Over-indulged this Christmas? Don’t despair – personal trainer Daniel Masters can answer all your questions about how to improve your fitness. This month it’s all about trim tummies and defining those abs.
I get many people male and female coming to me asking about how they can lose that beer belly, redefine their abs and keep that tummy trim. It’s all about eating and exercising intelligently. Here are just some of the questions I get asked.
Q: I am quite active, play football every week but I can’t seem to get rid of my belly! I exercise frequently but nothing seems to help. Please tell me, what is the best form of exercise to get my abs back?
A: Well let’s start with what other exercises your doing? If you’re playing a lot of football, that will keep your heart and lungs fairly fit, but what are you doing to make your muscles stronger? Are you regularly working out with weights as well or is it all football? Are you doing squats for example one of the best exercises you can do they will increase the fat burning ability of your body, make you run faster and kick harder.
Q: As a busy mum I don’t have a lot of time to exercise. However in the evening I do go running but it doesn’t seem to help me get rid of unwanted fat around my tummy and waist. I used to have a well-defined waist but with having children and getting a bit older, it’s disappearing! Any suggestions?
A: Firstly if you’re only running your going nowhere and fast – you need to split up what you do. Run by all means once or twice a week, but on other days you need to be doing exercises which strengthen the rest of your body, back and core exercises one day and legs and arms on another day. Read my last article about the sprinter versus the marathon runner.
Q: I have been on a calorie controlled diet and have lost a bit of weight but it’s hard to sustain. What is the best sort of diet when trying to firm up a flabby tummy with good exercise? Should I be eating lots of carbs to keep my energy levels up?
A: The best diet I’ve come across is the metabolic typing diet. It assesses everybody as an individual and everybody functions better off different amounts of fat, protein and carbs.
I can tell you that counting calories alone will NOT help! Otherwise you could say I’m only going to have 1500kcals a day so in theory you could have 4.5 mars bars a day and lose weight – I DON’T THINK SO! You need to know your fuel ratio and metabolic typing can do that for you!
Have some more questions? See our frequently asked questions page about personal training, fitness and nutrition.
