Can you change your body shape?

Isobel King -Mar 11, 2012

Watch your tone ... the plank technique can help strengthen your core.


It was so much easier in Rubens's day, when the folds and dimples of the ''full-figured'' woman were objects of lust and there was zero pressure to achieve the rippling abs and chiselled lines we sweat over today. While tempting to think we could all become perfectly proportioned models with just a little bit of work, the reality is only about 5 per cent to 10 per cent of women are in the height and weight range of models, and the average Australian woman is now a size 16. Little surprise that so many of us are plagued by poor body image and unrealistic ideas of what is achievable, given the strong hand genetics play in our basic body shape.

Shape shifters

The good news is you can do a lot with the cards dealt to you. Admittedly, you can't suddenly spring long legs or determine where your excesses cling to you but with focused toning, you can dramatically alter what you have.

''You can't spot-reduce, as the way you lose fat is genetically determined,'' says a dietitian and exercise physiologist, Gabrielle Maston. ''For example, if you tend to hold weight in the hips, then that's probably the last place you'll lose it. However, you can give a different appearance to your body without changing body-fat stores, just by getting more toned, reducing or adding muscle bulk.''

The one caveat health and fitness coach Amelia Burton adds - echoed by others S.Well spoke to - is that you need to shed excess weight to get the best results. If you're more than five kilograms to eight kilograms overweight, you really need to look at shifting that, either before or in tandem with any toning regime.

Here's a rundown of how you can target problem areas with specific exercises.

Shapely legs

We'd all kill for Miranda Kerr's legs but few are that blessed genetically. However, there are many exercises you can do in and outside a gym to achieve more muscle bulk or simply a longer, leaner look to your legs.

Maston points out that sprinters tend to have muscly legs, whereas long-distance runners have lean legs, so depending on the look you're after, you want to look at exercises that mimic these sports. Or take up running.

Burton recommends backward-stepping lunges, which are part of most pump classes: literally a step backwards, with the back knee almost touching the floor. ''They elongate out the muscles, giving long and lean shaped legs, and are also good for the butt,'' she says.

Cycling and spin classes are also great for the legs but be mindful of what you want to achieve. The more resistance you add, the more muscle bulk you'll build. Go for greater repetitions with less resistance if you're after a slender, toned look.

Killer abs

Much has been written about the importance of a strong ''core'' - the inner and outer back and abdominal muscles that surround and support the torso. A strong core not only leads to better posture but also easier breathing and, hopefully, a nice six-pack.

Yoga and Pilates both work on building core strength and many of their techniques have been incorporated into popular gym classes. The ubiquitous ''plank'', for example, has its origins in yoga, says the vice-president of Yoga Australia, Leigh Blashki.

Many variations exist but the most common is the front plank, which is held in a push-up position with the body's weight resting on forearms, elbows and toes; and the side plank, where you lie on your side and push up, carrying the weight on your elbow and forearm, working the muscles along the side of your body (the obliques). In its many guises, the plank is universally heralded as one of the best workouts for the abs.

Not surprisingly, the core-strengthening focus of Pilates is also recommended highly. Pilates practitioner William Penhale describes it as a ''body balancer'' that addresses the muscular system as a whole, working first on the deeper layer of abdominal muscles, then moving the focus to the bigger muscles on the exterior.

''You're more inclined to get the long, lithe look of a dancer, rather than the bunched-up look of a body builder, with Pilates,'' Penhale says.

Upper body

Both Burton and Maston recommend swimming as a great natural workout for the upper body. For men, it gives them the coveted V-shaped back, encouraging big shoulders and a lean waist. It also helps strengthen the triceps - the back of the upper arms that, when neglected, easily become dreaded ''tuck shop arms''. To replicate the effects at the gym, Maston suggests rowing and the lat pull-down machines.

Boxing and kickboxing are also great for upper- and lower-body resistance. Using light weights with lots of repetitions will stop you bulking up.

How much is enough?

It's always a point of contention: exactly how much do you have to work out to get results? A lot has to do with the intensity put into a workout and just how much definition you're after.

Maston recommends 30 minutes to one hour, at least three times a week, with the hope you'll feel a difference within six weeks and visibly see changes within about 12 weeks. ''But with exercise it has to be consistent,'' she warns. ''If you stop going, you'll revert to where you were before.''

On the upside, she says a body of any age can respond positively to weights and aerobic training, developing new-found muscle tone.

Burton is similarly upbeat. ''Body shape is 50 per cent what your parents gave you and 50 per cent what you put into it, so no one has to settle for what genetics have handed them,'' she says.

Body of hard work

''I just felt there was a better version of me in there,'' Nisha Agiasotis says about what sparked her personal transformation.

Photo: Supplied

The 33-year-old mother of two says she comes from a family in which ''all the women carry weight around the belly'', so a prime objective was to get a slender, toned abdomen along with shapely shoulders and biceps.

First, she dropped 10 kilograms to achieve her target weight of 45 kilograms, which was a comfortable fit for her slight, 153-centimetre frame. Then she embarked on a rigorous gym routine to achieve the toned look she was after, using the 12-week Advanced Lean and Strong program devised by personal trainer Michelle Bridges (

Motivated to see quick results, Agiasotis put in an hour a day, six days a week, at the gym and says she started to see new definition in about a month.

''I was adamant I didn't want to lose more weight, just tone up,'' she says. With her weight stable, she found the waists of her jeans were roomier and her muscles firmer.

Photo: Edwina Pickles

By the end of the 12 weeks, Agiasotis achieved the athletic body she has today.

For the benefit of those similarly inspired, she lists her exhaustive weight training: ''Barbell squats, body-weight squats, lunges and weighted lunges, planks, chin-ups, push-ups and push-ups with claps, barbell chest-press, dumb-bell flies, bicep curls and hammer curls, tricep pull-downs and tricep dips, leg extensions, hamstring curls, calf raises, seated rows and pull-downs.''

The results speak for themselves.

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