4 Body Types and Workouts to Get Your Dream Body

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In today’s world, with an umpteen number of workouts getting increasingly famous, you can choose the kind of body you want, with a workout that suits your fitness regimen the best.

You can opt to be skinny or curvy, or can go for the ever in-trend six-pack abs or those well-defined leg muscles. But the one thing we all want is to have a healthy body.

Health can be supported by regular physical activity and a well-balanced diet. Let’s talk about how, with the right exercise strategy, people of different body shapes can reach their body goals. We will be sharing effective exercises that activate different muscle groups.

Studies suggest that while your genes may determine up to 80% of your weight and body shape, environment and personal choice still play a significant role. You can change your body for the better with the right set of exercises. The most common general body shape categories include: rectangle, triangle or pear, inverted triangle or apple, hourglass.

Hourglass is the most wanted and most feminine shape, with a narrow waist and a similar distance between shoulders and hips making the body truly attractive. However, one should know that evert body shape is unique and beautiful – something we should be happy about!

Table of Contents

Hourglass

If your hips and bust are nearly equal in size and you have a well-defined waist that’s narrower than both, you have an hourglass shape. A woman with this shape could gain fat in both the upper and lower body.

Full-body workout routines are good for such bodies – ideally cardio and lifting exercises including the buttocks, legs and upper body to keep proportions are of immense help. You can add one or two cardio sessions a week, like a walk, run or a swim. It will help in reducing pain after your lifting sessions.

Effective exercises:

dips
lat pull-downs
triceps extensions
bench presses
squats
leg presses
leg curls
calf leg raises

Apple

The characteristics of an apple shape are a large bust, narrow hips and full midsection. Apple shapes tend to have slender legs and a flat bottom. Apple shapes tend to carry all or most oftheir weight through the belly area. The exercise goal will be to define a waistline and increase lean muscle mass in the legs and bottom to balance the body out.

People with such bodies should focus on aerobic training to slim down and lose that body fat. You can take up cardiovascular activities like cycling, running or swimming. The stepper and the treadmill on incline are great cardio exercises to lose weight all over while still building some muscle tone on the legs.

You must keep the right pulse during cardiovascular workout – regularly for at least 40–70 minutes – as fat starts to burn only after 30 minutes of the right pulse, so three to five times per week is essential. Pilates, yoga and tennis are also great exercise options for apple-shaped women to develop the core area and tone the midriff.

Effective exercises:

burpees
push-ups on knees
dumbbell bench press
twisting exercises
outer dumbbell curls
deadlifts
lunges
twists

It is important to track your meals and calculate the right number of calories. If you need to lose weight, eat only fresh healthy food and eat fewer calories than you burn.

Pear or Triangle

A pear-shaped body has a wider hip and backside area than the upper body. Most of your weight is located around the thighs, hips and buttocks, and you have slim arms, bust and shoulders.

In your exercise routine, you should pay attention to your hips and legs, and if you exercise your shoulders and chest, it will help you in visually balancing your look. Generally, you must remember that it is not possible to lose weight locally, so do not overwork your leg muscles at the beginning.

Start with the upper body, which will help to make your back, shoulders and hands beautifully muscular. Also do exercises for the lower body to keep it toned; it will help in making your body visually balanced between the upper and lower body.

Include cardiovascular activity for 30 to 50 minutes, depending on your physical condition; it will help you lose weight by reducing the subcutaneous fat in your body. For this goal, you can run, incline walk on a treadmill, take up an aerobic exercise or cycle.

Effective exercises:

deadlifts
squats
lunges
glute bridge exercise
cardio step workout
leg press
step-up with weights
barbell squat

Inverted Triangle

An inverted triangle body shape is characterised by broad shoulders and possibly a large bust that narrow down to the hips. Strong shoulders often lend this body shape an athletic look. This type will gain weight on the upper body – hands, shoulders, face, belly and back; it is the opposite of a pear shape. Y

our lower body must be included in your exercise routine to build lean muscle in the thighs, buttocks and waist, supported by some cardio fat burning. By increasing your lower body, you will balance your shape visually.

The best cardio for an inverted triangle body shape focuses on the lower body muscles, including the glutes, hamstrings and quadricep muscles. Include lunges for targeting your lower body muscles and increasing stability, and deadlifts to round out your inverted triangle body shape workout.

Running is a good option, since it is weight-bearing and works your entire body. Plus, it gives you a great aerobic workout and helps burn calories.

Effective exercises:

deadlift
squat
loaded carries
walking lunge and side lunge side crunch
plank heel push
Swiss ball torso twist
lat pull-downs
wide grip rope pullover

Basic recommendations for the perfect body

To have a healthy and beautiful body of your dreams, you should do at least 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorously-intense physical activity daily. Include activities that strengthen muscle and bone; at least three times per week, as you need to give your body a rest in between.

Over-exercising can lead to hormonal imbalance or changes, including changes in testosterone and cortisol (our stress hormone), it can drive overeating, and the body can also begin to burn muscle instead of fat.

It is important to remember to warm up before and stretch after your exercise session to maintain healthy flexibility in your body.

You must remember that you cannot reduce fat locally in your belly or hips, but you can reduce the percentage of subcutaneous fat in your body with regular exercise and a balanced diet. You do not have to follow a strict diet or exclude your favourite food from the menu.

You must create a balanced menu that gives your body enough vitamins and minerals with the right amount of food, three times a day. Also drink more water and make sure you get enough sleep.

You have to adopt a healthy lifestyle that you can maintain and afford, and that you can implement in your busy work and social life. A health psychology researcher at University College of London has shown that for a person to form a new habit – in other words, for a new behaviour to become automatic – it takes an average of 66 days.

Be passionate and realistic, and you will see beautiful changes which will make you happy.