Strengthen Your Core and Legs

Welcome to the third week of men’s workouts that are designed to help you burn fat, become stronger, and create a healthy lifestyle using your Total Gym. If you’re sick of having to loosen your belt to accommodate a growing potbelly, read on to learn how you can improve and get ready to move!

If you missed week one, week two or both, please review them before moving on with this week.

Ok, let’s party!

Workout #3: Legs and Abs

If you refer back to the first workout, we talked about the importance of waking up your muscles to start torching calories. Well guess where the biggest muscles in your body reside? Yes, the lower body. Your gluteal and leg muscles are huge sources of fat burning muscle. To lose weight and tighten up the belt, you want to get these lower body muscles hungry. Plus, you don’t want to be one of those guys with a ripped upper body and teeny legs!

The great thing about working your legs on the Total Gym is that you are using your own body weight as resistance and not having to fool with heavy weight plates. We will also be having some FUN with plyometric jumps to get the heart rate pumping to burn even more calories.

Check out the video as I demonstrate some great leg exercises, super-set with some effective ab exercises. Working these big muscles can really take it out of you so in between every set we will be toning and sculpting the abs while the legs recover.

Eat All Day Long! (For Your Metabolism)

You may have heard that eating five to six small meals a day is a great way to fuel your body. This is important for the following three reasons:

1. By digesting food all day long, your metabolism is actually increased and you will burn more calories throughout the day.
2. Eating this way will keep your blood sugar from dropping, which can lead to feeling hungry and wanting to eat everything in sight. Or just as bad, grabbing something fast that usually isn’t as healthy.
3. Keeping your blood sugar up is a great way to maintain a steady stream of energy throughout your day so you can tackle the day’s challenges and still have vigor for your workout.

This is a lot easier than you might think. Every couple of hours in between meals, munch on some healthy snacks like almonds and nuts, low fat Greek yogurt, apples and other fruits, beef jerky, pretzels and fresh vegetables with a healthy dip. Just Google “healthy snacks” and you’ll get plenty of fresh ideas.

Write Down Your Motivations

Starting a new exercise routine or initiating a healthier way of eating is not easy. You will fight and resist change but if you can keep it up until it becomes a habit it will become much easier. There are ways to find motivation to develop a habit. Try writing down a list of 5 to 7 reasons why you are making this change. What are the real benefits for you in losing a few inches and pounds? Next, write one juicy sentence on how it will make you feel when you are successful. Now you have some ammo against that tricky ego when it rears its ugly head. This little writing exercise truly works wonders.

Until next week Total Gym team. Keep moving those muscles and keep your body properly fueled!