How to lose belly fat fast: morning exercise program
Hi!
The following program is a mix of cardio, standing abs, Pilates and yoga. As always, I am using a towel, a mat, ankle and wrist weights and extra weights. For two of the exercises you will need a high step or a chair.
Katy Perry's Roar!
Shakira's Loca
2. Bend over arm triangle. A simple but effective warm-up. Stand up straight, legs wide apart. Holding the legs straight bend over with as straight a back as possible and touch the right hand to the outside of the left ankle. Come back up, alternate to the other side. Ten reps.
3. Hip roll and knee extensions. Now we are getting into the real work. Lie on your back and put your hands under your lower back for support. Roll in the knees and extend them up straight towards the ceiling, touching your toes and lifting the hips.
Come back down and extend the legs parallel to the floor without touching the floor. Repeat 10-30 times depending on your condition and time.
4. Standing torso twist with weights. Stand straight up, legs about under your shoulders. Turn your torso to the left, back to the middle, to the right. Do not use momentum, just use the weight. You can make it more difficult by lifting the weights higher.
5. One legged squat with a foot up. Put one foot up behind you on a chair, a high step, a bed, a sofa. Now do one-legged squats keeping your balance. You can make this heavier by using weights or doing simultaneous arm exercises.
6. Sitting torso twist. I have seen this called a Russian torso twist. Whatever. Lie down, come up into a half-sitting position and twist your torso to the left, lie back down slowly, repeat the movement to the right. I use weights for this. It might not be the best exercise if you have got back problems.
7. Down dog to Triangle to Cheetah to Warrior II to Exultant Warrior to Warrior III to Standing Triangle to DD to Dove on both sides. This routine might sound confounding in the beginning, but you'll get the hang of it. Down Dog is simply a triangle with your whole body: stand on your hands and feet, butt up, and try to keep both the legs and the back straight.
Swing the left leg out and up towards the ceiling, keep it there a moment, then swing it back downwards between your arms and towards your chest. That is Cheetah.
You can repeat this movement a few times. At the last one, put down your foot between your hands. Slowly come up with your upper body, extending your left arm forward and your right arm backwards parallel to the floor, sinking into the left knee, this is Warrior II. Love that pose, it makes me feel so strong!
Now lift up both arms to the ceiling and slightly forward and try to sink a little deeper into the forward knee. Important note: your knee should never extend over your foot! If it does,move the foot forward so there is more distance between your feet. This is Exultant Warrior.
Now let's try the Warrior III ( I always have great difficulty with this); basically you extend both your arms foward, lift your right leg and try to balance on the left leg and achieve a pose parallel to the floor. Pffffft. It's the person in the background btw. Will see if I can find a better pic.
More or less managed? Go on to Triangle: keeping both legs straight reach over with your right hand and grab the left ankle, stretch out your left arm to the ceiling and straighten out the whole body as much as possible.
Bring the arms back down and hang your head in the middle between your straight legs. Now is the time to go back to Downward Facing Dog. From there, again extend your left leg to the ceiling, bring it down to your chest in Cheetah and then forward into Dove position (see picture), folding the left leg under your body, stretching out the torso.
Slowly twist your torso in both directions, holding your hands on the mat.
Now back to DD and do the whole procedure on the other side. This sounds like it will take 10 minutes all by itself but it goes faster than you think.
8. Dead lift. It does not come easier than this. Put the weight on the floor. Pick it up, slowly and carefully using your knees not your back, and extend it all the way to the ceiling. 10-30 reps, increase the weight if it gets too easy.
9. Chair knee-up. Obviously you need a sturdy chair or step for this. Step up onto the chair seat or step and swing your other knee up to 90 degrees or even higher if you can. Sounds, and is, super uncomplicated. Will get your heart rate up in no time. Use weights if it gets too easy.
10. Stretching!!! I have some posts on stretching on this blog. HERE and HERE.
Remember! Never do any exercise program for a long time. Change, vary, challenge your body. Best is if you do a different program every day. If you can't manage every day and do every other day it is the same thing. VARY!
It is entirely true. It does not cost me any effort to withstand the lockings of sugar. On the contrary, it costs me a lot of effort to withstand the people that try to urge sugar on me. They do not understand that I really do NOT want to eat that piece of home-baked pie with loads of whipped cream. I am NOT torturing myself by not eating it. I don't want it!
But I was not always like that.... it has taken me years to get there. True, I have never been really overweight, but I had a few kilos over after my first pregnancy.... no problem. I did not stress about it and they slowly disappeared.
I know you, who maybe have been struggling with your weight for years, will say (or think) "easy for you to say, you don't put on any fat." It is not like that. I put on fat like any of us will. It is a matter of balance. Intake versus output. It is also a matter of taking your health seriously and balancing it against all the overflow that is available to us nowadays. Our bodies are evolutionarily seen still in the hunter/gathering stage where food was not always available and we needed to store it if we could. And your body will if it gets the chance.
Challenging yourself does. But you don't have to take on the whole war this weekend. Pick your fights so you can win them one by one. Keep a diary for a while if you need to. Define your "bad" habits. Take the ones that you can most easily get rid of and change them. As you slowly start seeing results, you will get encouraged to take on the larger ones.
Check out Amazon's Deal of the Day in the Health & Personal Care department!
1. Introduction: my new exercise program to lose belly fat fast
It's been a while since I came up with a new "own" exercise program, but I can assure you that I have been exercising diligently every morning, mostly using Youtube but occasionally doing my own thing. I have consistently been losing belly fat, although I have probably also lost a little weight (I hope not, I hope I have been replacing fat with muscle! :).The following program is a mix of cardio, standing abs, Pilates and yoga. As always, I am using a towel, a mat, ankle and wrist weights and extra weights. For two of the exercises you will need a high step or a chair.
2. My music suggestions for my Lose Belly Fat Fast Program:
Michael Jackson's You really turn me onKaty Perry's Roar!
Shakira's Loca
3. The Exercise Program:
1. Cat/cow yoga pose to loosen the back and strengthen the abs. Start on our hands and knees, inhale deeply, and curve your back downwards. Bend your elbows if necessary, really go down between your shoulderblades.Feel the stretch in your abs. Then turn your navel inwards and upwards pulling it towards your spine, really engaging your abdominal muscles, and in the process curving your back upwards like a snarling cat. Exhale while doing this. On the inhale, again curve back down. This is a slow and controlled movement, no hurrying, really feel those abs working and at the same time working the back loose.2. Bend over arm triangle. A simple but effective warm-up. Stand up straight, legs wide apart. Holding the legs straight bend over with as straight a back as possible and touch the right hand to the outside of the left ankle. Come back up, alternate to the other side. Ten reps.
3. Hip roll and knee extensions. Now we are getting into the real work. Lie on your back and put your hands under your lower back for support. Roll in the knees and extend them up straight towards the ceiling, touching your toes and lifting the hips.
Come back down and extend the legs parallel to the floor without touching the floor. Repeat 10-30 times depending on your condition and time.
4. Standing torso twist with weights. Stand straight up, legs about under your shoulders. Turn your torso to the left, back to the middle, to the right. Do not use momentum, just use the weight. You can make it more difficult by lifting the weights higher.
5. One legged squat with a foot up. Put one foot up behind you on a chair, a high step, a bed, a sofa. Now do one-legged squats keeping your balance. You can make this heavier by using weights or doing simultaneous arm exercises.
6. Sitting torso twist. I have seen this called a Russian torso twist. Whatever. Lie down, come up into a half-sitting position and twist your torso to the left, lie back down slowly, repeat the movement to the right. I use weights for this. It might not be the best exercise if you have got back problems.
7. Down dog to Triangle to Cheetah to Warrior II to Exultant Warrior to Warrior III to Standing Triangle to DD to Dove on both sides. This routine might sound confounding in the beginning, but you'll get the hang of it. Down Dog is simply a triangle with your whole body: stand on your hands and feet, butt up, and try to keep both the legs and the back straight.
Now lift up both arms to the ceiling and slightly forward and try to sink a little deeper into the forward knee. Important note: your knee should never extend over your foot! If it does,move the foot forward so there is more distance between your feet. This is Exultant Warrior.
Now let's try the Warrior III ( I always have great difficulty with this); basically you extend both your arms foward, lift your right leg and try to balance on the left leg and achieve a pose parallel to the floor. Pffffft. It's the person in the background btw. Will see if I can find a better pic.
More or less managed? Go on to Triangle: keeping both legs straight reach over with your right hand and grab the left ankle, stretch out your left arm to the ceiling and straighten out the whole body as much as possible.
Bring the arms back down and hang your head in the middle between your straight legs. Now is the time to go back to Downward Facing Dog. From there, again extend your left leg to the ceiling, bring it down to your chest in Cheetah and then forward into Dove position (see picture), folding the left leg under your body, stretching out the torso.
Slowly twist your torso in both directions, holding your hands on the mat.
Now back to DD and do the whole procedure on the other side. This sounds like it will take 10 minutes all by itself but it goes faster than you think.
8. Dead lift. It does not come easier than this. Put the weight on the floor. Pick it up, slowly and carefully using your knees not your back, and extend it all the way to the ceiling. 10-30 reps, increase the weight if it gets too easy.
9. Chair knee-up. Obviously you need a sturdy chair or step for this. Step up onto the chair seat or step and swing your other knee up to 90 degrees or even higher if you can. Sounds, and is, super uncomplicated. Will get your heart rate up in no time. Use weights if it gets too easy.
10. Stretching!!! I have some posts on stretching on this blog. HERE and HERE.
4. My suggestions for weight loss:
I don't have to lose any weight myself. Why not? I have a different mindset. Read this article about Why skinny people never diet.It is entirely true. It does not cost me any effort to withstand the lockings of sugar. On the contrary, it costs me a lot of effort to withstand the people that try to urge sugar on me. They do not understand that I really do NOT want to eat that piece of home-baked pie with loads of whipped cream. I am NOT torturing myself by not eating it. I don't want it!
But I was not always like that.... it has taken me years to get there. True, I have never been really overweight, but I had a few kilos over after my first pregnancy.... no problem. I did not stress about it and they slowly disappeared.
I know you, who maybe have been struggling with your weight for years, will say (or think) "easy for you to say, you don't put on any fat." It is not like that. I put on fat like any of us will. It is a matter of balance. Intake versus output. It is also a matter of taking your health seriously and balancing it against all the overflow that is available to us nowadays. Our bodies are evolutionarily seen still in the hunter/gathering stage where food was not always available and we needed to store it if we could. And your body will if it gets the chance.
It is all a matter of balance
So it is a matter of balance. Eat that chocolate muffin, but like only once a year on your birthday, if you avoid sugar at all costs you will slowly lose the urge for it. Believe me, many people will testify that it is true.Start with small changes.
Do not try to Go Green on the weekend. It will not work. Just like diets don't work. Or repetitive gym workouts.Challenging yourself does. But you don't have to take on the whole war this weekend. Pick your fights so you can win them one by one. Keep a diary for a while if you need to. Define your "bad" habits. Take the ones that you can most easily get rid of and change them. As you slowly start seeing results, you will get encouraged to take on the larger ones.
Check out Amazon's Deal of the Day in the Health & Personal Care department!
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