Customise your workout to best compliment your dress.
Whether you prefer to feel the burn in the gym or a yoga class, body+soul fitness expert Damien Kelly and yoga guru Angel Singmin share tips on how to tone, flatten and shape your body to compliment your dress for your big day.
Aim: Shapely arms
Damien Kelly says: Try an Arnie Press by holding two dumbbells close to your body at shoulder level with your palms facing your body and your elbows under your wrists. Rotate your arms outwards at a 90 degree angle and then upwards until your arms are straight. Try to do this in one smooth movement then come back down to your starting position by doing the reverse. Finish with some triceps dips.
Tip: Do Damien's exercises three times a week in three sets of ten to fifteen reps.
Angel Singmin, from the Future Sound of Yoga says: Start the Dolphin Pose on all fours with your forearms on the floor, elbows under shoulders and knees under hips. Interlace your hands, tuck your toes under and lift up out of all fours and into dolphin. Keep your hips high in the air and your legs straight. As you inhale, shift your weight forwards so your head and shoulders are in line with your hands. On your exhale, bend back to your starting position.
Tip: Do these poses three times a week in sets of ten.
Aim: Toned bust
Damien Kelly says: Try push ups. The push-up is a sure fire way to tone chest muscles. Place your hands on the floor in front, making sure your body forms a straight line from your head to your toes. Bring your chest to the floor, hold for a couple of seconds, rise and repeat.
Angel Singmin says: Chaturanga Dandasana is great for your pectoral muscles. Start in plank pose with your body in a straight line, your tailbone tucked under and your upper arms hugged into your sides. Lower toward the floor keeping a long spine and stopping when your forearms and upper arms make a 90 degree angle. You should be about an inch from the floor with your body level. Hold for the count of three, release to the floor and then push back up to plank.
Aim: Tone legs
Damien Kelly says: Your legs will benefit from a number of different exercises teamed together. Some fast walking paired with some lunges, squats and step-ups (just make sure your step is knee height) will tone your legs. Even better if these exercises can be weighted because the more weight you can use, the better the results will be.
Angel Singmin says: Warrior II is the perfect standing pose for legs. First take a wide stance with your left foot in front pointing forward and your right foot facing outwards. Then with your hands on your hips and your right leg bent so your knee points in the same direction as your right big toe, straighten your left leg. Extend your arms out wide and gaze along the fingertips of your right hand. Hold it here for ten slow breathes. Repeat on the left leg.
Aim: Flatten tummy
Damien Kelly says: Pair sit-ups with some reverse crunches. The reverse crunch starts by lying on your back with your thighs vertical and your knees bent. Then with your palms on the floor beside you and your head and shoulders off the ground, squeeze through your abs, lift your tailbone off the ground and place your feet above your head. Then slowly bring your legs down to the ground so you can feel it in your stomach. Repeat.
Angel Singmin says: Perform a low plank by coming onto your hands and knees, placing your forearms on the floor, interlacing your hands and walking your feet right back to the edge of the mat, with your toes tucked under. Your body should be in one straight line with your weight balanced between your forearms and your toes. Tuck your tailbone under so your hips are level to the rest of your body and draw your bellybutton into your spine. Hold it there for one minute and then rest and repeat.