon, which is perseverance, when executing this guide on how to obtain a perfect physique.

Basically, our recommendation is to calculate the recommended caloric intake for our weight based on our basal metabolism and then make a simple division of macronutrients. To know how to have the perfect physique, we like to use the Harris Benedict formula and apply the appropriate multiplier. It is summarized in the following:

Basal Metabolic Rate = (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 height in cm) – (5 age in years) – 161

To calculate the adequate calorie intake we apply the correct multiplier depending on our physical activity:

• Little or no exercise Daily Calories Needed = BMR x 1.2
• Light exercise (1-3 days a week) Daily Calories Needed = BMR x 1.375
• Moderate exercise (3-5 days a week) Daily Calories Needed = BMR x 1.55
• Heavy exercise (6-7 days a week) Daily Calories Needed = BMR x 1,725
• Very vigorous exercise (twice a day, very hard workouts) Daily Calories Required = BMR x 1.9

If you have doubts about which multiplier to apply, always take the lower one.

Once we know how many calories we consume to have a body of ten, we must reduce 20% if we want to lose fat and apply an increase of 20% if we want to gain muscle mass. When we have the calories that we will consume for our goal, we will have to distribute them between proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Each gram of carbohydrates and protein equals 4 calories, but in the case of fats it equals 7 calories.

Our advice is to obtain between 1.6 and 1.8 grams of protein per kilo of weight and the rest of the calories from fat and carbohydrates, provided they are of good quality. We don’t need to have an exact amount, but we do need to try to prioritize lean foods with high protein content. Some examples of this type of food are the following:

• Chicken breast: per 100 grams it contains 98 calories, divided into 22 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat and 0 grams of carbohydrates.
• Lean beef: per 100 grams it contains 98 calories, divided into 20 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat and 1 grams of carbohydrates.
• Egg Whites: per 100 grams contains 49 calories, divided into 11 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat and 0 grams of carbohydrates.

Thus, if we have 150 grams of egg white for breakfast, 150 grams of beef for lunch, and 150 grams of chicken breast for dinner, we will obtain 79.5 grams of protein. If we start from a weight of 60 kilos, only between 15 and 30 extra grams will be missing to have a good protein intake. Where do you get those extra proteins? There are many options: serrano ham, cheese, salmon are perfect to obtain that protein that we lack together with good quality fats.

Therefore, if we start with a 60 kilogram, 165 cm tall, 25-year-old woman who wants to lose fat and trains 3-4 times a week, our caloric intake would be (10 x 60) + (6.25 165) – (5 25) – 161 = 1341 calories. Subsequently, as having the perfect physique is our goal, we apply the multiplier of 1.55 since we do moderate exercise, giving a caloric intake of 2078 calories. Finally, as we want to lose weight, we reduce calories by 20%, giving a final result of 1,663 calories. We apply 60*1.7 = 102 grams of protein, which is equivalent to 408 calories, and we can take the remaining 1,255 calories from wherever we want.

How to train?

Do not expect a table of exercises to have a flat stomach and firm buttocks, here we promote exercises to improve the general physical condition of our body and the diet will be what determines our physical change

Our recommendation is to train with basic exercises, which are perfect exercises to tone a woman’s body. We do not recommend at all to train only the lower body, which is something relatively common in women (curiously, in the case of men, they only train the upper body), but to develop our entire body in a harmonious way.

A good base to start the training is this fullbody routine to be executed three days a week with one rest:

Monday:

Sumo Squat 3×12
Stride 3×12 (front, rear, walking…)
Romanian Deadlift 3×12
Pull-ups 3xfailure (if we cannot do pull-ups, work with negatives or elastic bands)
Funds 3xfailure (if we cannot do pull-ups, work with negatives or elastic bands)
Press Militar 3×12
3×12 Dumbbell Fly
Isometric Plank 3xfailure

Wednesday:

Pulldown 3×12
Low pulley row 3×12
Barbell biceps curl 3×12
Triceps Extension 3×12
Press Banca 3×10
Lateral Raises 3×10
Quadriceps Extension 3×12
Roller abs 3×10

Friday:

Squat 3×12
Deadlift Dumbbells 4×10
Hip Thrust 3×10
Military Press Dumbbells 4×12
Flat bench pullover 4×12
French press pulley 3×12
Dumbbell Biceps Curl 3×12
Leg raises 4xfailure

If we follow these diet tips that count as getting a perfect physique and train consistently and efficiently, there will be no one who can stop you on the way to getting the perfect physique.

Warming up for running from 5 to 10 minutes is very important to avoid injuries and develop your full potential during training. An inappropriate warm-up is often tied to slower training, and since you’re typically only going to run twice a week, you need to make the most of every opportunity you get to train.

A good warm up should include the following:

• Movement of the body in the three planes
• joint mobility
• Light jogging to improve aerobic functions
• Short and fast races

Movement of the body in the three planes

Human movement can be described with only three planes of motion. The sagittal plane is the plane that, being perpendicular to the ground, passes exactly through the middle of your body, dividing it into two equal parts, right and left.

The transverse plane is that plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body, and it contains the movement of your waist and shoulders when you run. For example, when you raise your right knee during a lunge, your left arm rises as well. At this time your hips are slightly oriented to the left, while your shoulders are slightly oriented to the right. In this way, there is an oscillation between your shoulders and your hip during the race. Unlike golf where the hips and shoulders move in the same direction, when you run the shoulder-hip swing rotates in opposite directions.

The third plane of movement is the frontal plane, which describes movement from side to side. You can imagine this plane following the movement you make when you do a cartwheel or jumping jack.

Knowing the three planes of movement is important for running warm-ups of between 5 and 10 minutes as it will allow you to avoid injuries during training. Many athletes start running after being active in other sports. However, in many of these sports the sagittal plane is not used as it is during running. It is for this reason that running injuries are so common.

The stride matrix

Our first goal is to warm up as many muscle groups before starting training. How do we do this? The stride matrix is the best way to get your body moving in all three planes of motion.

The Stride Matrix is based on the work of physical therapist Gary Gray. The goal is to perform five different types of strides, doing five repetitions on each leg – 50 strides total. This exercise should take you about three minutes after you’ve learned it.

This warm-up significantly helps to reduce injuries, although some coaches think that it is not. The stride matrix is the first activity you should do before stepping on the treadmill or taking your first step during your run.

Will I have shoelaces? For sure yes. The first week after doing this exercise every day you will have soreness, but it won’t last long and hopefully by the second or third week you won’t feel it. After a couple of months doing the stride matrix during your 5-10 minute running warmup, you’ll find that you’re not ready to run if you haven’t done your 50 strides before you start. Many athletes who follow this warm-up routine will not only do the stride matrix before every workout, but before any race as well.

Thrash

The next warm-up exercise, which will take you 90 seconds, is the leg movement. These exercises focus on the hip joints, which obviously have a very important role in warming up for running. Having good hip mobility is essential to avoid injury. Surely you already know it, but if not, you can see the Myrtl routine, which is based on strength and mobility exercises.

In the same way as with the stride matrix, there are five exercises for swinging legs:

• Linear movement with straight leg (8 repetitions)
• Lateral movement (8 repetitions)
• Forward hurdle leg movement (5 reps)
• Back Hurdle Leg Movement (5 reps)
• Leg movement with knee flexion (5 repetitions)

These exercises do a very good job of improving the joints in your hips. Again, athletes feel much better after doing them, especially if they’ve been sitting all day or driving. You can do these exercises after the stride matrix but make sure you do them before you start training. The stride matrix and leg movements will take you less than 5 minutes, so don’t look for excuses not to do them in your 5 and 10 minute running warmup.

Jogging warm-up for running

At this point, the vision of what a good warm-up is can vary depending on the type of training. While some trainers recommend doing a sprint or jog before you start training, you don’t need to run 20 minutes before you start. The most normal thing is to run about 10 minutes of light running at low intensity before starting, and then do a series of skipping exercises (also called dynamic warm-up). This will help you with any high intensity training you want to do afterwards.

Remember: the main reason to warm up is to increase your core temperature, since the aerobic enzymes in your body are more efficient in a hot environment. Once you reach this point, it’s important to start running warm-ups as you get closer to the start of your workout. You can do 4 sets of skipping exercises keeping your knees low while you run and alternate this exercise with low intensity running. Changing between one and the other every 50 meters.

This is just an example of dynamic exercises that you can perform in three to four minutes at the end of your warm-up routine, it doesn’t always have to be skipping, but it does have to use all the muscle groups in your body. You will see that you will feel better, your heart rate will rise and you will be ready for the last part of your running warm-up routine before running: the short race

Short run

The key to the sprint is simple: it has to be done at a faster pace than you’re going to use when you start training.

Imagine that your coach has told you to do a 15 x 400m workout at a 5K pace. To do that first 400m series, you’ll need to do a short sprint of, say, 100m at a higher pace than you would when running a 5K.

You may not feel very good doing your first 100 meter sprint, so it is recommended that you do 4 or 5 series, each time faster. The last one in this case should be faster than the one you will run at 5K pace.

The reason you want to do faster sprints is that the neuromuscular system needs to be stressed in order for you to feel capable of doing the training that comes after. During your 5 and 10 minute running warmup you want to have as many fast twitch and muscle fibers available. This will not happen during the first repetition of the workout, and is precisely why you want to increase the intensity in the last part of the running warmup and be ready for training.

Recovery between sprints should be short since you’re only running 100 meters at 5K pace (for this example). One way to measure recovery is to run 100m on the straights of a circuit, walk through the turn, and run 100m again on the next straight. You can run longer distances like 150m and even 200m, although normally 100m is enough to prepare most runners before training.

It sounds like a lot, but when you compare the typical 20-minute run and some sprints, this running warmup takes just as long and has better results.

As always, don’t forget that to get results you must maintain the frequency of your workouts with their corresponding warm-ups without forgetting the stretching after running.

As we have commented previously in this blog, the first thing you have to define when you train are your goals. Do I want to develop my upper body? Do I want to increase my strength? I want to lose weight? Etc.

The difference between athletes who practice bodybuilding exercises and weightlifting is visually noticeable since their objectives are different. Anyway, there are many people who doubt about the training that they follow each other to achieve results. In this post we will review the types of training and objectives of each discipline to understand it better.

After an introduction to these disciplines, we also leave you with several bodybuilding exercises in case you want to focus on gaining volume.

Bodybuilding: the focus is on size.

Bodybuilders often lift weights not with the goal of building strength but with the goal of increasing the size of their muscles. Bodybuilders will obviously build strength as they train, but this will be an added effect to their main goal of bulking up.

Bodybuilders who lift weights to increase their size usually work to get the blood to carry as much oxygen and nutrients to the muscles. This gives them a nice feeling and keeps them active while training at the limit. The type of lifting that bodybuilders do has the goal of creating micro-tears in the muscle, forcing the body to repair it and thus increasing storage capacity. The body repairs, causes muscle growth. This training procedure is known as hypertrophy.

As muscles grow they can develop more power, which means they can exert greater force during workouts. However, the energy stored in bulky muscles is not the same as actual strength, and for this reason bodybuilders tend to be weaker than they appear.

The term bodybuilding generally refers to competitive displays, which is why many bodybuilders focus on working their bodies to look their best on stage.

Read until the end to find 5 bodybuilding exercise programs

Strength training: the focus is on muscle power.

When it comes to strength training, there is one main goal with training: to increase the amount of power your muscles can develop to lift loads. The size and shape of the muscles do not matter as long as they can provide maximum force during the lift.

Strength training focuses on exercises with low repetitions and heavy weights, and is focused on teaching your central nervous system how to use your motor units when you lift. Lifting is focused on increasing the strength of your muscles, strengthening your joints, strengthening your bones, and developing stronger tissues.

Unlike bodybuilding exercises, in strength exercises the strength of athletes does not have to be reflected in a perfectly sculpted body. Strength athletes typically have a higher percentage of body fat, and their body shapes tend to be more solid and blocky rather than sleek and lean as is the case for bodybuilders. In any case, when it comes time to use the muscles, strength athletes can develop more strength and last longer than bodybuilders.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting is a particular type of strength training to increase muscular strength and the size of skeletal muscles. In weightlifting, bars, dumbbells and weight discs are used to train concentric and exectric muscle contraction exercises. This discipline also uses a series of specialized equipment to train specific muscle groups.

Weightlifting is also an Olympic discipline in which athletes attempt to lift their maximum weight in a one repetition lift of a barbell loaded with weight plates. The two weightlifting competitions are the snatch and the two-stroke.

The snatch has a wide grip and a single lift while in the two-stroke the bar is raised in two different sequences. In Olympic weightlifting, each athlete receives three attempts for each of the categories: snatch and two times. The sum of the total weight of the two highest lifts will determine the weight lifted to be taken into account in a competition. An athlete who fails to perform a valid snatch and two-stroke lift will receive an incomplete grade for the competition.

Although there are not many globally competitive Olympic lifters, the lifts developed in the sport of weightlifting, and in particular the components of the lifts such as squats, deadlifts, etc. They are frequently used by elite athletes specialized in other disciplines and sports to train explosive and functional strength.

You may have also heard of Chinese Weightlifting. Chinese Weightlifting is the training system for weightlifters from the communist country with which they are achieving great results.

5 bodybuilding exercises to increase volume

If you are interested in gaining muscle mass, one of your highest priorities is to determine which method will work for you. Here we present 5 training programs to increase your volume.

#1. The 5X5 program

The 5X5 program is quite popular among those who are interested in gaining the maximum amount of strength and muscle mass. The objective of this program is to perform three exercises focused on the main muscle groups of the body: the upper body and the lower body, performing series of 5 repetitions for each exercise. At the end of each training you can add series of isolated bodybuilding exercises if you need them, although they are not required by the program itself.

#2. german volume training

The next program to build bulk is the German Bulk Training program. This training is similar to the 5X5 program since it will also ask you to do a good number of exercises, but it differs in that the number of repetitions increases up to 10 repetitions and 10 series for each exercise.

The goal of this program is to focus on two muscle groups a day, alternating between them over the course of three training days a week.

#3. The FST-7 training program.

The third type of volume training program that is currently in vogue is FST-7 training. This program is not specifically based on a series of exercises that you have to perform or a protocol to divide the muscle groups of your body. This program gives you the guidelines for what you should be training in the last bodybuilding exercise for each body part you worked in that session.

The acronym FST comes from the English Fascial Stretch Training, which indicates that one of the main objectives that this program tries to achieve is to stretch the soft connective tissue that is found around your muscles as well as in the rest of your body.

This fabric is primarily responsible for helping to maintain the structural integrity of your body, providing support and protection, and works as a shock absorber when you perform your workouts both in and out of the gym.

When the soft tissue is stretched, you will see increases in muscle growth. There will also be a greater contribution of minerals, amino acids and oxygen to the tissues.

With this workout, perform seven sets of 15 repetitions of the last exercise you did for each muscle group. It is important that you make the rest periods between these sets shorter and shorter – about 30 seconds total.

Keep in mind that you will probably have to use a lower weight than you normally used for each bodybuilding and weightlifting exercise since you are now doing a much higher total number of repetitions.

#4 Split upper and lower body training.

The fourth type of exercise is the upper and lower body. This routine is based on training exchanging muscle groups so that you train each group twice a week.

This system is a good option for beginners and lifters who are looking to gain mass since it allows you to get plenty of rest throughout the week. If you are an advanced athlete you can also increase the number of series and define your selection of exercises and rests to increase your muscle gains at any level.

On the other hand, this system forces you to do four sessions a week. If you have trips or other commitments, following the training calendar can be a problem for you since it is not very flexible.

#5. full body workout

Finally we stop at full body training. The 5 x 5 program could also be considered a full body program since you work virtually all major muscle groups with the three exercises of your choice. In any case, true full body training programs will give you a specific exercise for each muscle group: quads, hamstrings, chest, back and shoulders (arms are worked when you work chest and back).

In addition to these lifts and bodybuilding exercises dedicated to muscle groups, you can also work some isolated exercises to train individual muscles.

In conclusion, remember that workouts aimed at bodybuilders are focused on gaining volume, while exercises used by strength athletes seek to gain muscle power. Weightlifting is a discipline within strength exercises and has two Olympic categories that are the snatch and the two-stroke.

If you want to start doing bulking training, you can follow our recommendations on the training programs most used by athletes. Always remember to ask specialized professionals who know your physical situation when defining your training to obtain the best results in a timely manner.

We are going to start sharing a 3-day routine with all our followers so that everyone who wants to start in the world of weights.

These types of 3-day fullbody training programs are the most recommended for people who are new to the world of weights and for people with little time who cannot go more than three times a week. It is the most efficient way to progress both in strength and hypertrophy since every day we touch all muscle groups emphasizing compound movements and with a high volume of training since we have a rest day between training days.

There are many variables to progress in hypertrophy or strength: volume, intensity, density, rest, so let’s not make the mistake of thinking that this 3-day routine falls short because you only train three times a week. It’s the best way to lay a solid foundation to then opt for other training options that are more suited to our goals.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Routine A
Tuesday: Active Rest
Wednesday: Routine B
Thursday: Active Rest
Friday: Workout C

We must leave a rest day between days of training for proper recovery and avoid injuries.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our usual 3-day routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT never to skip the warm-up and stretching if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. Substitutions:

We highly recommend doing our 3-day routine with the scheduled exercises, but if for whatever reason you can’t do any of the exercises, you can substitute them as follows.

• Squat: Press + 15 reps of lower back extension (i.e. if you have 3×8 of Squat, replace it with 3×8 of press and 3×15 of lower back extension).
• Deadlift: Hip Thrust `+ 15 repetitions of lumbar extension.
• Romanian Deadlift: Nordic Curl.
• Stride: Unilateral Hip Thrust with Dumbbell.
• Hip Thrust: Hip Thrust on a quadriceps extension machine.
• Calf Raise standing machine: Calf Raise with dumbbell.
• Femoral Curl: Femoral Curl with Dumbbell (between the feet).
• Quadriceps Extension: You can eliminate them.
• Barbell Bench Press: Dumbbell Bench Press.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Military Press: Standing Military Press with Dumbbells.
• Pulley Openings: Dumbbell Openings or Pec Deck.
• Funds: Bench Press Declined Dumbbells.
• Supine Pulley Pulldown: Biceps Pull Ups.
• T-Bar Row: Dumbbell Bench Row.

6. Change of routine

Many people wonder how long we can do this 3-day routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you get tired! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), pull-push (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or push-legs (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner, stick with this 3-day routine for at least 12 weeks.

7. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body

The 3 day routine

Day A:

Day B:

Day C:

With our 3-day routine and the complementary information, you can now go to the gym and start hitting the irons. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!