Which sport/exercise do you think gives the most pleasing physique?

[Womnaleplus]

For women, I'm thinking ballet or whatever that hula hoop one is. Men - swimming?

Is Method Putisko like Pilates then?

Weights all the way a little cardio and of course Nutrition is the biggest factor to a great physique. Get the food right and the rest does follow.

Method Putkisto has some similarities (many instructors train in both) but has a greater emphasis on stretching and body awareness. Gives lovely long muscles!

Judging by
it'sRoxie's link, gymnastics, swimming and skating. I think you have to be careful with resistance training not to get too muscly.

Jessica Ennis doesn't look like that because of the athletics, but because of the TRAINING for it.

Lifting the heavy weights.

I think a mixture of things.

Squats.

Pilates for sure. I got a reformer for Christmas (I did ask for it. It wasn't DH being presumptious!) and I am loving it.

I think some people must lay down muscle quickly, I sure as hell don't, regardless of how hard I work.

My theory - athletes choose their sport based on their physique, their talent at a sport is strengthened by their body type...so the sport doesn't necessary transform their body and give it a great shape. So someone who is very lean will make a great long distance runner and someone who is more muscular will make a better sprinter and their sport will exaggerate these qualities. Athletes will all follow a pretty strict diet too....that body does not come from exercise alone.

Exercise won't give you a flat tum - it will build muscle and the fat will just layer on top, same goes for thighs and any other problem area.

Triathlon combined with weight training and Pilates/yoga

It's an interesting debate isn't it? It's obviously very subjective. And influenced by cultural norms. For example I am very much into circuits/body resistance training stuff and get v irritated by peoples 'fear' of women developing muscles or looking strong. But even I draw the line at female bodybuilders (ie competitive, covered in fake tan etc.)

Whilst I can see that the exercise required in ballet gives a long lean physique, it's probably only if you are severely restricting your food intake and have a certain hike to begin with. Eating disorders are rife in ballet and the reason most of them look as they do is a combination of v low body fat and exercise. It's not something I would want my daughter to aspire to as 'look',whilst most contemporary dancers seem to have a more balanced physique (ironically most of them have started out as ballet dancers and got told at some point that they didn't have the 'right' bodies for it.

Hike= body type. Not sure what happened there!

I don't think the sport gives the physique - rather the athlete selects a sport depending on what their physical proportions favour. For instance I wad a championship swimmer as s child but I'm a short arse with small hands and feet and booby. So come teens I realised I couldn't compete with longer body types. If id continued swimming I'm sure id be thinner and musclier than I am now by virtue of continual training but I would not have the body of a championship swimmer. Id still be me. By tthe same argument I think the idea that certain forms of exercise (yoga or Pilates say) can give ypu longer leaner muscles is bunk. It can make you feelvthat way and help you move with better body awareness and grace but to be longer you'd have to grow in height - think about it and clearly it's nonsense. It will help flexibility and core strength etc but exercise can't make you taller

No of course not. But it will give a leaner physique.

Yes leaner sure but the claim is 'longer leaner muscles' - if your muscles are longer then youd have to grow - surely? Hence I think it's nonsense. I think serious weights could help you balance your proportions but that would be by adding muscle to the smaller bits - not making the other muscle longer and leaner. although getting the fat off could show more balanced proportions if you tend to put fat in a specific region. For many it's still about getting that padding off in which case I'm doubtful relaxing exercise like yoga and pilates are off much use unless being less stressed helps you eat better and lose weight through improved diet.

Martial arts for males. My son is 14 and being doing martial arts for 3 years. He is very lean but is pure muscle. He has a 6 pack already and is quite the envy of his mates. Most of the higher ranking males in the class are all very muscular.

I do pilates, although I haven't been in a while I can now feel and see that I haven't. Its all core muscle strengthening and much nicer for me that circuit training.

I think certain exercises can pull muscles 'up and in', rather than 'grow them out/bulk them up' . (Stop me if I'm getting too technical . So for example I have worked on slightly building up my upper body to balance out my bottom and thighs and make me more hourglass than pear. I did this through building up slightly upper back and shoulders, mainly though body weight resistance training and some weights. Other exercise like Callanetics (that I think draws a lot from ballet/Pilates) has pulled muscles in, rather than made them bigger, particularly down the side of my abs.

I don't do yoga but it's not all just relaxing.

And yes I do think exercise influences the shape, some will build it up in a way other exercise doesn't.

I get irritated by the 'do this exercise to get long lean muscles' too - you can't change the length of a muscle! and please don't get me started on the 'women shouldn't lift more than 3kg' BS... Maybe now that Tracy Anderson has DC she may have thought again about that one .

Anyway- firsttimer I firmly believe less stress does improve your metabolism - so 'hard' exercise can be counterproductive for some people ...

Alright the absence of bulk.

I get irritated by we must all strive to look like Jessica Ennis.

As I don't find her body the most aesthetically pleasing.

Other athletes yes.

Gymnastics for both.

And yes ballet or whatever does influence shape, so there must be some way to describe that change.

Weight lifting / resistance training mixed with HIIT (intense interval cardio) for men and women.

Women (who use weights) should lift heavy as others have already said - we don't have the hormones to bulk out, especially if muscles are worked along natural movements (eg plank rather than sit ups etc). If sceptical google crossfit women or Girls Gone Strong.

No I don't think we should all aim to look the same either, but in terms of role models, physically speaking, I think JE is generally a healthier and more realistic ideal. In reality, most of us non- athletes are never going to look like the professionals, they obviously train intensively and eat carefully for their job. Most of us (and even the athletes) would find maintaining the low levels of body fat that most of them have , fairly impossible but I think that's actually a good thing, a certain level of body fat is both healthier and more aesthetically pleasing (IMO) than extremes.