How to Get a Nice Body

Do cardio for at least 150 minutes a week.

Aerobic activity burns fat and gives you an athletic appearance. Cardio is an essential part of a healthy body and working towards a nicer body. Through cardio, you’ll gain endurance and energy, making your body feel and look more active. Over time, it can also be both fun and relaxing. Steady-state cardio might look like a 30-60 minute jog or light-to-medium intensity work on a stair or rowing machine. Cardio supports healthy weight goals, improves blood pressure and blood sugar, decreases your risk for heart disease and stroke, improves sleeping habits, and elevates your mood. Your 150 minutes of aerobic activity might look like walking briskly, an easy bike ride, or just spending time cleaning the house.

Practice strength training 2-3 days a week.

Strength training gets you a lean, powerful build. Strength or resistance training with weights isn’t just for bodybuilders: it strengthens your muscles and increases your metabolism, letting you burn more calories at rest. Although hitting the weights can feel intimidating, you’ll get the hang of it soon, and can tone, tighten, and define your muscles. It's typically recommended to do anywhere from 2-3 days of strength training each week. Do exercises that workout each major muscle group in your body, like your arms, legs, core, and back. Try doing bicep curls to target your arms. Perform weighted squats to work your legs and glutes. Try renegade rows to strengthen your core and abs.

Do bodyweight exercises when you can’t hit the gym.

Bodyweight exercises sculpt your body without requiring fancy equipment. To meet your 2-3 time a week strength training guideline, you never have to leave the house. Some of the best exercises you can do to get a toned or shredded body fast can be done with just your own body weight. By increasing the amount of repetitions you do for each exercise, you build up greater strength. Get into the habit of doing some of these extremely effective exercises a few times a week, especially when you can’t make it to the gym: Doing push ups, which work out your chest, shoulders, and arms. Performing squats, strengthening your glutes and the rest of your lower body. Doing pullups, which work out your back and the rest of your body. Performing crunches, which are a great ab workout. Holding a plank, which builds your core strength.

Vary your exercise routine with HIIT workouts.

HIIT workouts keep your body transformation journey exciting. HIIT workouts, or high-intensity interval training, have become praised as an especially efficient workout. They’re best done in combination with traditional cardio and strength training. HIIT workouts are interval training exercises that alternate between very high-intensity exercises and moderate-intensity exercises, strengthening muscles and burning fat. These types of workouts burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time, especially calories from fat, and have been shown to keep your metabolism raised long after the workout was completed. Although HIIT workout classes are popular, you can also do HIIT at home.

Stay motivated by taking a fitness class.

Fitness classes let you push yourself harder and get results faster. Studies have shown that people who take fitness classes tend to see better results that individuals who work out exclusively by themselves. Taking a fitness class—whether it’s yoga, pilates, boxing, or circuit training—can introduce you to exercises that are new to you, which keeps things exciting and stimulates your muscles in a new way. Your local gym likely has fitness classes on offer, but you can also take a class at a fitness studio. There are normally great deals for new members, so you can try out your new class before spending too much money on it.

Take a rest day at least once a week.

Rest days are crucial if you want to see any progress. If you want your hard work in the gym to pay off, you’ll need to give your muscles a chance to relax and recover. It’s during this recovery time that your muscles will become stronger after a workout. You can either take a complete rest day, which means no exercise at all, or an active rest day, which might include a light jog or some stretching. The amount of rest days you should take depends on your training regimen. If you’re looking to bulk up with big muscles, you’ll probably need to take more rest days each week to give your muscles time to grow.

Eat a balanced and nutritious diet.

Your diet is the foundation that keeps you healthy and strong. Maintain a balanced diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, and protein sources like fish, poultry, beans, eggs, and nuts. This sort of diet gives you an excellent balance of food types that will keep you well-energized, healthy, and strong. Best of all, this kind of food lends itself to all kinds of tasty meals. While you don’t need to avoid them completely, processed foods like pastries, candy, processed meats, and chips tend to get in the way of your body goals. If you’re trying to build muscle, be sure that you’re getting plenty of lean protein from sources like chicken, eggs, fish, or tofu.

Drink plenty of fluids each day.

Staying hydrated keeps you looking younger and healthier. Drinking fluids is a key component of helping your body run at its best. Additionally, your body may confuse thirst with hunger, so keeping hydrated can actually make it easier for you to lose weight. Drinking more water is an easy way to improve your appearance. Most health professionals recommend consuming at least 8 glasses of water daily. Stick to clear, no-calorie fluids. If you’re looking for more flavor than regular water, try adding a slice of fruit to a glass of water for a refreshing drink. Unsweetened tea is also a great option.

Keep track of your calories.

Your calorie intake determines your weight. As part of your journey to getting a nicer body, you may decide to gain or lose weight. Weight gain and loss are based on how many calories you consume—although you can have a nice body at any weight, if your goals include getting bigger or smaller, try keeping track of your calories in a journal or app. You can find out how many calories you need to maintain your weight with an online calorie calculator. Underweight individuals are at increased risk for infection, osteoporosis, hair loss, and loss of lean muscle mass. Being overweight can lead to increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Obsessing over the number of calories you take in can hurt your mental health—if you feel like you’re constantly thinking about calories, take a break from counting them, and just focus on eating nutritious food. EXPERT TIP Laila Ajani Laila Ajani Fitness Trainer Laila Ajani is a Fitness Trainer and founder of Push Personal Fitness, a personal training organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With over 10 years as a trainer and exercise specialist, Laila has expertise in competitive athletics (gymnastics, powerlifting, and tennis), personal training, distance running, and Olympic lifting. Laila is certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), USA Powerlifting (USAPL), and she is a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES). Laila Ajani Laila Ajani Fitness Trainer Understanding how to achieve a calorie deficit is essential for losing weight through your diet. A calorie deficit occurs when you consume fewer calories than you burn. You can reach a calorie deficit by controlling your daily calorie intake. If you're only engaging in low-intensity activities, women could aim for something like 1,200-1,500 calories per day, while men could aim for 1,400-1,600 calories.

Sleep 7-9 hours every night.

Being well-rested keeps you attractive and strong. Sleep is an essential restorative process for your body. It's the key to good health and maintaining your body. Without enough sleep, you'll have several physical side effects, like difficulty concentrating, increased hunger, and mental fogginess. These side effects may make it harder to stick to your diet or exercise plan. In addition, you might notice you have dark circles or bags underneath your eyes or just look tired and fatigued. This won't fit in with your goal to have a great-looking body. If you're struggling to sleep, shut off all the lights and anything that makes distracting sounds. An eye mask or earbuds might be helpful.

Quit smoking and limit your alcohol consumption.

Avoiding nicotine and excessive alcohol use makes you look and feel better. Both smoking (or other forms of tobacco use) and alcohol can cause a variety of side effects including damaging healthy skin and teeth. While no amount of smoking is okay for your health, men can drink up to 2 alcoholic drinks a day, and women can drink 1. Smoking is known to cause a variety of adverse health problems (including cancer), but some more visible effects include wrinkly skin, yellow teeth, tooth decay, and gum disease. Continued alcohol use can lead to a variety of mouth problems including loose teeth. It can also cause issues with your skin.

Keep yourself stress-free and relaxed.

Taking time to destress keeps your body healthy. Chronic stress is never a good thing. If you do not manage stress, you may start to notice some physical symptoms which may work against your desire for a nicer body. For example, you could get itchy red rashes, break out in hives, acne, or experience mild hair loss. In addition, stress may lead to overeating or craving higher calorie "comfort foods." This can work against your fitness goals. Try to destress and relax by listening to music, reading a book, going for a walk, or talking to a friend or family member. If you cannot control your stress alone, seek the help of a therapist or a life coach.

Track your progress with a fitness journal.

A journal gives you the motivation to keep pursuing your goals. A journal is a great place to keep track of your goals, plans, and progress. By taking a look at how far you’ve come through your journal, you can find the motivation to keep yourself on track for getting body of your dreams. You’ll be surprised by how quickly you see positive changes. Keep track of your goals in your journal. As you lose weight, get more fit or ditch bad lifestyle habits, jot down notes about these so you can see your progress. Considering downloading a fitness tracking app on your smartphone. You can track your food, nutrition, calories, and fitness goals.

Maintain a healthy body image.

Keep your self-worth high so that you can appreciate your body. Any body can be a nice one if you love the way you look. While working on your physical health and fitness is always good, try not to let your goals hurt your current self-esteem. If you’re struggling with your mental health and hyper-fixated on “flaws” that you see in your body, consider talking to a therapist. Changing your body image can feel tough, but it’s possible. Don’t let social media or celebrity culture make you feel bad about yourself—your body works hard to take care of you, so always be grateful for the one you have.