Too often and much to my dismay, I hear women protest against using any appreciable weight in their weight training programs. Moreover, many young women completely refrain from resistance training, instead spending hours on the cardio deck in a fruitless effort to attain an “ideal” physique. What is the ideal physique? And why are women so afraid of lifting a dumbbell that isn’t pink or red? The answer to the first question lies in a complex paradox of social and cultural influences.

Read more: Women and Iron— Pumping It, That Is

Taut tummies are all the rage, and women worldwide long to secure a super-star six-pack. But, unfortunately, the avenue to amazing abs is cluttered with training evangelism, and everyone has their own opinion, technique or idea about how to best train this often troublesome area. So, how can we find what exercises work best to tone and tighten our total tummy?

To weed out the flack and uncover what really works in the elusive world of abdominal training, we turned to the reliability of scientific research.

Read more: Super-Star Six-Pack

Why is it that a fit, toned back is so appealing? For the average person on the street, it may be that a low-back dress or top reveals muscle people just don’t get to see on themselves without a dressing room three-way mirror. For someone who exercises, it’s eye-catching because we know how hard it is to develop a toned, shapely back.

Read more: Baby’s Got Back

 

Women’s fitness has come a long way. In the not-to-distant past, it was considered taboo for a woman to lift weights. Common wisdom preached that weight training would “masculinize” the female physique, building a big, bulky body. Fortunately, advances in exercise science have debunked this myth and the majority of women now realize that weight training is the key to developing a shapely, feminine physique; you can’t tone up without it.

Read more: Sculpting Her Body Perfect

We women are obsessed with our rear views, and we’ll try anything to tighten and trim our troublesome tushies. Gadgets and gimmicks abound to prey on our fanny fixation, but more often than not, those “guaranteed” items will do little to buff your buns, and more to drain your wallet. So what’s a girl to do? How can we divine the best way target and tone our tail ends? To find the best exercises for your buns, we turned to the infallible forecast of scientific research.

Read more: Maxing Out Your Glutes