5 Sports to help you tone your body

It is a well-known fact that the type of exercise you choose to do and the way you do it has a huge impact on your body’s shape. To achieve a toned figure without the addition of extra muscle mass just in time to show it off in the coming summer, there are a lot of sports that can help you get a lean body!

Athletes with quite lean, strong bodies and though they hit the gym to maintain it quite often, their sport is the real reason why they’re so fit in the first place. Indulging in sports is a fun way to target a number of muscle groups without making it monotonous to help you get in shape. Here are some of the sports you can actively play that will get you your dream figure;

Boxing

Boxing is a reinvigorating exercise that will stimulate your muscles and improve your motor muscle coordination. For centuries, boxing has been used by MMA fighters as it not only trains you to be more aware of things and agility but also engages a number of muscle groups from your feet all the way up to your shoulders to get you a more lean body.

In one intense boxing session, you can burn approximately up to 400 calories. Boxing utilizes a number of movements and combinations of many exercises in an intense session to give you not only an enhanced cardiovascular health but also by improving total body strength that cuts down fat from all over your body, especially your arms and back. For boxing, it’s not necessary to practice with a partner, you can do just fine with a punching bag but with a partner, it sure can get more fun and challenging.

Swimming

To this day, swimming is by far one of the most effective yet simple forms of exercise from your chest up. It engages a bunch of muscles from the ones in your feet and legs, to the ones in your arms, shoulders and back. Swimming helps you not only increase your stamina but it also increases functional strength by engaging and activating full body muscles. During the movements of an engaged swimming session, you involve a wide range of primary muscles and as the muscle mass increases so does the stimulation and production of HGH hormone. The HGH hormone helps in growth of the body but once a person reaches a certain age, the same hormone is responsible for the production of more protein which is the basic building block of a muscle fiber.

Swimming is a great way to get rid of the fat on your wobbly arms and the fat on your back making it leaner and more toned but that’s not all, during the exercise your core, chest muscles and abs are engaged as well so while you are pushing your strength out on those arms, your abs are getting a work out too.

MMA

MMA or mixed martial arts is a discipline that’s derived from different areas of martial arts. It combines all aspects into one to get you the most intense sport all in one. Though a little more advanced, it’s never too late to start training.

In this high intensity sport and workout, your body develops not only strength but also flexibility. The stretch your muscles are put through is used to lengthen the muscular fibers that help you not only to burn fat but extend your body to a limit you never thought was possible before.
MMA is excellent at building your thighs, abs, back muscles and core strength during its intensive sessions to push your body not only physically but also mentally. The most intense and effective forms of MMA worth considering are Brazilian Ju Jitsu which focuses more on self-defense, grappling and many aspects of wrestling. The other is Muay Thai which is quite similar to kick boxing but at much high and intense.

Once you get yourself enrolled in an MMA class, you will not only lose the excess fat on your body and make it perfectly toned but you will also be a total bad ass. Not only do you get to lose weight and shape your body but also learn how to defend yourself and push your body to its limits to see what you’re made of. Sounds like a total package!

Cycling

All those who have never exercised even a day in their life, must be familiar with cycling. All of us used to hop on our bikes every chance we got as a kid, didn’t we? Well it’s time to get you back on that rusty piece of magic. To get ready for the summer and shed all the fat you added in the winters, a higher intensity cycling routine is the way to go!

The added benefit to cycling is that you never really have to wait to get used to it or be “perfect” at it. Once you learn the basics of cycling it is pretty much the same in terms of how it works but the intensity can be increased to many folds. High intensity cycling sessions are way more effective than slow, steady and less intense ones. This is because when you exercise at a higher rate and more intense rate, your body tends to burn fat more readily and effectively.

Cycling effectively targets the muscles along your thighs and your glutes, not only making them strong and giving you thick thighs but also a better and a more profound booty.
Cycling in turn helps in enhancing the same effects of a jump squat and there’s an energy transfer from the spine up to the arms and then down the legs, engaging, once again, the whole body and especially the legs.