If you're tired of only seeing your upper abs, you're not alone. Get your lowers to pop faster with these targeted moves. There is nothing more impressive than a beautifully defined arrangement of abdominal muscles. It’s amazing how simple anatomy is responsible for something as sought after as the elusive six-pack. The rectus abdominus is a long flat band of muscle fibers running...

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Spike your abs workout with five resistance moves to get that six-pack you crave in a fraction of the time. If you’re not using weights in your abs routine, you could be holding your belly back from achieving the flat, firm and fabulously defined look you’ve been striving for. Abs exercises and weights go together like reality-TV stars and on-camera meltdowns – one...

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Get lean, sculpted legs with the pop squat. This plyo move will tone your lower body and inject some excitement into your workout. Target Muscles: gluteus maximus, quadriceps Set up: Begin in a squat position, feet wider than hip-width apart and hands on hips. Don’t allow the knee to extend past the toes [A]. Action: Jump in the air with your toes pointing out [B]. Land...

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Get the most out of your cardio workout with these two high-intensity interval routines. Maximize your cardio workout with high-intensity interval training. Four times per week, choose one of these HIIT cardio plans and perform it after the strength portion of your program. Before you get started, warm up for five minutes with light activity, such as walking or jogging. And, FYI: “rest”...

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Endless reps aren't necessary to build triceps that pop. Get sleek, trim upper arms in a matter of weeks with these three moves. Target Muscles: triceps brachii, pectoralis major Set Up: Place your hands on the edge of a bench so that your thumbs and index fingers form a diamond shape. Extend your legs straight behind you, toes touching the ground [A]. Action: Keeping your...

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Add this lower-body move to your routine. It's a great glutes exercise for both at home and at the gym. Target Muscles: gluteus maximus Set Up: Lie on your back on the floor with your feet comfortably apart (15 to 20 inches). Place a weight plate across your pelvis (as shown), holding it in place with your hands. Action: Raise your hips as high as possible...

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Whether you're just starting on the road to fitness or you've been trotting it for years, we've got the perfect treadmill plan for you. Safety note: For the sprint section (minutes 30 to 35 in the advanced program), stand with your feet on the side rails while you increase the belt speed. Support your body weight using the machine arms and start running on...

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Got 12 minutes? Then you've got enough time to get in a killer workout. Microblogging sites like Twitter prove on a daily basis that we live in a society built upon the “quicker-is-better” mentality. Fortunately for the time-pressed among us (isn’t that everyone?), this belief may actually be true when it comes to exercise. In fact, when it comes to workouts, speedy bouts...

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Do this advanced take on a stability ball crunch and you'll have a tighter core in less than a month! There are two elements that you need to incorporate into your abs routine if you want a tight midsection in little time: instability and weight. We’ve paired an unstable surface with a medicine ball to create an amazing exercise that will carve your...

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Find out Elaine's secrets to a beautiful lower body! Fitness virtuoso Elaine Goodlad obviously has legs to die for, and we’re giving you the inside scoop on just how she got them, plus Elaine’s best move for sculpting great glutes! “Like most women, my lower body is the last to lose fat and shape up,” says Elaine. “I have to work super hard...

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End your next abs routine with this back extension stretch, based on the yoga pose, the Cobra. How to: Lie on your stomach on a mat. Place your hands on the floor on either side of your chest and, keeping your hips flat on the mat, press through your palms to extend your arms, arching your back slightly and keeping your chest high. Hold...

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Nine-time Oxygen cover girl Maggie D. shares the workout schedule and lifestyle tips that got her those chiseled abs. Maggie D’s Personal Program Here’s a rundown of Maggie’s typical weekly training schedule. She prefers to separate cardio and resistance training by doing cardio in the morning and resistance training in the afternoon on alternating days, and to save time in the weight room,...

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Our pros give no-nonsense answers to all of your stretching and flexibility questions. Are some people naturally stiff? “Yes,” says David Ishii, DPT, owner of Synergy Physical Therapy & Sports Performance in Huntington Beach, California. He says that even though we are all built differently, everyone benefits from regular moderate stretching to optimize their individual range of motion. What time of the day...

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We know that there are only so many ways you can move on the treadmill, spin bike or elliptical. With that in mind, here are three ideas to mix up your cardio session and build a heart-pumping workout on the fly. Switch up the machine Not just day-to-day, but within a single workout. Three 10-minute cardio routines done back-to-back may be easier for...

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Just like natural peanut butter and organic honey, your bis and tris are a perfect pair. This workout hits them both in about 20 minutes. Get strong, sexy arms in just 20 minutes with this workout! This routine works your biceps and triceps with spider curls, an incline triceps extension, Zottman curls and a cross body triceps extension. Try it today! ...

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Rushed for time at the gym? The Row/Flye Combo does double duty and targets your back and delts in one shot. What to Do: Three sets of 12 to 15 reps Target Muscles: latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, lateral deltoids. Set Up: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a light to medium dumbbell in each hand. Keeping a slight bend in your knees, hinge forward from...

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Strengthen your rotator cuffs with this lying rotation. What To Do: Three sets of 12 to 15 reps. Target Muscles: infraspinatus, teres minor, posterior deltoid Set Up: Lie on your right side with a light dumbbell in your left hand, upper arm tight to your side with your hand pointing toward the ground, elbow bent at 90 degrees [A]. Action: Keeping contact between your body and your...

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Escalate your calorie burn with this fat-torching stair workout. Psst! There’s a piece of cardio equipment in your house you could be using right now to burn up to 800 calories an hour. Hint: It’s not the stationary bike you’re hanging clothes on in the basement. It’s your staircase. “Stairs are an often-overlooked but hugely valuable addition to any bodyweight workout,” says Jen...

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We know the power of exercise: it makes us feel good, it makes us strong and it can even lower our risk of breast cancer. And this week, exercise got more health cred—not once, but four times—from the scientific community. Here are four more reasons why all that training is doing more for you than giving you the confidence to rock a bikini....

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Try these four strategies to get more from your high-intensity workout. A low-carb diet can help you lose weight quickly, but one downfall is its ability to drain your body of metabolism-revving muscle. Luckily, new research reveals that there is something you can do to combat this side effect. A new study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that high-intensity training reduces...

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You can get a total-body workout on a single machine. Whether you’re short on time or the gym is packed, you can still get a fantastic total-body workout with one single piece of equipment: the Smith machine. The Smith machine is basically a barbell on a track housed inside a squat rack. It has a predictable trajectory that goes straight up and down,...

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Stuck in a swivel chair from nine to five? New research suggests it's time to get up and move. Do you sit in front of a computer all day at work? According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, long periods of inactivity are now being linked to serious health conditions, even in people who regularly exercise. The study, conducted in Australia, showed...

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Don't let emotional eating sabotage your fat-loss goals. Here are five easy-to-follow tips to stop your cravings.\ 1. Be hungry no more. Not eating regularly throughout the day will cause your body to fall into starvation mode and you’ll crave carbs – usually nutrient-void refined carbs, such as white pasta and bread – so nip that craving in the bud before it strikes by...

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The best exercise motivation may be encouragement from your peers, a Stanford University study shows. The phone calls paid off: A year later, the group that received live calls increased their weekly walking time on average by 78 percent, or an additional hour and 18 minutes! Whether you like to work out alone, with a buddy or in a large group, keep yourself...

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Pushy relatives, a busy schedule and cookies galore can threaten to derail your fat-loss plans. Here's how to stay in control. From bake sales to holiday parties, and spiked eggnog to turkey with all the trimmings, this most wonderful time of year can be a potential diet and exercise minefield. Prevent your hard work from going to waste and still enjoy all the...

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Understanding how and why we crave foods may be the key to resisting them. We’ve all been there: One minute you are sitting idly, minding your own business when – BAM! – a craving strikes that’s so intense, you can’t think of anything else. Why and when we crave certain foods has been debated for years, but scientists are coming close to an...

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