Three circuit sessions a week, yoga and some regular aerobic training along with eating correctly will give you a healthy body. How much of each of these depends on what your goals are and below are my principles to help you lose fat.
How did I get these flabby love handles?
How do I get rid of these flabby love handles?
To move your limbs or for your organs to function you need energy . The energy to move muscles comes from glucose stored inside your muscles and when your glucose levels become low, your body will convert your fat reserves into glucose so it can create energy. So to lose fat you want to use up all of the glucose in your muscles and then continue working out (this is the fat burning zone). From here onwards all your energy is coming from your fat reserves. (Tip - Don't eat before or during your workout as your be using the food for energy and not your fat reserves, but eat as soon as you can after for a fast recovery)
Fat Loss Principles
Fat Loss Principles
1. Follow at least two of these nutrition tips that you do not already follow:
Don’t choose ones you already follow, continue doing them plus two more.
1. Don’t buy drinks or foods that have added sugar. Always read the label
2. Don’t eat carbs with your evening meal
3. Don’t eat late at night
4. Have healthy snacks readily available such as fresh fruits, nuts and dried fruit
5. Don’t eat too many fats, e.g. nuts/avocado/cheese/coconut oil – total healthy fats should be one handful per day in total
6. Drink less alcohol
6. Drink less alcohol
7. Don’t eat fast foods and junk food such as McDonald's
8. Don't eat any animal fat
8. Don't eat any animal fat
2. Anaerobic Circuit Training - three times per week
If you can't do this by yourself join a local boot camp class to get some ideas or wait for my circuit training blogs. Football, tennis or most other sports sessions count towards one of these. Full body circuits should be performed to ensure even strength throughout the body. You don’t need to use weights as this puts extra strain on your body and joints, your body weight is enough to get you ripped. All the exercises should be personalized so that you are working your weak muscles and stretching your tight muscles. Stretching at the end of your circuit is very important and you should do at least 10 minutes. When you work your muscles you create small tears in the muscles and they will repair quicker and stronger if you eat protein with every meal. Check out my home made protein bar blog.
If you can only workout three times per week then just stick to circuits. For maximum fat loss also perform the following:
If you can only workout three times per week then just stick to circuits. For maximum fat loss also perform the following:
3. Aerobic workout - twice per week (Cardio)
By working out in your aerobic zone (fat burning zone) you will benefit from using more fat than carbs to create energy and therefore burn more fat. The best way to do this is to work out at a low intensity for a long time. This is easily done through jogging, cycling or rowing. You need to be working out at a speed that you can comfortably talk at. This may seem a bit slow but after 45 minutes when your glucose levels are low, you will then burn the maximum amount of fat and it won’t seem easy at all. The longer you keep pushing through in this fat burning zone the better (after all it took you 45 min to get there so make the most of it). Don’t jump into a 2 hour run for your first run, you need to work your way up to it. Sign yourself up for a charity run which will give you something to work towards, and follow one of my running training programs. The small increases will reduce your chance of an injury.
4. Yoga or Pilates - three times per week
Increasing your mobility, core strength and flexibility will improve your posture, help prevent injury and build new nerve endings. Fitness isn't just how fast or how far you can run, its also how flexible you are. Yoga also helps relieve stress and helps you learn how to relax.
5. Think about what you are eating
Each day think about how much you’re working out. If you’re not working out then eat less carbs and fat. Read the labels and try and make the food yourself from whole foods to avoid the added rubbish that is packaged and restaurant food.
