Is the waistband of your jeans getting tight? Having a hard time fitting into dresses you got yourself last year? Yes? Then you need to bring a change in your lifestyle. Belly fat results in negative health results if you do not address them at the right time. It doesn’t do much good to your overall appearance either if you have a pooch.
Belly fat doesn’t go easy. And dieting alone usually doesn’t work either merely because of the dieter’s unrealistic expectations or errors. You need to commit to a long-term program that combines both healthy eating and exercise regimen to get rid of the bulge once and for all. And those two major lifestyle changes must be sustainable. In order to get rid of belly fat, you need to turn up your workouts a notch. According to studies, people who were more into high-intensity exercise regimens, lost more belly fat than those with tried low-intensity exercises who couldn’t see major changes. The key is to burn more calories which is only possible with high-intensity exercises as they do just that. This is not to suggest that low intensity training doesn’t work, it does! But, you will run into a plateau sooner that you might think. In clinical studies, two groups who were put on training programs had one difference; the first trained using a low intensity cardio regimen while the second group would do high intensity cardio. All the clinical studies came to the same conclusion; those who performed high intensity cardio lost more fat, despite training less than those who performed on average 2 hours of low intensity cardio!
Here is what happened: The first group would walk for approximately 2 hours every day at a low intensity pace. Favorable changes in body composition were observed during the first 10 days or so, then progress stalled all of a sudden. Researchers concluded that the subject’s bodies adapted to the daily walk and their metabolic rate adjusted accordingly. Meaning, the subjects’ metabolisms adjusted to the new activity level and after they were burning extra calories at first, they now MUST perform that same activity just to maintain their metabolic rate. So, this is in fact counterproductive since it slowed down the subjects’ metabolic rate.
On the other hand, the second group who performed some sort of high intensity cardio (approximately sprints for 15 minutes with short breaks in between) lost more body fat than the first group and no metabolic adaptations occurred. Meaning, the subjects in the second group kept burning calories throughout the study at the same rate they would burn when they first started that same training regimen.
So, low intensity cardio is still great and beneficial to overall health from time to time, but don’t make it a habit to go on an hour-long walk every day. Instead, turn up the heat and start doing sprints. Not only will you save a lot of time, but you will also lose significantly more fat.
One thing to note is that the most important factor of losing fat successfully is a caloric deficit. It’s all about calories in vs calories out. You must expend more energy (calories) than you take in through food to create a caloric deficit. Only then will your body be forced to tap into your stored body fat and convert that into energy. Otherwise, your body has no reason to use precious stored fat that it can keep in case of emergencies, specifically, in case you starve to death!
Listed below are two very easy exercises which will do bring definite results. This “regimen” is called the Countdown Workout and includes Kettlebell Swing and Squat thrusts. These are not just any exercises but they are such movements that engage and challenge the whole body. You need to do 15 repetitions of kettlebell swing which needs to be immediately followed by 15 reps of squat thrusts. Then without resting, 14 repetitions of swing again and 14 reps of the squat thrust. Generally, focus on performing both exercises back to back with no rests in between. This is called circuit training and it has been shown to have a profound effect on metabolic rate as well as body composition.
Continue in the same pattern until you complete the rep of each of the exercise. You will be doing 120 repetitions of each exercise which makes a total of 240 repetitions.
Kettlebell Swing:
It is also called a dumbbell swing. Bend at your hips and hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at arm’s length in front of you using both hands. Now, rocking back slightly, hike the kettlebell between your legs. After this, squeeze your glutes and thrust your hips to the forward with force and swing the weight to your shoulder height. Allow the momentum to swing the weight and do not actively try to life it with your own arms.
Now reverse the movement so the weight could be swung back between your legs again. You need to ensure that you don’t round your lower back any time during this. It should remain arched naturally when you bend at your hips. Continue swinging back and forth.
Squat Thrust:
For squat thrust, you need to stand with your feet placed slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Bending at your knees and hips, squat down lowering your body so much so that you are able to place your hands on the floor. Kick your legs backward into a push-up position and then reverse the movement right away and getting back to your feet standing up from the squat. That is one rep. In order to make the exercise more challenging, instead of simply standing up from the squat, try standing up quickly.
Do try them and you could see tutorials as well. Add egg white and proteins to your breakfast. It’s worth it! Just get some protein in, it’ll speed up your metabolism.
