(BlackFitness101.com) Summer is here and the rush is on to get those killer bodies after a long winter of sedentary living. If you’re like most, you want best results right now!
What are the best exercises that will produce the greatest results in the least amount of time? After all, few people want to put in an inordinate amount of work and see limited results for their efforts. Resistance exercise of some sort is the most effective route to shaping your body.
The best strategy for using resistance exercises to achieve lasting weight loss is to focus on what’s known as ‘compound’ muscle groups. Compound muscle groups are simply the large muscle 
groups in our body, including leg, core and chest. Tooling your exercise regimen around these and other areas will have you looking fit and fab in no time!
The three most effective exercises that will target those compound muscle groups are squats, pushups and planks.
Squats
Squats are so effective because they utilize the largest system of muscles in the body: legs. Specifically, the quadriceps and hamstrings and calf muscles are accessed to complete the full range of motion. Leg muscles comprise sixty-percent of the total musculature of the body. If you want to burn calories at maximum capacity and pulverize fat, squats – or some variation – are the most effective weapon in your arsenal.
Focusing on squats will reduce body fat more effectively and efficiently than does exercises which focus on smaller muscle groups. Remember, the larger the muscle group, the better the results.
The goal for squats should be a minimum of twenty-five, properly executed.
Pushups
Anybody in relatively good health can do a basic squat. A pushup, on the other hand, is something that only a fraction can successfully complete. There is simply no other exercise that can build strength than pushups.
Pushups are the most difficult body exercises to perform, primarily because you are literally pushing up your body weight.
The benefits are enormous. A pushup activates just about every major muscle group in your body – including biceps, triceps, anterior deltoids and even core muscles – in the effort to lift and sustain the torso.
The reason why so many people struggle with pushups is due to the amount of waist and belly fat that most carry.
Build pushups into your regimen and within thirty days you will see results in muscular strength.
The goal for military pushups should be ten for women and 25 for men.
Plank
Lastly, if a pushup tests one’s strength capacity, a plank challenges both one’s strength and conditioning level. That’s because you are holding the position in a static form, as opposed to the kinetic motion of squats and pushups.
Planks shape core conditioning but also work the glutes and hamstring muscles. The best thing about planks, though, is that they shape the entire core region – from lower to upper abs to the oblique contours.
Planks are also good therapeutic exercises in that they work to reduce lower back pain by strengthening your lower back muscles. Strengthening lower back muscles lead to greater flexibility – which is one of the objectives of getting fit.
The goal should be ultimately to hold a plank for a minimum of one hundred and twenty seconds.
These three exercises will have you looking fit and fab in no time!
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitefitnesscoaching.com.