Best exercise advice for toning and trimming belly fat

stefng33

hey guys! I'm sort of new to the whole workout scene. Never really had a desire until recently my lifestyle has changed. And for the better! I look at exercise an entirely new way now rather than a discipline.

Basically I've been working to lose 1lb a week and it's going awesome! I'm working out 5 x per week not including walks with my larger than life malamute. She has been my saving grace.
Nevertheless, I only workout at home. By choice because I love it and it fits my schedule. Except, I have to YouTube workouts and not always do I know if it's the best for me or not, not to mention how do I know that I'm doing it right, burning the high end of low end of suggested calories burned, etc.
so I thought maybe some of you ladies who have worked hard and have super toned tummies can fill me in on some great workouts for beginners??
I have a few that I really like currently, but I would love some more advice in terms of what is really working.

Thanks in advance

cwolfman13

You can't spot reduce...having a flat stomach or a 6 pack is a matter of not only having the muscle, but shedding the fat. You're dieting, so you're shedding the fat...it will come from wherever...you can't make it come from your stomach area by doing any kind of particular exercise. Having a "toned" stomach simply requires being very lean and having muscle.

In Re to the having muscle part I would recommend compound lifting first and foremost (i.e. squats, bench press, overhead press, deadlifts, etc)...these work your core. You can do some isolation work but compounds are going to give you a huge bang for your buck. Other than that it's simply about shedding the fat.

To have muscle you have to do some resistance work, not just cardio...you didn't say what you were doing specifically, but most online or DVD workouts are mostly cardio...you need to do resistance training for muscle and then when you shed the fat that muscle pops.

TheRoseRoss

In my experience, A LOT of women are afraid of lifting heavy weights because they "don't wanna get bulky like a man." This drives a lot of trainers that I know bonkers - women cannot develop "man like" physiques by lifting heavy weights. The women that do - pro body builders etc, are taking "supplements" that increase their natural testosterone, which allows them to build an unnatural amount of muscle. For women that aren't "supplementing" their nutrition, it's impossible for you to "get a manly look." As counter-intuitive as is sounds, you will "tone up" by lifting heavy weights.

To re-enforce an earlier mentioned point, you cannot "spot reduce fat." Doing squats won't make you lose fat preferentially from your legs any more than doing curls will make you lose it from your arms. The only way to spot reduce is via surgery. You want to reduce the fat that is covering your muscle, and you also want to build muscle so that there is muscle to be seen once the fat is gone. If you've every seen pictures of people that have lost a lot of weight over a short period of time, but you think "why are they so saggy?" It's because they lose fat, but didn't build muscle (also, their skin lost some elasticity).

You need to dial in your nutrition (through trial and error, over time, and with consistency), build muscle, and train your abs both directly (various crunches, planks etc) and in-directly (compound movements: standing exercises like side lateral raises, overhead presses, rows etc).

Good Luck.

stefng33

Yes, sounds about right. At home I'm doing core and toning workouts; so planks, squats, etc. and then cardio. I have some Dumbbells as well. I won't be going to the gym anytime soon so I have to do what I can at home. No machines or anything.
Is it best to mix up my workouts say evey other day cardio versus strength training? Or should I stick to one regime for a few weeks and move on to the next?
I'm definitely learning so much! Thanks

TheRoseRoss

stefng33 wrote: »

Is it best to mix up my workouts say evey other day cardio versus strength training? Or should I stick to one regime for a few weeks and move on to the next?
I'm definitely learning so much! Thanks

You ask that question to 10 different people, you'll get 10 different answers. The good news, and bad news, is that there is no one right answer. A lot of things work. That's the good part. You'll have to find what works for you. That's through trial and error. That's the "bad" part. I don't know how heavy your dumbbells are, but my advice for getting the most out of them (with regard to your abs) is:
- train standing. Your abs keep you upright. By standing, and then holding the dumbbells, you abs have to work to keep you stable
- the abs are postural/stability muscles. If you have 2 dumbbells, stand with one in each hand, and perform bicep curls. Make not of the way your abs "feel/are working." Now drop one of the dumbbells and perform the same exercise with a single dumbbell. You should notice a different feeling. Again, this is assuming your dumbbells are moderately heavy. What happened is that by holding a single dumbbell, one side of your body became heavier than the other, so your abs had to engage more than usual in order to stabilize/keep your body from tipping over. Play around with this technique:

- - perform curls with 2 dumbbells while standing on one leg
- - perform curls with a single dumbbell in your right hand while standing on your right leg.
- - performs curls with a single dumbbell in your right hand while standing on your left leg

Each time you introduce a new kind of "instability," you should find that your abs start working differently. Try this one legged technique with overhead presses, or alternating overhead presses.

Personal preference, but I would stick with weight training, and keep cardio to a minimum. Again, that's not set in stone. What made sense for me was when I heard a body builder answer the question "how much cardio do you do?" She answered "very little. If I find that I'm having to do cardio in order to get my weight down, then something's wrong with my diet." Again, that worked for her, and I've applied it to myself, but you may find that you get better results doing cardio as well. If you have time for both, do both. If you only have time for one, I would choose weight training over cardio every time. Either way, you have to train with intensity. My rule of thumb is "if you're able to hold a conversation while you're exercising, you're not exercising properly." When asked, I tell friends to get down on the ground, and perform push ups while speaking the alphabet. You will get to a point that you have to stop either the pushups, or the alphabet, because one is taking away from your ability to perform the other. Give it a try. That's the kind of intensity that you should be trying to bring to your work outs.

That said, you also need days off for your body to recover. It's up to you and your schedule; my routine is 2 days weight training. One day rest. 2 days weight training. 2 days rest. I train my abs 7 days a week though. My ab routine takes 10 mins (at the most. Usually 6-8). Some feel you don't need to train abs that often. I feel that abs are like calves and forearms, they're endurance muscles that need to be worked often in order to get them to grow, because they're so used to working all of the time, unlike a bicep.

carrieous

im 41 so its harder for me to blast away the winter belly fat but what works for me is: no sugar, no alcohol (and definitely no soda but thats a given) and plenty of high intensity cardio. In particular, running sprints. i also do planks, weighted inverted situps and burpees. i would never skip cardio in favorite of weights or vice versa- both are crucial for optimal health