Paige Waehner
Bicycle Exercise
Fat Reduction - Top 10 Methods And Tips
To Reduce Fat Content In Your Diet
Fat reduction in our diet becomes more of an issue each day - as America gets... FATTER. Jeez, that didn't sound too good! But that's the truth. There are so much fat content in our diet that fat reduction can no longer be ignored. Cheese, margarine, and butter - all are loaded with fat. What's a better way to reduce fat than get rid of those ingredients?
Good question, simple solution, but it's easier said than done. Fat reduction isn't quite easy when majority of the population loves to eat fatty food.
Did you know: we are currently dinning out in restaurants 3 to 4 times a week! And each restaurant meal contains 1,000 to 2,000 calories - as much as our recommended daily intake! What's more, these meals contain at least 50 to 100 grams of fat!
But all is not lost, here are 10 great tips on fat reduction, and following a healthier diet (in no particular order):
1. Replace butter, margarine, and hard fats with low fat spreads, or polyunsaturated margarine. Tip: for toasts and sandwiches, replace the butter, margarine with reduced sugar jams and marmalades.
2. When cooking meat, always trim away visible fat and skin.
3. Cut down your intake of high fat red meats, and eat more lean white meats such as fish and chicken.
4. Use tofu and beans as an alternative source of protein.
5. Steaming is one of the most healthy ways to cook vegetables, chicken, and fish.
6. Use different types of spices and seasonings to spice up your low fat recipes and diet. Fat reduced foods don't have to taste bland.
7. Use skimmed milk instead of full fat milk.
8. When roasting or grilling meat, place on a rack to allow the fat to drain.
9. Eat out less often, and eat home cooked meals more. It's not only healthier, it saves you money.
10. Everyone should know this - exercising regularly and eating a healthy, low fat diet is the best methods to fat reduction. Not through some fat burning pill or fat reducing miracle. It's just good, common sense.
Follow these 10 tips, and you're already ahead of majority of the population. These tips are an excellent start to fat reduction in your diet, and to lead a healthier, happier life.
Q: I see people at the gym twisting and turning on machines and with their trainers. How should I train abdominal rotation?
A:The human body is designed to move in three dimensions. This means our movements don’t just happen in a straight, single line. Our abdominal girdle doesn’t just need to crunch up—it needs to turn, and bend, and stabilize the spine. Thus, to be functional and strong, we should train our midsection for real life demands, including rotation.
Rotation should come from the hips and not the waist
There are two things to keep in mind when training torso rotation with resistance. The first is that ideally rotation should not come from the waist; it should start in the hips. The human spine isn’t well constructed to accommodate a lot of powerful twisting in the upper body if all the load is borne by the spine itself. Spinal biomechanicist Stuart McGill found in his research that one of the worst, most dangerous machines for spinal injury was the “twist” machine, in which people sit, press against a pad, and then twist the upper body back and forth. The immobility of the lower body combined with the twisting motion creates significant shearing forces in the spine, which can lead to disc or other soft tissue damage.
In real life, the body prefers to twist as a unit, engaging shoulders, hips, and legs as much as possible. For instance, when a pitcher throws a ball, there is a windup phase followed by a throw in which the pitcher’s entire body from neck to ankles contributes. She doesn’t just throw with a flip of the arm alone. When a golfer drives the ball, he turns his entire body to follow the swing. As boxing coaches like to say, “punch from the belt” rather than with the arms only.
Rotations require stability in your midsection
The second thing is that very often, what we need in our activities is not rotation per se, but stability through rotation. What I mean by this is that we need to train the midsection not to collapse as we turn the rest of the body. Think of chopping wood. If the ribcage and pelvis are flopping all over the place, we’re not able to coordinate that downward force of the axe. However, if the body moves as one unit from shoulders to hips, we can execute a powerful stroke and slice that wood. In another example, runners have to keep the midsection stable as each leg moves forward. Otherwise, as the leg comes forward and the other goes back, the hips would rotate too much, turning the runner sideways – they’d run in circles or a wobbly line.
The best types of movements use this “whole body” idea and attempt to integrate all the moving pieces. “Wood chops” are excellent for this type of functional rotation, and they can be done downward or upwards in a diagonal motion across the body. Upward chops start with the lifter bent at the hips, arms outstretched across the body and hands at hip/thigh level on one side. The lifter swings the straight arms outward and upward in a diagonal motion, ending up overhead. If hands started at the left side, they end up overhead on the right side. As the arms move up and across, notice how your hips want to help out, and let them straighten and turn accordingly. Think of making an “X” pattern across the body with this movement.
To do a downward chop, simply think of chopping wood or swinging a sledgehammer towards a target that is on one side of you. Arms start straight and overhead on one side, and travel down diagonally to end up at the other side. As you move through the arc, bend the hips and knees naturally.
Cables or rubber tubing can provide resistance for downward chops; and cables, medicine balls, dumbbells, or weight plates can provide resistance for upward chops. Remember to use the whole body as the weight travels across the body.
For more information on exercises that aid stability in your midsection see the following article from TheDietChannel: 3 Core Muscle Exercises That Build Balance and Stability.
If you are doing abdominal exercises in the hopes of getting a strong core and a flat stomach, you aren’t alone. Ab exercises are some of the most popular exercises for both novice and elite athletes. However to get a flat belly and defined abs takes more than just crunches. You also need to reduce the layer of body fat covering up your well-defined abs.
Abdominal Exercise
To develop your abs you will perform specific abdominal exercises that work all the abdominal muscles. There are many exercises you can do to work the abs. There are also some great products that you can use at home, such as a large exercise ball. Using the ball for crunches requires that you stabilize your torso while balanced on the ball and you end up using more muscles than when performing standard crunches.
Nutrition
In order to decrease body fat and gain muscle requires proper nutrition. You'll need a balanced diet of carbohydrate, protein and fat. Eating several small meals throughout the day helps many people stay more satisfied and reduces hunger. Other tips for avoiding fat gain include: getting calcium, eating breakfast and eating high fiber foods. Make sure you stay well-hydrated by drinking water throughout the day and be sure not to cut calories too drastically or you could inadvertently lower your metabolism.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is the best way to burn calories and manage (or lose) weight. Reducing your calories without exercise will lead to initial weight loss, but you'll likely reach a plateau and you may also lose muscle. A personal exercise plan will get you past plateaus and can help you maintain muscle.
Core Training
You can also perform core stability exercises to improve your torso strength, balance and stability. Your core is made up of the abdominals, lower back and hips and creates a foundation for all other movement. These muscles stabilize the spine and create a strong center around which the extremities can move. A strong core is important in every aspect of movement; especially power movements.
Core Muscle Strength and Stability Testing
The Plank exercise can be used as the basis for assessing your core strength. Sports coach, Brian Mackenzie, created this test as a way to determine an individual's current core strength and stability and then to monitor progress over time.
Combining a bit of each – good nutrition, aerobic exercise and core specific strengthening – will go a long way to give you those strong, flat and functional abs.
