Ah, exercise... It's so healthy and good for you, yet we never seem to find the time to improve our lives through it. I know there are some days I really hate to do it, but I try to remember that it keeps me looking and feeling good!
Aside from a healthy diet, supplements and cellulite products, one of the single most important things to do is exercise. Exercise not only keeps us feeling healthy and young, but also improves overall circulation, detoxifies and helps to keep fats (a main contributor of cellulite) from settling on the body. However, there is no one cellulite exercise that will perform miracles on your butt and thighs if it is not part of the bigger picture.
Several cellulite exercises can be performed in your daily routine to contribute to the overall appearance of cellulite. Ideally, you want to incorporate two forms of cellulite exercise... aerobic/cardiovascular (running, power walking, swimming) and anaerobic (weight training).
Both of these serve a greater function in eliminating the problem areas in women, normally hips, butt and thighs. The cardiovascular portion of a workout improves the circulation of blood which allows the body to detoxify. It also reduces body fat, by burning it off. When you weight train, you build muscle tissue which also burns fat in a targeted area. So even if you aren't fat so to speak, you can still focus on the areas that need improvement.
To begin, there are several alternatives you may wish to explore to start your cellulite exercise program. This may include anything from consulting with a trainer to show you the proper way to perform the training or perhaps just working on your own. Aerobic and anaerobic exercise can be performed separately or in conjunction with one another as part of the same workout.
What this means is you can, for example, power walk, run or swim one day and weight or spot train the next. Or... if you choose to perform the aerobic and anaerobic exercise at the same time it may include a short warm up to get the heart rate going, then performing 3-5 types of exercises in repetitions of 15 to 25 with very little in terms of a break in between. Maybe just enough time to chug some H2O! By repeating this routine of 3-5 cellulite exercises over and over, you not only focus on firming and toning muscles, but also keep that metabolism up which is very important to rid the body of fat and detoxify.
What constitutes a cellulite exercise? Well, primarily you want to focus on your thigh, butt and hamstrings (the muscle that's behind and below your butt to the knee). These seem to be the areas where much fat tends to accumulate on women. Some good exercises for this area include lunges, leg curls, stiff-legged dead lifts and certain machines at the gym, more commonly known as abductor (outer) and adducter (inner) thigh machines. You may also do inner and outer thigh exercises on the floor with bands, leg lifts, etc.
Any combination of these cellulite exercises will help tighten and firm up the areas. As you become more accustomed to doing them, adding weight to your exercises challenges the muscles and helps them become stronger and more toned.
So in conclusion, add a healthy dose of cellulite exercise to your cellulite reduction program and diet to see the results happen!
