Fitness

Sculpt sexy curves, pronto!

Want to shed inches all over? A weighted wand works like magic. Try this plan and (ta-da!) a sleeker physique will appear.

By Amanda Vogel

From the December 2008 Issue

The plan

Grab a 9- to 15-pound bar to get lifting! Do up to three sets of 12 reps of each exercise, three times a week on nonconsecutive days. Most gyms have weighted bars.

The expert

Shannon Fable, a trainer in Boulder, Colorado, and winner of the American Council on Exercise's Group Fitness Instructor of the Year award, created this routine just for self. "It works the whole body with only one tool," Fable says, explaining that the bar integrates balance and coordination into moves to make them more effective. Try it and watch flab vanish!

Technique tips

Changing the way you grip the bar move to move supercharges this workout. Different holds shift the weight and maximize the intensity of each exercise. If handling the tool off-center, or with one arm at a time, feels too intense, simply do fewer reps until you feel stronger. Likewise, if the actions feel too easy, use one arm instead of two on the two-arm lifts. You'll literally raise the intensity bar of your routine.

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Create a stir

Stand with feet hip-width apart. Hold bar vertically at arm's length in front of you, one end on floor. Rise onto balls of feet. Circle arms one rotation in clockwise direction, bending elbows (as shown) for one rep. Do six reps. Switch directions; repeat.