I want to tone up a bit.

[Anonymous]

I want to tone up. Losing weight is not necessary as I weigh 110 lbs and am 5'5.

But I do feel...unhappy with my appearance. There was a time when I was 110 lbs of trim fitness but that's not how it is right now. I'm now 110 lbs of soft.

I'd like some in-home exercises to do because it's much too cold to go out and run. It's between 0 and 10 degrees F by me and there's 7 inches of snow on the ground with more falling every day.

Also the nearest gym is an hour away and I can't afford a membership.

I don't eat very poorly nor very much, and I don't drink alcohol or pop or coffee.

So. This leads me to believe I just need to workout again. But what to do?

Any fitness plan ideas?

Areas I'd like to target are my abs, butt, and thighs.

Aside from squats and sit ups...what can I do to address these areas?

[WeaponZero]

Being toned requires two things: Building muscle and losing fat. You could lose all the fat in the world and if you don't have the muscle underneath you'll still never be toned.

Given your weight, I would say your issue is a lack of muscle. You need to go through a period of training the way bodybuilders do to get some.

Basic bodyweight squats won't do the job if you can manage more than a certain amount of reps in a certain period of time. You have to increase the difficulty of the exercise so that you need to take a rest to let your muscle get some energy back in fewer than 10 reps. Since you don't have access to weight, that means doing more balance intensive exercises, such as the split squat, and eventually moving onto the pistol squat. Plyometrics is also good for you. And at this point you shouldn't be worried about individual body parts. As a beginner, regardless of your goal, you should be training your whole body. Muscle imbalances can lead to health issues later on in life (most commonly, back problems).

Also, you may have to increase your food intake for it. Muscle, like fat, can't be added to the body while in a calorie deficit. You must be eating at a slight surplus.

So, in short, focus on building muscle. Do exercises that are so difficult you can only manage fewer than 10 reps per set. And don't worry on your problem areas. Train your whole body. And don't train everyday. Allow a day of rest in between each workout.

[vadude]

Step ups are really good, weighted lunges, if you have a pull up bar in your house you can do hanging knee raises, and planks to target abs just to name a few. Go online and check out sites like, muscle and fitness. They have really good routines, as well as isolation exercises for targeting specific areas.

[ThisLife]

Look up some yoga exercises you can do at home. And practice them. Yoga is best for toning out on girls and it should work your butt a bit too. Also go easy on carbs.

[beastman88]

research calisthenics, stretch lots and do yoga and make sure you eat enough

[Anonymous]

do yoga and eat more healthy food like rice.