The Best Workouts at Home for Tightening

Tightening your body at home requires a two-fold approach. In order to tone up your muscles and reduce the amount of fat on your body, it's important to implement effective and varied styles of training. The best workouts to do at home to make your body tighter need to be regular, challenging and interesting enough that you want to keep coming back for your next session. It is also key to make sure your diet and other lifestyle aspects are not sabotaging your efforts.

  1. Bodyweight Training

    • Bodyweight training is very effective in improving the overall tightness of your body. Your muscles are required to overcome the resistance against your body that gravity generates, in turn causing them to become stronger and more developed. As your muscles develop, you will begin to see a tightening effect, as reducing the "flabby" look is closely tied to having defined lean muscle mass. An effective bodyweight workout will include exercises that target every part of the body. For example, three sets of 20 reps each of squats, lunges, pushups, superman raises, Russian twists and triceps dips, followed by a 30-second plank.

    Interval Training

    • High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is an excellent method of fat loss, and if you want a tight and toned body, reducing body fat levels is required. A study in the International Study of Obesity compared the results of women who followed a HIIT program to those of women who did medium-intensity, steady-state cardiovascular training. The HIIT group lost significantly more fat and had more pronounced physique changes than the steady-state group. A classic HIIT workout is the sprint session. Run as fast as you can for 20 to 30 seconds -- or skip, swim, cycle or perform a hard bodyweight exercise for the same amount of time. Take a 10- to 15-second break, then repeat 10 times. Take a look at Olympic sprinters to see how effective this type of workout is.

    Pilates

    • Pilates has gained a lot of popularity in recent years for its ability to tone and tighten the body. With a heavy focus on building strength in your core, arms, legs and lower back, Pilates tightens the whole body and can be practiced by people of any fitness level. There are a variety of DVDs, books, apps and websites that will coach you through Pilates sessions at home. Make sure you have a clear space to practice in so that you're not bumping into anything, and always choose a level in your program that is appropriate to your current fitness.

    Diet and Sleep

    • Once you are working through a combination of bodyweight circuits, HIIT sessions and Pilates, your body will be on its way to tightening. If you really want to speed up the process, take a look at your eating and sleeping habits. Make sure your meals are made up of natural foods with healthy servings of protein, such as lean meats, fats from nuts or coconut oil, and carbohydrates from fruit, whole grains and starchy vegetables. Cut out processed foods and sugary drinks, and limit alcohol to one day per week. Make sure you're getting seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and avoiding stress as much as possible.