3 weight training exercises that you need to do today for the perfect killer body

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Whether you are looking to lose weight or looking to build up muscle, weight training is the way to go. While cardio burns more calories per minute, weight training is demonstrably better at burning fat. Doing excessive cardio might negatively affect your muscle mass while weight training almost always targets your fat tissue and will help you fit into those skinny jeans better.

While weight training typically targets a specific part of the body, to get that symmetrical look and to build muscle mass, it is necessary to do exercises that target the entire body. Following are 3 weight training exercises that target the upper arms and thighs and will help you get into shape faster than any cardio exercise and just in time for the swim season!

Tone Your Thighs with Barbell Squat

The quintessential squat is the go-to exercise that targets almost the entire lower half of your body. You can take it up a notch with the Barbell Squat that targets the Quads and the Sartorius muscle simultaneously.

·         Target Areas: Outer and Inner Thighs

·         How to do it: Place barbell across the shoulders and stand with your feet apart. The feet should be slightly wider than shoulder distance and turned outwards at a small degree. Then bend with your knees and hips and lower yourself as much as possible towards the floor. Lift yourself back up with knees in the same position. That is one rep.

·         Suggested Reps & Sets: For beginners, 2 sets of 10 reps each and for advanced lifters, 4 sets of 15 reps each.

·         Pro Tip: Beginners often make the mistake of placing the barbell across their necks instead of shoulder resulting in injury.

Go Sleeveless with this Bicep Curl

The bicep curl is one of the easiest exercises that can be done using dumbbells and provides noticeable results in as little as a week.

·         Target Areas: Upper Arms (Bicep Muscle)

·         How to do it: Choose a weight that you can lift comfortably and stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold a weight in each hand and slowly bend your elbows to bring the weights toward your shoulder. Lower your arms slowly back to the starting position. Feel the weight course through your upper arms. That is one rep.

·         Suggested Reps & Sets: For beginners, 2 sets of 15 reps each and for advanced lifters, 4 sets of 20 reps each. Weights can be between 3-8 lbs for beginners and 8-12 lbs for advanced lifters.

·         Pro Tip: Beginners often make the mistake of lowering their hands too fast. It is important to remember that the curl is only complete when the hand is lowered slowly. Doing it quickly will not only decrease the benefits of the exercise but may also result in injury

Slim down your arm jiggle with this Overhead Tricep Extension

One of the most frustrating experience for women is the difficult to get rid of arm jiggle under and behind the arm. With this overhead triceps extension, get rid of it as quickly as you gain it!

·         Target Areas: Back of the arm (Triceps)

·         How to do it: Choose a weight that you can lift comfortably and sit upright on a chair or bench with one dumbbell in each hand. Extend your arm upwards towards the ceiling and keep them close to your head. Bend only your elbows and bring the dumbbell behind your head until you can feel it on your back. Straighten your arms slowly and bring it back upwards towards the ceiling.  That is one rep.

·         Suggested Reps & Sets: Being with 1 set of 10 reps each and as you begin gaining strength move up to 4 sets of 10 reps each. Weights can be between 2-5 lbs for beginners and 8-12 lbs for advanced lifters.

·         Pro Tip: When lowering the weight behind the back, do not rely on gravity to do the job. The trick is to perform the movement in a controlled manner. You should feel the pressure in your triceps as you dip the dumbbell behind you.