Slim Your Tummer for the Summer
3 Tips to Help You Get Your Summer Shred On
For many, summer consists of backyard barbecues, music festivals, and most notably lounging on the beach with an ice cold beverage. Although summer is the most wonderful time of the year, it can be somewhat horrifying for those who haven't fully committed to their regular training routine, or took it too far indulging in cheat meals. Today, I'm concentrating on 3 easy methods to help you chisel down and feel more upbeat, so you can rock your bathing suit without any hesitations.
When it comes to your workouts, toning down and shredding body fat is dependent on cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and the foods you're using to fuel your body. In order to drop the number on the scale, focus on:
1. Doing More HIIT
2. Multi-Joint Compound Movements
3. Smarter Food Choices
1. Doing More HIIT
High intensity interval training (HIIT) consists of brief, all-out work periods followed by rest periods. Unlike going for a long-distance jog where your heart rate stays fairly consistent throughout the duration of the workout, HIIT training encourages you to work harder for shorter amounts of time. So how long should you work for, and how long should you rest for? The work-to-rest ratio can vary from 1:1 (for example, 45 seconds on, 45 seconds off) to 1:3 (for example 45 seconds on, 2 minutes and 25 seconds off) or more, and the rounds are essentially limitless. No matter the ratio, it is imperative to go all out once it's time to hit those working sets.
Some examples of HIIT exercises include:
- Treadmill Sprint
- Jumping Rope
- Stairmaster
Inevitably, after a particular amount of time you may begin to plateau and those few tricky pounds won't seem to disappear. In order to break through this halt, I suggest gradually increasing the amount of rounds you do each week. For example, on Week 6 you do 10 rounds for every HIIT session, and on Week 7 you bump the rounds up to 11 per session.
2. Multi-Joint Compound Movements
Compound movements are exercises which include numerous joints and a number of muscle groups in order to perform such as the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift. Unlike isolation movements (for example, leg extensions and bicep curls), compound movements require the activation of all the primary muscles in the body at one given time. So, how does this help you lose fat? Since all major muscle groups are "firing" at the same time, it requires a significant amount of energy output from each group which in turn burns more calories than isolation exercises.
For example, the back squat is a multi-joint compound exercise because it includes the knees and hips in order to perform the movement, while the quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, upper back, and abs are all stimulated, leading to a powerful calorie smash.
3. Smarter Food Choices
You may have heard the saying "Abs are made in the kitchen," and it isn't entirely wrong. One of the fundamentals to dropping weight is gauging your diet and monitoring what foods you eat in order to reach your goals. I could go into great lengths about nutrition, but my main tip for dieting is to be conscious of where you are getting your calories from. For example, instead of eating foods with "empty" carbs, opt for foods that offer more nutrient-dense carbs. The next time you're in a rush grabbing your morning fix at Starbucks, ditch the croissant for fruit or a yogurt cup instead. In the long run, your body will thank you for it!
Compound movements are exercises which include numerous joints and a number of muscle groups in order to perform such as the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift. Unlike isolation movements (for example, leg extensions and bicep curls), compound movements require the activation of all the primary muscles in the body at one given time. So, how does this help you lose fat? Since all major muscle groups are "firing" at the same time, it requires a significant amount of energy output from each group which in turn burns more calories than isolation exercises.
For example, the back squat is a multi-joint compound exercise because it includes the knees and hips in order to perform the movement, while the quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, upper back, and abs are all stimulated, leading to a powerful calorie smash.
Some examples of compound movements include:
- Back Squat
- Bench Press
- Deadlift
- Shoulder Press
- Lat Pull-Down
You may have heard the saying "Abs are made in the kitchen," and it isn't entirely wrong. One of the fundamentals to dropping weight is gauging your diet and monitoring what foods you eat in order to reach your goals. I could go into great lengths about nutrition, but my main tip for dieting is to be conscious of where you are getting your calories from. For example, instead of eating foods with "empty" carbs, opt for foods that offer more nutrient-dense carbs. The next time you're in a rush grabbing your morning fix at Starbucks, ditch the croissant for fruit or a yogurt cup instead. In the long run, your body will thank you for it!
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