Many of the goals clients have at Reggie C Fitness in Houston, TX, is to get rid of muffin tops, have a flatter belly or get six-pack abs. If it were only doing spot exercises, it would be easy, but the answer is more complicated. No matter how toned your abs are, it won’t matter if you have a layer of fat covering them. I can’t emphasize that enough. Spot training builds muscle tissue, but doesn’t remove the fat from just that area. When you lose weight, you lose it from all areas of the body, not just one spot.
Great abs start in the kitchen.
Eating foods that promote weight loss, while also promoting muscle gain is necessary. It starts with a healthy diet that’s free from added sugar and highly processed food. A balanced diet should contain carbs, protein and fat, but the carbs should be non-starchy fruits and vegetables. Healthy fat is extremely important. Healthy fat actually helps you lose fat. You can get it from sources like avocados, nuts or fatty fish. Ensuring you have a wide variety of fruits and vegetables of all colors in your diet is also important. Include whole grains like oatmeal and sprinkle on some cinnamon. It will help lower insulin levels that can cause your body to store fat.
Do core exercises.
Your core muscles are the ones that make up your torso. It does include abs, but so much more. They’re the muscles in your back, hips and shoulders, too. When those muscles are strong, you have better posture and that can help flatten your abdomen immediately. Stand in front of your mirror and slouch with your shoulders down and check your belly. Now stand up straight with shoulders back and do the same. Your stomach should be flatter. Working your core muscles means working your larger muscle groups, which also burns tons of calories to help lose fat. Push-ups are one type of core exercise, so are planks, mountain climbers and rollouts.
Do strength training to burn the most fat.
Strength training not only burns tons of calories, it builds muscle tissue, too. Aim for compound exercises that work more than one muscle group to maximize the benefits. A single-arm bent over row and single-leg deadlift are two examples. You don’t have to have weights to do strength training. Good old-fashioned push-ups are bodyweight exercises that build strength, just as planks are, and they both work the core muscles, including the abs.
- Eat more protein. You need 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of weight. Protein fills you up and is necessary for building muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn, since muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does.
- If you’re having problems creating a healthy diet, don’t worry. We can help. Our meal plans can help you learn healthy eating. You’ll be surprised at how much you can eat and how good it tastes. You can still have some of your favorites, just not as often and keeping portion control in mind.
- Try some tips from various researchers. Green tea contains catechins, which help you lose weight. Other studies show that adding chili peppers to your diet will increase your metabolism. It’s the capsaicin in the peppers that does it.
- Cut back on refined foods, sugar and carbs. It cuts calories, so you lose weight, plus have more energy and feel better. Eating sugar, refined grain and soft drinks, including diet soft drinks is linked to abdominal fat, which hides those muscles.
For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness