Fitness Secrets of the Hollywood Stars

Poor body image can lead to crash dieting and excessive exercise, which can, in turn, lead to poor nutrition, injuries, and depression.Get the good body image & weight loss goals you seek.

THE HOLLYWOOD BODY
Most of us do not look like supermodels or compete in bodybuilding contests. In fact, the Center for Disease Control recently stated that more than 30 percent of the population is obese and more than 60 percent of all Americans are overweight. So Hollywood might not be the best test for what your body could or should look like.

Steve Zim, Fitness Expert on NBC's Weekend Today show has been an ardent fitness devotee for over twenty years. He is also the owner of A Tighter U Fitness Studio, listed by Los Angeles Magazine (January 2000) as one of the city's hottest health clubs. Steve is a celebrity trainer whose clients have include some of Hollywood's most familiar names including actresses Ashley Judd and Jessica Biel; and Leila All, Top-Ranked Professional Boxer and daughter of Mohammad All.

Steve says, "A Hollywood body is not a perfect body." Trying to achieve a perfect body is the biggest and most common trap you can fall into; there is no such thing. Although a person's body can be beautifully sculpted and toned, no one has a perfect body. However, you can take the body you have and improve your appearance by becoming fit and more physically active.

THE HOLLYWOOD BODY TRIANGLE

Steve offers a three-part program to help you completely transform the way you look and feel:
(1) Hollywood Nutrition – you will be feeding lean muscle and burning fat. To do this, you need to eat regularly and often. Most people make two serious mistakes: (a) They wait too long to eat, activating the starvation alarm, or (b) They eat too much, activating the fat storage system.
(2) Hollywood Heart – you will improve your circulation, strengthen your heart, increase your endurance, become more physically fit, and most importantly, you will be using stored fat to fuel your activity. Steve recommends a cardiovascular workout at least three times per week – one that can be safely done as many as six days per week. As with all forms of exercise, you must take at least one day off per week to let the body rest, heal and recuperate.
(3) Hollywood Sculpt – you will be reshaping each muscle from its deepest point. By increasing lean muscle mass, you automatically reduce the percentage of fat you are carrying around.

body image & weight lossHOLLYWOOD SCULPTING

Resistance training, more commonly known as weight training, is one of the most misunderstood forms of exercise. Many women are hesitant to exercise with weights for fear they will get bulky or look manly. The elderly fear that weight training will somehow injure them. And many who are overweight fear that weight training will only make them bigger. Nothing could be further from the truth. For all shapes and sizes, weight training is the most effective means to create lean muscle mass and positively change your appearance.

Steve offers the following advice when it comes to creating long, elongated, toned, and sculpted musculature:

Hollywood Arms – Steve says our biceps are more developed than our triceps simply because we all lift many objects every day. To achieve balance, make the triceps your primary focus. To create a stunning arm, you will work on improving the development, tone and cut of the triceps. For biceps, the strategy is different. Since this muscle is simple in function and can only contract, the goal is to spend as much time stretching this muscle as you do working it. The result will be beautifully elongated bicep muscles. Some recommended exercises are the overhead tn and the bicep squat curl.

Abdominals – Most of us have fat underneath the skin that prevents the abdominal muscles from being seen. If you can see the abs of your favorite celebrity it is not because they have big abdominal muscles – it is because they have a very low body fat percentage. Since the abdominal muscles are the strongest of your core muscles, to avoid muscular weakness and injuries in other parts of your body, the abdominals should always be the last part of your workout. Steve says to develop and strengthen the abdominal muscles you should first work the lower abs (they are generally weaker and the most difficult to develop), then you will work the oblique or sides and finally the middle and upper abs simultaneously. Some recommended exercises include the crossover crunch and the crunch.

Hollywood Hips – Some people have wide hips. Developing the shape of these muscles will not only eliminate the flatter backside but will also make wide hips appear to be better proportioned, consequently de-emphasizing size-related issues. Some recommended exercises include the hip kick and the kick out.

Steve also offers the following tips to help make your workout more successful:
(1) Remember to stretch between sets to remain flexible and help prevent injuries;
(2) Make sure you breathe during weight training -exhale as you drive the weight and inhale during the negative motion; and
(3) Focus your mind on the exercise you are doing so that you do it properly.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. from 6 WEEKS TO A HOLLYWOOD BODY. Copyright (c) 2006 by Steve Zim. This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and from the Wiley web site at www.wiley.com, or call 1 -800-225-5945.