Whether you admit it or not, most people want the perfect body. Well, it's time to face facts - there is no such thing as ‘perfect’ when it comes to the human body.
But just because we mightn’t all look like Elle McPherson is no reason to give up! We can’t transform into supermodels overnight but we can certainly aim for the next best thing: to make your body look as good as it possibly can.
It’s a bit of an illusion. It doesn’t require Paul Daniels, plastic surgery or magic mirrors – but it does require a bit of dedication and Joyce Vedral! Fitness queen Joyce has developed a three-pronged attack to give you a firmer-looking chest, slimmer waist and smaller butt.
“Help is on the way,” Joyce tells us. “We're not able to alter our basic bone structure. The fact is we can’t change the actual size of our waist. The bones are set up in a certain way and even if you lose your last pound, you may have a rather large waist.
“My waist is 27 inches when I'm at my thinnest. My hips are large and always will be. My chest, well, not so bad but I needed more cleavage to make my breasts look higher and fuller. So what do you do?”
Exercise... exercise... exercise.
Joyce, author of Weight Training Made Easy and Bottoms Up: From Cellulite to Sexy (Little, Brown and Company) books and videos, has whipped up a weight-training routine to help your body look well proportioned... even if it's not.
Here’s a quick look at the exercises that'll help reshape your body. The detailed directions - and moving workout images - follow below.
The Incline Flye with a Twist gives the appearance of cleavage. It makes breasts look higher and firmer. They’re not getting bigger, but they will look bigger. The cleavage is what really makes the difference in appearance.
The Pee-Wee Lateral makes the butt look smaller by directing the eye away from the butt and onto the back. You put sexy definition and mini-muscles on your upper back so that the eye is drawn upward. The back ends up looking sleek, defined and beautiful. Attention is taken away from wide hips and bum. And your bum looks smaller.
The Standing Serratus Crunch puts definition on your stomach to make the waist look smaller. You need to develop a line of definition three inches below the breast, angling in toward the centre of the body. This line gives the waist a narrower appearance.
“These are just three of many wonderful exercises that can make your body come into near-perfect symmetry and in turn look more beautiful," Joyce says.
“It's like painting a picture. You are drawing the appropriate lines on your body – only you're actually doing it with lines of definition.”
Use 3-pound dumbbells (or fill bottles with water or sand to get the right weight) for the following exercises. After completing 10 reps of each exercise, rest for 15 seconds. Then repeat all three exercises with no rests in between. Once again, rest 15 seconds then repeat one set of each exercise one final time.
Incline Dumbbell Flye with a Twist
With a dumbbell held in each hand and palms facing away from you, lie on an incline bench and extend your arms over your head so that the dumbbells are almost touching each other and are in line with the centre of your chest. Extend your arms outwards and downwards in a semicircle until you feel a complete stretch in your pectoral muscles. As you return to the starting position, turn your wrists inward so that when you reach starting position the dumbbells are touching each other at the outer edge of their “bells.” Repeat movement (remember to twist your wrists each time on the upward movement) until you have completed your set of 10 reps. Without resting, begin the first set of your next exercise.
Pee-Wee Lateral
Stand with your feet together, holding a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing away from your body, and your arms behind your back. The ends of the dumbbells should be touching each other. Bend at the knees slightly and tilt your hips forward. Extend your arms outward and upward until the dumbbells reach ear height and are at arm’s length on either side. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement 10 times. Then move on to the next exercise.
Standing Serratus Crunch
Stand with your feet together and with a three-pound dumbbell in your right hand, your palms facing your body. Extend your arm upward and bend your elbow into a slightly rounded “L” position. Bending at the waist and squeezing your right serratus and oblique muscles as hard as possible, lower your elbow and at the same time bend at the waist until you cannot “crunch” any more. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement 10 times. Then repeat set for the other arm.
For more exercise and fitness information from Joyce Vedral, please visit her website .