Getting into Great Shape for Your Wedding

Preparing for your wedding isn’t as simple as just securing a wedding location, sending out invitations and selecting the right flowers, but also is about looking your best for what will be the most memorable day of your life. It doesn’t only come down to finding the perfect wedding dress, hair style, and jewelry - you will look your best by getting in great shape. A fit shape will not only cause you to radiate even more beauty, but you will also feel amazing and confident. Here are some effective ways to achieve your personal best for your wedding:

Don't be shy around the weights
Many women avoid intense weight training because they believe that it will make them bulky and muscular. This is unlikely because most women do not have the genetic capacity to build very large muscles. The majority of women with very large muscle have trained deliberately for years to look that way, and many take male hormones, so don't worry that you will turn into this. Intense weight training is an effective way for you to increase muscle tone, improve posture and turn on your body's ability to burn body fat. Your weight training program should be intense, meaning that you should push yourself to train hard. It should also be progressive, meaning that you should be striving to increase the weight you lift and/or the amount of repetitions that you can perform from workout to workout. The continued resistance will cause your body to become more toned, leaner and fitter.

Alternate for best results
Alternating your weight training workouts with your cardiovascular workouts has a synergistic effect which will speed up the pace in which your body burns fat and becomes lean. The extra cardiovascular exercise done on non weight training days will keep your body burning body fat as well as speed up recovery from your weight training workouts. 2-3 weight training workouts alternated with 2-3 cardiovascular workouts will produce excellent results.

Create an illusion to look leaner
If you want to look taller and slimmer in your wedding dress, make sure that you exercise your shoulders and back muscles. Toning up these areas improves posture which makes the body appear more tapered, taller and leaner. Sculpting these two areas creates an optical illusion which can make you look 10-12lbs lighter than what you actually weigh. To properly work these areas include exercises such as overhead presses, dumbbell shoulder raises, bent over rows, lat pulldowns and chin ups in your workouts. note: For proper instruction on how to perform these exercises, refer to my book 12 Weeks to Beach Body Abs.

To look stunning train your showy muscles
To look truly stunning, train the muscles of your chest, arms, back and shoulders. These areas will be the most visible in your wedding dress so it makes sense to pinpoint them for the most improvement. When exercising your chest, select exercises that target the upper portion such as incline chest press or incline dumbbell fly. For your arms include exercises such as bench dips, triceps push downs, dumbbell curls and cable curls.

Train your legs to burn off the extra fat
If you want to double your progress, exercise the muscles of your legs. Leg training can be punishing but it is highly effective for increasing the rate at which the body burns fat and sculpts the entire body. Proper leg training sends a signal to the body which causes the body to increase its own production of fat burning hormones. For best results be sure to include exercises such as the barbell squat, stiff legged dead lift, lunges and jumping squat. Another great way to work the legs is to perform sprints which can be done on flat land or on hills.

Eat healthy to get real results
Eating healthy will drastically improve the effectiveness of your exercise program, and get your body to where you want it to be much quicker. Many people associate eating healthy with bland tasting foods and hunger. Don't worry, you can reach your goal of looking incredible without feeling miserable. To make healthy foods taste great consider using spices or adding fruit to dishes. To avoid the feeling of hunger, choose foods that are rich in fiber and water, which have a filling effect. Consider upping your protein intake from lean sources of protein such as fish, poultry, eggs and beans. Protein has the effect of lowering hunger. Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, along with lean proteins. Consume but limit your intake of calorie dense foods such as nuts, breads and pastas. Drink plenty of water to encourage fat loss and muscle toning.

Give yourself enough time
Give yourself enough time to get in tip top shape, particularly if you haven't exercised in a while. Giving yourself a few months will allow your body enough time to burn of body fat and tone up at a comfortable pace, freeing your mind of the stress of whether or not you will look perfect in your wedding dress. Give yourself about 3 months to get in shape. 3 months is not so long that you lose focus but enough to allow you to get into shape.

By applying these effective strategies to getting into great shape you will look lean and toned for your wedding day.

ABOUT Fitness Expert & Author, Lawrence Hosannah

Lawrence Hosannah is author of 12 Weeks To Beach Body Abs and conducts personal training sessions and his LH Bridal BootCamp in New York City with the specific goal of getting brides in shape before the wedding. The "LH" in LH Bridal BootCamp stands for trainer Lawrence Hosannah but after this intense, full-body workout designed to melt off the fat and sculpt your body in record time, you may think the "LH" really stands for "living hell."

He's trained pro basketball players, competed as a natural bodybuilder, and modeled with supermodel Gisele Bundchen and he will kick your butt. But you'll thank him afterwards when your arms get lean, your body toned and you look amazing in your wedding dress. Lawrence understands the busy lifestyles of today’s bride and he has the best ways to get you into Wedding Day Shape that fits into your busy on-the-go lifestyle. Brides to be can visit his website to learn more www.lawrencehossanah.com

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