The body is something like a diamond, which we have the opportunity to varnish. Every choice we make about what we eat, how we move and how much we do it, to have a rest or not, what is the environment we live in, have an influence over our body. The body is something like a receiver to all signals from our environment. When the outer stimulus have a bigger frequency ( i.e. it happens regularly), besides receiving the information, the body starts reflecting it. This reflection is what our appearance is and what our health status is.
We want to achieve a particular level of fitness and we rush to follow the first diet that pops up in the google search and the first training program, that we’ve found in a magazine. We don’t ask ourselves if the stimulus we are gonna exert upon our body is the one that will provoke it to respond in a way that will satisfy us – i.e. by shaping strong and sexy legs and butt, defined arms and flat tummy.
Every woman, no matter how beautiful she is, always finds her own offsets. We, women, always have something that we want to change and it is exactly this desire that pushes us towards one diet or another.
I am not a fan of the methods for spot reduction of body fat, with a particular exercise. You have no idea, how often I hear comments like: “ I don’t wanna do this exercise for my lower body, because my problematic zone is my belly. Let’s focus there.”
Actually, the body doesn’t function independently. The body is not supposed to be divided in parts, it is one whole. That’s why you won’t hear me say how you should train just for your problematic zones.
Still, in this post I will emphasize on the main problem zones in women – arms and triceps ( in other words bat wings), love handles, abs, butt and breeches.
I will explain you what are the key points you should address and what are the winning strategies in order to cope with this problematic zones.
1.Love handles and abs
You have no idea, how many women and even men, waste their time to do hundreds of sit –ups and side bents, thinking that the more reps they complete, the faster they will get rid of the unnecessary fat in this spot.
I’ve said it before, but workouts are for performance and diet is for weight loss.
The truth is that the best way to achieve the flat tummy and the abs you want is by starting to eat healthy and enough ( neither too scarce, nor too much).
When we talk about abs, the key factor is what we eat.
It doesn’t matter how many sit –ups you will do, when you eat a package of “healthy biscuits” after the workout. It doesn’t matter how many side bents you make, when you drink diet coke or another diet beverage.
Start eating healthy and nutritious, not low- calorie!
What does fat accumulation around the waste indicates about your hormones?
Besides that, the places where we gain fat are indication about what is going on inside the body. Do not forget that the body is like a book and everything we see on the surface, speaks about what is going on inside of the body.
Gaining fat around the waist is an indication about higher insulin and cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone. The reason behind stress might be many. One of them is our busy, daily schedule, the lack of sleep or sleep in inadequate times. Higher cortisol levels, might e caused by exhaustion that is tied to too much training or inadequate calorie intake. Everything that we do against our body, causes some type of stress. Chronic stress, leads to chronically elevated cortisol levels, which is reflected on our appearance as fat around the waste.
Besides that elevated cortisol levels, might be due to food intolerances, which cause inflammation and cause stress. Read HERE about the Bible of food intolerances.
Insulin! As you know it increases when we eat and especially when we eat carbs. No wonder that so many people have excess fat on their waste. Just think about the way we eat. Every time when I see a woman who seems thin, but has belly fat and love handles, I know that her diet is full of carbs.
That’s why you should think twice if you are not eating too much grains, sweets, candy, bread, soda and fruits.
Maybe your “healthy” fruit diet is the reason that you can’t get rid of your belly fat.
Supplements that you might take, in order to decrease stress in your body are – vitamin B, vitamin C, rhodiola. Cinnamon can help to regulate insulin levels.
When it comes to exercises, it is better to choose a workout for your whole body. Train with basic, compound movements, increase the intensity and don’t train more than 45-60minutes.
HERE you can find exercises for your abs. But no matter how strong are your abs, if your nutrition is not good, your muscles will be covered in fat and the definition you want to have will be a mirage.
2.Butt and breeches
Here, I won’t repeat what I wrote about food. It is a key factor here, as well.
Here, I will accept that you are eating good and your goal is to have tighter and stronger, well- shaped butt.
A lot of women train. They say that they do squats, lunges, Bg- squats, and still there is no effect on their butt and legs.
They come to me, in the gym, and when I ask them to show me how they perform the exercises, their technique is pretty bad. Actually, they train, they waste time and efforts, but they don’t perform the exercises properly.
It is really important to perform the exercises with full range of motion and proper technique in order to load your muscles. In most cases, bad technique leads to a state where we stress our ligaments and joints. We force them to bare the load, and our muscles don’t do their work.
That’s why you need to master the proper technique of all exercises. If you can’t do it by yourself, find somebody who knows what he is doing and let him teach you. Invest some time to master the technique and later on you can continue on your own.
The exercises that will help you shape your butt and legs are:
-Deadlift
-Squat
-Bulgarian Squats and Bulgarian Squats from deficit
-Pistol Squats
-Hip Thrusters
-Swiss Ball Roll Out
-Glute Ham Rise
-Good Morning
-Lunges and Lunges from deficit
Read this post, where I wrote how to shape your booty, without increasing the volume of your legs ( HERE).
What is the hormonal imbalance when you are predisposed to gain fat in your hips and thighs?
Bulgarian Squats are my favorite ( not because I am a Bulgarian)
Gaining fat in the hips and thighs is once again an indication for hormonal imbalance. In this case, the cause is higher estrogen levels. Probably you’ve noticed that this fat accumulation is typical for women and usually women who can’t get rid of excess weight have such a hormonal imbalance.
In this case, nutrition is a key player. Soy and all soy derivatives are not encouraged and my advice is to avoid them. Read Stefani Ruper’s post HERE on how soy affects the health of women.
3.Get rid of the bat wings and flabby arms
Here the information about nutrition and training is the same. It is really important how you eat and if you perform the exercises properly.
Not to mention that a lot of women are afraid of doing push- ups or dips, because they are concerned with getting bulky or too muscular. Actually, the best exercises you could do in order to shape your arms are push- ups and dips. It is exactly the loos skin on your triceps that is driving you insane. If you regularly perform push-ups, dips, military press, side press and other pushing movements, you will do wonders for your arms.
What does fat accumulation on your triceps indicates about your hormones?
When it comes to hormones and fat accumulation on your triceps, this is an indication for low androgen levels.
Actually, leptin is the hormone that is being released from fat cells and it stimulates the turnover of male sex hormones into female sex hormones. I.e. the more fat we have, the more leptin our fat cells secrete and the more likely we are to have such an imbalance in our androgen levels.
That’s why my advice is to once again focus on your nutrition.
In conclusion, I will tell you that we do not have problem zones. It is our approach that is mistaken. The appropriate nutrition plan and appropriate training program, with exercises performed with proper technique are the key to our dreamed body.
Good read and some worthwhile advice for someone who wishes to make these changes. At the end of the day it’s going to come down to your intake. You simply cannot outrun a bad diet.
What’s worth keeping in perspective is your goals. If your goal is to compete in physique-level competition, then you’d better figure this one out, or you’ll get creamed on stage. However, if the goal is maintaining a healthy lifestyle, then there is something to be said for acceptance of the ways your body stores energy. You can be healthy and not photoshop perfect. The value of who you are and even your health is not measured in your muffin top. You’re already beautiful.
Hey, Adam! Another great comment. This is so true : ” The value of who you are and even your health is not measured in your muffin top. You’re already beautiful.”
Appearance is just a consequence of who we are on the inside. Appearance is something that you can achieve once you know how your body functions. Who you are on the inside is what takes the most efforts! 🙂
For sure, and thanks for the reply. It always seems weird to me when people apply pride and shame to things they don’t necessarily control. Like, should I be ashamed about my hair falling out, or the shape of my body, the way it stores extra energy (AKA: fat)? Pride and shame don’t belong in these arenas. If you want to feel pride, feel pride about the choices you make, and your resilience. Pressure the process, not the product. Thanks again.