Make no mistake: losing weight isn’t everything. Whether you have already lost those extra kilos that you may have left over or if you simply don’t need it, there is still a lot of work to do: you need to tone up. Currently, when we talk about someone toned, we all think of a person with musculature distinguishable at first glance, defined and with high muscle tone.
To achieve this effect, two requirements must be met:
- Reduce the amount of fat and water under the skin so that the muscle can be seen with the naked eye.
- Strengthen the muscles so that they gain both volume and tone and power.
Toning can be as difficult as just focusing on losing fat or getting hypertrophied. Therefore, this time we are going to focus on which are the best sports to tone the whole body, such as swimming or cross fit. Take note:
Swimming
Like so many times when people talk about beneficial sports, swimming cannot be missed. This complete sport allows to work the cardiovascular system and the muscles of practically the whole body. When swimming, both the upper and lower torso and core benefit. Due to this work of all the large muscle groups with swimming , it is one of the most beneficial physical activities globally. In addition, it involves a large caloric expenditure without excessively raising the heart rate or subjecting the body to the punishment of impacts.
Depending on what style of swimming you use, you will be able to focus more on the work of certain muscle groups, although in most of them both the back and the chest and shoulders do a great job.
TRX
The TRX is not properly a sport, but a suspension training system . Of military origin, this system has become very popular in the last two decades. Thanks to the possibilities offered by the TRX straps , the support and suspension points can be used both to increase the difficulty of the exercises and to facilitate them. You always work with your own body weight, with exercises that make a special impact on the core.
Contact sports
There is a huge variety of contact sports and martial arts, but almost all of them coincide in their great ability to tone the whole body. Whether they are hard contact disciplines such as MMA or Maui Thai, or softer internal martial arts such as Tai chi, all of them provide work in which the muscles of the whole body are worked and put to the test.
Also, if you don’t like the concept of hitting yourself with another person, there are variants such as air boxing or body combat , in which martial arts movements and combat styles are practiced without the need to reach physical contact.
Cross fi
The Cross fit is another training method that has gained much popularity worldwide in recent years. It is a high intensity training method that works with functional movements. It combines movements and exercises typical of disciplines such as weightlifting or artistic gymnastics, in which you work both with your own weight and with added weights.
Basketball
The basketball is another very complete sport. On the one hand, the upper body is worked, since the ball requires arm movements that involve speed and strength. On the other hand, racing at high speed and constant jumps contribute to the work of the lower body, since it is an effort that is done mainly with the legs.
If you are looking for a group sport with which to work your whole body , basketball is a very good option. In addition, it has the advantage of how easy it is to find spaces to practice it.
