I am 17 years old. I play rugby and currently eat only at meals. What I eat at meals may vary from day to day, but I eat at fairly regular times. I am also taking creatine citrate. I had been taking it for about a month, then went off due to vacation, but I am now loading again.
I currently try to work out three times a week. My goals are, in order, 1) Lose my gut, 2) build up my cardiovascular endurance, and 3) build overall tone in arms, shoulders, back, chest, abs. Does anyone have any good tips for me? I particularly want to lose my gut. I am not concerned about weight.
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| Unfortunately, there is no such thing as spot reducing. When you burn fat, your body does not selectively burn it from certain areas. In other words, no matter how many sit-ups or crunches you do, your gut will not be diminished. The only way to lose your gut is by increasing your fat-burning potential by weight training and doing cardiovascular endurance activities.
Weight training at even the lightest intensity at least twice a week with exercises targeting the areas you have mentioned will increase your muscle metabolism, therefore your muscles actually need more calories to supply them and will soak up some of those fat stores, including the ones in your gut. Equally important, cardiovascular acitivities of at least 20 minutes or more at a moderate intensity at least three times a week will also burn lots of calories.
Last, but definitely not least, your diet will determine how your gut looks too. The leaner you eat, while doing the first two things, the less of a pooch your gut will be. One more thing about diet. It is best to eat small meals and snack in between. Continue a regular eating schedule eating at the same times everyday. Eat a variety of foods and make sure your diet is well-balanced.
You will find that in the first month or two, there will be the most improvement in your gut. After that, you should increase your intensity because your muscles will need more to stimulate it to do the same thing. Seek the help of a qualified personal trainer to show you some basic resistance exercises to target your arms, shoulders, back, abs, and whatever areas you would like to work on. Remember to work ALL major muscle groups, including legs. You would not want a toned upper body and flabby weak legs would you?
Here are some basic exercises for the major muscles of the body:
Seated rows for back, lateral raises for shoulders, flat bench dumbbell presses for chest, dumbbell or straight bar bicep curls for biceps, rope tricep extensions for triceps, leg extensions for quadriceps, laying leg curl for hamstrings, standing calf raises for calves.
For cardio, try the brisk walking or jogging outside or on the treadmill, cycling (stationary or outdoors), stairmaster, rowing machines, swimming, aerobics, tennis, or any other sports that you enjoy which require constant movement to get your heart rate up significantly for at least 20 minutes continuously.
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