How To Transform Your Body, One Problem Part at a Time

We’ve all got our problem areas - those nagging parts of our body that always seem to wiggle, sag, or bulge embarrassingly.   Many of these parts have even developed some not-so-pretty pet names such as muffin top, bat wings, and love handles.  Most assume that this is dictated by their individual body-type and that there is nothing they can do about it.

This stuck-with-it mentality forces people to use camouflage tactics rather than look for a permanent solution.  Think of the hundreds of products out there designed to stuff, squish, cinch, and coerce your body into a more flattering shape, and you’ll know this to be true.

But wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to hide your problem areas and resort to optical illusions to make you feel better about your body?  What if it was possible to take your problem areas, and make them your perfect areas? 

Well, you can, and it’s really a lot more simple than you might think.  And it doesn’t involve anything drastic like cosmetic surgery or even shady supplements and pills that make outlandish claims of rapid and extreme fat loss.  In fact, the whole solution to transforming your problem parts can be discovered by taking a trip to your local auto body shop.

Please be clear that I’m not in any way comparing you to a Buick or any other large automobile.  What I’m talking about is the approach that auto body technicians take to car repair.  For example, if you get a dent on your front fender, it wouldn’t make sense to try and re-paint and re-work the entire body would it?  Think of the time and expense that would take. 

So why do so many people approach their fitness routines like this?  They go to the gym 5 days a week, work out a little on each machine, do some cardio, rinse and repeat.  This is a general fitness program, with only general results.  These folks might improve their fitness level a little, but they never get any dramatic results, and they certainly aren’t making any headway on their stubborn areas.

What I’ve seen in my last decade in the fitness industry, is that individuals who put particular emphasis and intensity into specific muscle groups are always the poster-guy or girl for that body part.  The girl who spends an entire workout on her glutes, always has a great butt, and the guy sweating away on the bench press day after day has the best pecs.

The point here is that focusing extra attention on body parts that you struggle with, can bring dramatic improvement in those areas - but you can’t just let the rest of your body take a break in the meantime can you?  The guy with great pecs looks awful silly with skinny little chicken legs.

The trick is to put extra focus on your problem parts, while maintaining and improving the rest of your body with a whole body program at the same time.  I have used this process with my personal training clients with dramatic results, and the workouts I’ve created in my book Totally Toned Arms follow the same principle.

Here’s how to incorporate this system into your current fitness routine:  Pick one area of your body that you are particularly dissatisfied with, and focus two entire workouts per week on that part alone.  The remaining three workouts that week should revolve around whole-body exercises for all of your other muscle groups.  Do this for six weeks, and you will be amazed at how your problem part, becomes your perfect part.