To get that bikini body, you’ll need to do three things in combination: a cardio workout, strength training routines and stretching exercises.

Got your date book handy? Mark the date eight weeks from tomorrow. You might write, "Put on that new bikini and celebrate!" or maybe, "I DID IT!"

Why the celebration? Because by that time you will have finished our newest, smartest, body-shaping routine. Not only will the bikini workout help you lose fat (if you need to) and tone up, it's also geared to get your bikini body outside and into your hiking boots, cycling shorts or bathing suit.

This program focuses on the three essentials of fitness: cardiovascular fitness, resistance exercise and flexibility. You know the drill:

• a cardio workout strengthens your heart and burns calories
• strength training routines increase muscle, boosts metabolism and changes your shape
• stretching exercises reduce your risk of injury and help keep your muscles supple and joints stable

But now there's more. Combine all three elements and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Do all three types of exercises and the results will come faster than ever before. Shape’s free workout routines can show you how.

We'll explain the cardiovascular fitness portion of this workout later, but first we're going to take you through a stretch-and-strengthen program designed by exercise physiologist Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., director of fitness research at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Mass.

Westcott's research has shown that stretching exercises can boost strength. In two 10-week studies of 76 untrained men and women, the subjects who included stretching in their strength training routines gained an average of 19 percent more strength than the subjects who simply lifted weights.

"Stretching seems to make muscles more responsive to strength-building stimulus," says Westcott. Although you could stretch after your workout for the same results, the routine that Westcott designed for Shape alternates the stretching and strength training within the workout. This way, you won't be tempted to blow off your stretch routine at the end.

So, pencils ready? Start scheduling those workout routines!

Keep reading for more free workout routines to help you get that bikini body you’ve always wanted.