For those of us that enjoyed the festive cheer and occasional overindulgence in food and or alcohol, getting back in shape after the weight gain is now a number one priority. However, knowing the best exercise to lose weight after Christmas takes expert knowledge.
Did you know that globally the “New year, new me” mindset affects around 1 in 2 of us? Often we see getting in shape as a way of losing weight, getting fit or getting stronger, but also a way to improve our mental strength around set goals. Whatever your chosen reason for your new-found fitness regime, it’s always best to start with a teacher, or in this case, a PT (personal trainer).
Knowing how to lose belly fat, or reduce belly fat, the number one outcome of the Christmas excess isn’t about crash dieting, it’s about a carefully planned approach of diet and exercise. Becoming the best version of yourself is a worldwide new years resolution and gyms globally accept the glut of “new year, new me” members.
But did you know that around 80% of us quit our new year’s resolution early?
Choosing to work with a professional who can guide and support you with a custom-designed training and nutrition plan will pay huge dividends. You can prevent a crash diet taking excess nutrients out of your system. Prevent injuries from inexperience and overexertion on machines and weights. And you can get the right advice on supplements whereby you can avoid wasting extra money.
Remember, exercise isn’t a one size fits all solution. It’s about personal, tailored and measurable plans to success.
For any route to self-improvement, a teacher or guide is always there to help us get to the next level. Be that a teacher, priest, parent, friend or a book. We need to leverage the experience of others in order to achieve the right success and outcomes for our endeavours. By choosing to utilise the knowledge of a PT to lose belly fat, you can be sure you are in safe and educated hands.
But make sure you choose a seasoned personal trainer who specialises in weight loss combined with other muscle group exercises. As with all teachers, a good PT will specialise and not have a broad approach anyone can benefit from. This could show a lack of experience from your PT.
We asked Laszlo, the head personal trainer at Delta Fitness, a 1-2-1 training gym based in Canary Wharf London what he gets asked at this time of year? His reply was, “Just after Christmas is a really busy time for us, people are desperate to shake off the Christmas excess. The main questions we get asked are how to lose belly fat fast? And what’s the quickest way to lose belly fat?”
Laszlo goes on to explain that the problem with most people is that they are focused on the outcome and not what goes into the problem. It’s a clear lack of understanding or ignorance around cause and effect.
He feels that today’s society is used to immediate solutions or answers and that has become the mindset. Rather than work hard and reap the all-round benefits of exercise, “cheat” options are often used. These can range from anything like a crash diet to amphetamines and other drugs. Also the rise of easy to access cosmetic procedures like liposuction or implants has skewed the perspective on reality and how you achieve results.
Often, his client’s may have tried a procedure but hadn’t then changed the lifestyle to match. So the practice at Delta Fitness is to change the mind and the body at the same time, using the natural endorphins the body releases during exercise as a reward system.
With a clearly defined workout routine and nutritional plan, clients often see results sooner than expected and the body fat soon starts to disappear. Below are some things that affect weight loss and gain:
- Lifestyle
- Job
- Appetite for exercise
- Diet
- Support
- Access to training centres
- Finances
- Mindset
- Eating quickly
- Lack of fluid consumption
- Lack of sleep
- Eating in front of the TV
- Soft drinks and alcohol
- Lack of protein in your diet
- Lack of fibre in the diet
- Not taking the stairs
- Sweets and candy
- Too many healthy fats
- Shopping without a grocery list
- Too many lattes
- A lack of fruit in the diet
Circling back to answer the question many of us ask when the waistline expands isn’t a linear choice. Individually we all face different challenges to the way we gain weight as well as lose it.
In truth, exercise alone will not reduce stomach fat or reduce fat storage. You can certainly tighten up the abs and reduce abdominal fat stores by using a combination of weight training and resistance training. The best types of exercises for weight loss are those that raise the heart rate during physical activity to induce fat burning.
Workouts that involve full-body movements, or so-called compound exercises like deadlifts, squats, clean and press etc.will encourage fat loss as they will help to burn more calories. However, as we discussed earlier in the article, weight loss should be a tailored regime.
Here are some general exercises that can be used to help with your weight loss, we suggest you get professional advice before trying them:
- Trap bar deadlifts
- Bench press
- Squat with rows on the cable machine
- Overhead shoulder press
- Goblet squats
- Leg press
- Walking lunges
- Woodchoppers
- Pull-ups
- Lat pulldown
In addition to the weights and exercises, we mentioned in the previous section, the best thing to do is reduce your calorie intake in a controlled manner. Try to replace sugary, starchy and high carb foods with foods that help reduce visceral fats.
Introduce more proteins and vegetables and complex carbs like sweet potatoes, beans, pulses and lentils. Try cooking with low-fat methods like broiling, boiling and baking and use non-stick cookware to fry meats in their own fats.
If you have to use oils make sure that you use olive oil instead of butter or vegetable oils.
We really hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. Having the knowledge to help you lose that unwanted belly fat after the Christmas period is something Delta Fitnesses PT’s bring. With a clearly defined programme that combines the right nutritional and exercise advice plus the added benefit of 121 training sessions will win through. For a free consultation on how you can get your post-Christmas body in shape for the summer contact Lazslo and his team here at Delta Fitness.