Hi. I'm 18 years old and weigh about 130 lbs. Any ideas of how I could get toned and loose weight?

Hi there, sorry this is long but it's my guide to a very effective total body workout.

To get your mid-section toned up, you can do various crunches involving cardio. In addition to traditional crunches you can do "Jackknife crunches" ( lay flat on the floor, arms extended out behind the top of your head with your palms facing the sky. Then keeping your joints locked and knees straight, lift your legs up and your body and arms at the same time to make a "V". Then back down and repeat)- www.concept2.co.uk/guide/guide.php?artic... . You can also do "side crunches" by laying on your side and doing crunches. If you have a pull up bar (like at a park or something) you can do "hanging knee raises" by hanging from the bar an lifting your knees to your abs. One thing that helps burn more fat than anything is by doing different exercises with little rest in between. It's like the supersets or the value meal of a exercise program- more of what you want in less time! The little rest actually enables your body to release a growth hormone which burns fat and build/ tones up your muscles. You can do this, it works like a beauty for me every year: 30-40 regular crunches, 25 second rest and then 30-40 side crunches, another 25 second rest and then 20-30 jackknife crunches, rest for 25 seconds and then finish it off with 20 hanging knee raises. Rest for 4-5 minutes and do cycle over again 2 more times. Do this workout 3-4 times a week and you could have a beach ready body in 4 weeks! You can add your own exercises into this routine but just stay with the principle. To tone up your muscles on your arms, get down and do some push ups after your ab cycles. Then get those dumbbell (make sure they are light) and do some curls (the basic dumbbell exercise) and lateral dumbbell raises (raise the weights to your sides keeping your arms straight and back down to your sides). Since the weights are light, do like 15-20 reps of each. This will be focusing on the low volume, high rep method which tones up your muscles instead of building and bulking up. Even so, get a jump rope and warm up and down with that for 5 minutes before you begin your exercises.

Now for your calves, you can calve raises (look that up) and run using gravity as resistance (like the stairs or bleechers). This will burn the calves's slow twitch muscle fibers and tone it up. The fast twitch fibers of the calves add mass since they are used to lift heavy weight (like jumping for the basket, etc). The slow twitch fibers when worked out build endurance and tone up the muscle. So to burn the fat on your calves, I recommend that you get some dumbbell weights and holding them on your sides. Now just get on your tiptoes and lower your self down. Get on your tiptoes and back down until it starts to burn and give up right before you can't do it anymore. Rest 3-5 minutes and repeat another 2 times. This will tone up the calve muscles by putting some definition into em and increasing the vascularity of it!

Now for your hips you can do a multitude of exercises. The most basic are squats and lunges (look that up). You can also do walking lunges. Here is a great website that has different hip exercises: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.... <http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html%3E

Also on the floor, you can do this for your hips. Get in the "doggy-style" position. Know lift your thigh out to the side, kick your leg out (fully extended, knees locked), and then bring it back into the starting position. Do that 20 times each for each leg.

PS: make sure to drink plenty of water (STAY HYDRATED!!!- can't stress that enough to my people), stay away from too many carbs, sugars, and sodium. Avoid saturated fat with a passion and remember, burn more calories than you consume! :-)

The first and most important thing you need to know, is how much you should weigh at your height. Once you have that information you can head to a gym (Goodlife or any in your area) and have a consultation done with a fitness trainer. They will be the most reliable sources.

Hope that helps!

Eat less, move more. Eat four to six small meals a day with breakfast being the largest and dinner being the smallest. Eat the majority of your calories early in the day. Avoid sodas and junk foods.