12 Week Body Transformation for Women

You have to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis to become strong and healthy. Doing the same routine can suck the motivation out of working out, so change things up to keep your exercising exciting. Never settle for where you are. Constantly strive for improvement and progression, and if things get too easy increase the intensity. Following this routine should allow you lose weight, increase your muscle tissue and receive an overall healthier body.

  1. Weeks 1 to 4

    • Start each session with thirty minutes of cardio. If someone asked you a question, you should have to take a breath in between every couple words. For weights, work your biceps, upper back and hamstrings on Mondays and Thursdays. Triceps, chest, shoulders and quadriceps are on Tuesday and Friday. Work your calves, abs and lower back on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Choose a weight that is heavy enough to fatigue your muscles after 12 to 15 reps, and perform four sets.

    Weeks 5 to 8

    • Continue to start each session with thirty minutes of cardio. If available, add incline or begin to do interval training every two days. To do intervals, jog or run for 30 to 60 seconds, and walk or jog for 90 to 120 seconds. Each week, increase the amount of time you run or jog, and decrease the amount of time you jog or walk by 10 seconds. Continue to split your muscle groups by day.

    Weeks 9 to 12

    • Lift weights before your cardio now, but warm up for five minutes first. Instead of resting between weight-lifting sets, do mountain climbers, jumping jacks or run in place. To do mountain climbers, start at the top of a pushup position with your hands below your shoulders and your right knee below your chest. Keep your hands on the ground and jump, switching your feet. Repeat for 30 seconds as fast as you can.

    Nutrition Considerations

    • Whether you're trying to lose weight or add muscle definition, what you eat is critical to transforming your body. Fill your diet with complex carbs, fruits, veggies and lean protein. It takes 3500 calories to lose one pound. The best way to accomplish this is to decrease your calorie intake by 300 each day, and burn at least 300 calories on the days you workout. Adding muscle will mainly come from the protein and amino acids you consume while your muscles recover. For best results, eat some lean protein directly after you workout, and again within one to three hours.

    Time Considerations

    • If you don't have time to do everything at once, it is okay to split your routine to something like a morning and evening workout schedule. Do the full 30 minutes of cardio the first time you come in, and do the full weight training routine during the second. Do not perform two separate sessions of 15 minutes of cardio with half the weights.

    Tips and Safety

    • Transforming your body takes hard work, and you want to push yourself, but make sure you give yourself enough time to rest so that you don't get injured.

      Maintain correct form throughout your reps and sets. Stay hydrated, and if you feel lightheaded or dizzy stop working out. In week nine to twelve the mountain climbers, jumping jacks or running in place you are doing between sets is called super setting, which is a form of active rest, but your body still needs some inactive rest. Take a 30 to 60 second water break after completing two or three super-set exercises. By the end of the program you should be able to maintain a faster pace for cardio, lift heavier weights and have a healthier body.