Summer is just around the corner, or is that wishful thinking? Spring will be here soon, and that means transitioning away from the winter clothes, those winter clothes that are hiding the proof of just how much you enjoyed the winter months. A muffin top is not a sight you want to see poking over the top of your jeans, or poking over the top of anything unless it is a real muffin! So what to do, easy… it is time to grab your trainers and some workout clothes and start sculpting yourself a svelte waist and fit body.
OK, first you need to be aware that the muffin top you want to shrink is made up of stored fat. You need to concentrate on burning off that fat and working the muscles. So this workout is going to include cardio for the fat blasting and some ab and other body exercises to work on your muscles for that strong toned looked. You cannot spot reduce fat so don’t think you should do 100 crunches everyday and that will work, it wont, the ab exercises here are so that they help strengthen your core and when you melt away the fat you are left with a stronger more defined waist. Adding resistance training to your workout is going to get you melting away the fat quicker than cardio alone so think about adding in full body exercises.
There are only 2 things that are going to make a difference to your muffin top, 1) your diet 2) exercise. What you eat is a large part of why you have a muffin top, if you consume more calories than you burn off during a day the excess turns to fat and is stored in various areas of your body, your muffin top may be the first place the fat goes but that does not mean it will be the first place it goes from when you change your diet and exercise.
Don’t get disheartened if you don’t see results straight away, it may be you are burning fat from other areas of your body first, such as your thighs. It will go from all over, you just need to give it time, many people give up too soon and it’s usually just before they are about to notice a change.
I suggest the best way you measure your progress is to take body measurements. This will be the best way for you to see how the change in your diet and exercise is making a difference.
Diet
Take a look at your diet, an honest look and think about how healthy it is. It may only take a few tweaks to stop you storing those extra calories as fat. The biggest causes are usually the high calorie foods, such as refined carbs and sugars. Keep a food diary for a typical week and note down everything you eat and drink that week. Be honest and don’t change your eating habits just because you know you are writing them down, it wont help you to see where you can make improvements.
Exercise
As mentioned above you need to do some form of cardio to burn off those extra calories and blast away the fat but also add in resistance training this will increase your metabolic rate as well as ensure you keep lean muscle mass, if you only do cardio there is a possibility that not only will you lose body fat but also lean muscle.
If you are going to workout 3 days a week then you can combine the cardio and strength training as per the workout below, alternatively you can split your workouts up and alternate so one day do cardio and the next resistance training then next day cardio etc. Ensure you schedule in 1-2 recovery days per week.
Here is a workout for you to follow, including links to videos of how to do the exercises, to help melt away that muffin top:
Workout
10 Minute Warm Up
20mins High Intensity Interval Training (HIT) – Outside or on the treadmill alternating between 30 sec high intensity and 30 secs lower intensity. Alternatively, if you prefer a group environment, book yourself on a spinning class.
Ideally you want to be doing cardio 3-5 times per week. You do not need to do HIT each session but at least once a week is a good start.
Rest for 60-90 seconds between each set.
Mountain Climbers 3 sets of 20 reps
Squat Twist 3 sets of 12 reps each side
Spiderman Push Ups 3 sets 10 reps Do these on an incline if you not yet able to do full military style push ups.
Leg Lifts 3 sets 20 reps
Side Plank Leg Raise 3 sets 15 reps each leg – hold the leg for 1sec at the top of the raise.
Back Extension 3 sets 12 reps
5min Cool Down & Stretch
Exercise Disclaimer
In the interest of your safety, it is important to check with your physician before beginning any exercise program and to exercise according to your fitness level and capabilities. If you have any questions, please seek the guidance of a health professional.
Belinda Gomez Ramirez
Great workout!
FitBodyHQ
Glad you like it!
anonymous13
What if you can’t do spiderman pushups? Is there an alternative or perhaps a beginner version of spiderman pushups shown??
FitBodyHQ
You could replace them with a classic push-up / modified push-up then work your way up to the point where you can do spiderman push-ups.
Here’s a good progression sequence: http://www.fitbodyhq.com/strength-training/easy-push-up-progression-go-from-0-to-45-push-ups/
anonymous12
Should I do cardio first or strength training instead? I mean, if I do it both in one day.
How often should I do this?
FitBodyHQ
You can do cardio every day, strength training depends on your workout split: if it’s a whole-body workout then you need to leave at least a day for recovery.
With body-part split routines, you can strength train a different group of muscles every day. Either way you should have at least two days a week where you recover fully without doing any strength training.
And after training for a few months (4 – 6) take a whole week to recover fully.
As far as cardio before or after, there’s no real consensus – it depends on which goals are most important to you: endurance and fat loss (cardio) or body composition, strength AND fat loss (strength training).
Figure out your goals and do that kind of training first.
Also, you can combine cardio with your strength training (using HIIT and circuit training)… or you can do cardio in the morning and strength training in the evening (for example).
Lastly, more important than doing cardio before or after strength training, to get the body you want, you have to eat clean!
http://www.fitbodyhq.com/nutrition/beginners-guide-to-eating-clean/