This is a guest post by Tom.
For the last 12 weeks I have been working hard on an abs challenge. My goal was to reduce belly fat and get rock hard abs.
Now I’m the first one to admit, I didn’t have a lot of belly fat to start with. So my goal wasn’t exactly outrageously difficult… But I was still really happy with my results. I managed to get a lot stronger, lose fat from my belly and really show my abs off.
And I did it by following 4 key principles.
1. Do full body exercises
Plenty of people get into resistance training and they start out with isolation exercises. Things like bicep curls, crunches or tricep kickbacks. Sure, these are good exercises, but they are wasting your time if you want to reduce belly fat.
A far faster way is to focus on full-body exercises like…
- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Bench presses
- Barbell rows
- Chin-ups
These type of exercises have the potential to make massive changes in your body. They activate large amounts of muscle fiber in one movement which results in a huge muscle building and fat burning hormonal response in your body.
They also burn more calories. In fact, in some cases 1 good full body exercise can burn more calories than an entire workout composed of isolation exercises. How’s that for getting bang for your buck?
As an additional bonus, training in this way gives you a very functional body. You’ll be able to participate in lifes activities more because your body is strong all over.
2. Lift heavy weights
One of the best ways to increase the rate at which your body burns fat is to build muscle. The more muscle tissue you have on your body, the faster your metabolic rate. Think of it like installing a big powerful V-8 engine in your body. It constantly sucks up massive amounts of fuel even while it’s idling!
The fastest way to get that V-8 working for you is to lift heavy weights. Heavy weights challenge your muscles. They make your muscles freak out and realise “Hey boys, we gotta get bigger or else we’re not going to survive!” Heavy weights, my friends, will help you build muscle like a maniac!
3. Track
Writing down my workouts was one of the most important things I did for my challenge. I printed off my workouts and took them into my home-gym with me. That way, when I finished each exercise I would write down my weight and how difficult it was.
The next time I went to do a workout, I could see instantly how much I had lifted last week. It gave me a starting point and ensured that I kept progressing constantly.
It was also really nice after a few weeks to look back and see how much progress I had made. It made me really motivated to keep doing what I was doing.
4. Eat a healthy, whole foods diet
The way I see it, human beings were designed to eat whole foods. That’s the way we’ve been eating for bazillions of years. So Why change things now? Why process
things, adding chemicals and poisons before leaving them on a shelf for months before consuming them. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
You see, I used to eat lots of processed food. Burgers, chips, sugary drinks and funny little sweets. But when I stopped, I began to notice massive changes in my life…
- My breath was fresher
- My energy increased completely out of this world.
- I lost weight without even trying.
- I could concentrate for the first time in my life!
- I felt happier and more in control.
- Many more amazing things changed in my life.
This is why I’m such a major fan of eating fresh plant foods. They provide you with powerful nutrients which you just can’t get from processed food.
Now I’m not perfect, I don’t always eat whole food. But for my challenge, I made sure that I only ate the good stuff. Fruits, Vege’s, Nuts, Seeds, Grains, a bit of meat…
After eating like this for even just a few weeks, the fat just disappeared. There was nothing to it really!
My Challenge
I experienced so many benefits from my challenge. It really made me feel so good about myself.
So now I have a challenge for you. For the next 12 weeks, commit to doing these 4 things wholeheartedly. I guarantee you’ll look and feel much better at the end of it!
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