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By Brian Calkins, Cincinnati Ohio Personal Fitness Trainer
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked by
clients, friends and people looking to improve their bodies is…
"How do I get rid of this?" And “this” might be
the excess body fat around the middle, the back of the arms, the
glutes, inner or outer thighs, etc.
I'll let you in on a secret:
The answer is the same for any body part, but no one seems to
know that you simply cannot reduce an area by doing more and
more exercise for that area.
In an attempt to
clear up the myth of spot reduction, here are the keys to
strengthening and shaping your muscles, enhancing your heart and
lung function and burning off excess stubborn body fat,
including your trouble spots.
You need a
regular routine of resistance training and aerobic exercise.
Your program should be progressively challenging,
and change on a frequent basis, like every 3 – 4 weeks. The
challenging part simply means that you must exercise at an
intensity that takes you just beyond what your muscles (and
heart and lungs) are capable of doing today. When you ask your
muscles to do more than they are capable, they in turn respond
by becoming stronger and more efficient, leading to a leaner,
healthier physique.
What does a
challenging workout feel like? It can be as simple as performing
one more repetition on a resistance training exercise.
You never want to stop your strength training movement until the
target muscles reach momentary failure while maintaining proper
form (no cheating to allow for additional reps!). I watch so
many well-intentioned exercise enthusiasts, working out 3-5
times every week, who just go through the motions. Remember, our
body as a whole and our muscles specifically, only respond to
the effort and stimulus that we provide. Little stimulus equals
little results. Always workout in a safe manner, but make sure
you challenge your muscles sufficiently.
Another vital factor to
stimulate changes in your body, and thus the reduction in your
trouble spots, is to change your routine frequently. Ideally
you’ll dedicate 3-4 weeks cycling the focus of your exercise
between adding lean muscle tissue (lower reps), shaping those
muscles (higher reps) and then burning the fat stores around the
muscles (emphases on supersets, functional training and fast
pace circuit training exercise). The key is this: Before the
body adapts to any given routine you’ll introduce a new stimulus
to bring about additional positive change while preventing you
from reaching the plateau.
From a cardiovascular exercise
standpoint, we’ll make it simple. You need to elevate your heart
rate into YOUR appropriate target heart zone. Everybody’s
exercise heart rate is different and based on your age and
existing fitness level. If you’re performing at too low or high
an intensity level, you end up frustrated with your results. To
have your target heart rate zones determined for you, visit the
target heart rate formula on my site here:
www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm.
And the final
piece of the puzzle to target and rid yourself, once and for
all, of your stubborn areas, is to eat right!
And of
course, we’ve heard the words “eat right” or some version
thereof about one hundred times this week alone! Eat right
simply means to put the right fuel and building material into
the body at regular intervals allowing your body to optimally
use the macronutrient substrates . . . and then . . . to refuel
again.
Translated
into English - eat frequently, and in every meal get a mix of
natural complex carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and essential
fats. These are meals that raise your metabolic thermostat to
allow for optimal body fat reduction.
Even more
simply, strive to eat a lean protein (chicken breast), a starchy
complex natural carbohydrate (whole grains), and a fibrous
carbohydrate (whole fruits and vegetables) every 3 - 4 hours, or
as close to that as is comfortably possible. Avoid or minimize
simple sugars, saturated and hydrogenated fats, and get your
meals from a variety of sources all found in the perimeter of
your favorite grocery store.
And
remember, there isn't anything in a bottle that will make up for
the absence of supportive meals. If you can't get to a meal, you
can use a meal replacement powder that contains those components
mentioned above.
So, in summary,
when you apply appropriate resistance and cardiovascular
training, your body will make changes. It will reduce body fat
stores, increase muscle tone, and get better at delivering
oxygen to your tissues – all in an effort to make you look,
perform and feel better than you probably have in years!
If your workouts have gotten a
little boring, mix them up. Add some resistance; increase your
speed of cardio. Do SOMETHING different. Join a fitness boot
camp program, learn new exercises, try something fitness related
that looks like fun. Most importantly, give your body a reason
to change and it will. The rules are the same for any trouble
spot you want to work off.
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