Image by: M. Keefe
By: Ken Lucas
So the Halloween candy you snatched from your kid or sibling is dwindling out, which means you’re probably looking forward to starting the recovery process from your over indulgence of spooky treats like candy bars, tootsie pops and water taffy. It may have been sensational while it lasted, but all good things have to eventually come to an end. And unless you want to lose your six-pack, eliminating unexpected cheat days and superseding them with a calorie burning routines is essential for your livelihood.
This will not only preserve the body that the woman in your life was initially attracted to, but will also increase self-confidence and leave you with a less sluggish or fatigued feeling as you execute your daily tasks. It’s not my intention to rain on your candy parade, but if you’re serious about fortifying the dignity of your health, then I implore you to consider these five exercises below.
#1) Swimming
Swimming can be both fun and effective for cutting calories and trimming unnecessary fat around the love handles, arms and pretty much all other parts of the body. This is the main reason why swimming is an ideal choice to those you you who have slim and trim aspirations, because the act of swimming targets and defines not only your back muscles (although the back is the main muscle used in stroking motions), but your entire body.
An hour of a moderate amount of swimming can burn up to 500 calories, thus revving up your metabolism and and continuing to burn even after you’ve stepped out the pool.
#2) Jump Rope
The image of your little sisters playing double dutch may come to surface when you hear ‘jump rope‘ but in actuality, the exercise is used by some of the toughest guys on the planet. Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and even Mike Tyson has spent a majority of their training regimens jump roping. The fact is, fighters use this techniques because it is effective for both trimming fat (which is only a hindrance in the ring) and increasing their cardiovascular output, allowing them to fight and stay active for long periods of time.
If you don’t believe me, then listen to this quote from Peter Schulman, MD, associate professor of Cardiology and Pulmonary medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington: “It’s certainly good for the heart,” says Schulman. “It strengthens the upper and lower body and burns a lot of calories in a short time.” If that’s not incentive to go to your nearest sporting goods shop and fork out $10 dollars than I don’t know what is…
#3) Jogging
There are few more natural exercises that has more health benefits than jogging. Yes it burns insane amounts of fat and is one of the the ideal Cardio exercise (in fierce competition with the latter mentioned jump-roping), but on top of that it also can reduce blood pressure. This can help reduce the chances of a heart attack or stroke.
It also increases levels of good HDL cholesterol, which helps prevents heart disease and allows blood to flow unabated to and from your heart. A nice run can improves mental health, giving your brain a chemical release of endorphins which promotes confidence and happiness and it works your bones out, putting them under stress and thus increasing output of bone material density to make your bones sturdier. And studies show that it can even help you sleep better at night.
#4) Sports
Playing intramural sports, or even football in the backyard with your son can prove to be quite a beneficial exercise when getting rid of unwanted calories. Sports like Basketball, Soccer and Football require a lot of constant movement, which in turn demands your body to exert large amounts of cardiac output. Ever wonder why basketball players are so lean and trim? It’s because they spend there their days grueling back and forth down a court. And the best part about sports is the fact that it’s fun!
Organizing games with your friends and family is not only a good way to keep you and your loved ones looking sexy, but can also increase the bonding experience you may be lacking courtesy of your 8 hour a day work shift. Racket-ball, tennis, and badminton are also viable options when considering something fun, safe and very much effective for preventing any muffin top action you may have going on.
#5) Body-Weight Exercises
Don’t know how to swim? To cheap to buy a jump rope? Too lazy to go out into the winter chill and jog? Got no friends to play sports with? Well, don’t get too down in the dumps yet, as there are extremely effective body-weight techniques that require no money or effort to utilize.
Push-ups, crunches, and body-weight squats may seem like hackneyed exercises, but, nevertheless, they are extremely effective for ridding your body of calories and tearing the muscle fibers–giving you a taste of both anaerobic and aerobic exercise (Depending on how fast you do the exercises. The slower you execute them, the more an anaerobic effect is triggered, while the faster you do them, more of an aerobic effect is triggered).
While these types of exercises may seem boring or unoriginal looking from an objective stand-point, once you become an intermediate fitness enthusiast, you can get more creative with your workouts, such as incorporating squats or lunges into jumping motions, shifting your basic push up stance to a diamond or wide grip approach, or perhaps even buying a weighted vest if you outgrow your own body-weight movements.
It’s so easy to and pleasurable to eat snacks compared to dragging yourself to the local gym. Have you mastered the art of turning cheat days into effective days in the weight room? Great job, pal! Go ahead and rub it into everybody’s noses in the comments section below!