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Feb 22 / 6:33pm

Want a Flat Stomach

by Personal Trainers

QUESTION:
Hello There. I am 5"3 and weigh between 115-120 pounds. I am a normal size, small, teen. Even though I am not big, my stomach always bulges out after I eat. I want to have a flat stomach like other girls. I was hoping you could help me by giving me some exercises i could do to help. Also, that would be nice if you could give me some tips on the types of foods I should be eating for the process. Thank you very much.
ANSWER:
First of all, even though your physical dimensions look to be completely normal you should determine your body fat percentage.  Knowing this will help you determine whether or not you would benefit from losing a couple pounds of stored fat and/or put on a couple pounds of lean muscle to make your body more toned.

Another thing to consider is your posture.  If you have lordosis (an excessive lower back curve) your stomach will appear to protrude which will appear bulged rather than the flat look you like.  You may need to work on your posture with a combination of resistance training and stretching.  Read about Muscle Imbalances and Posture Problems

Lastly you may have food allergies you do not know about.  There are many common food allergies such as wheat gluten, lactose, et cetera which often go undiagnosed for years.  They are often not serious but the undesirable effects on people can be very annoying.

An effective way to determine whether or not you have food allergies is to simply start a nutrition journal.  Note how you feel after eating certain foods to narrow down the foods that cause your stomach to "bulge out."  This will help you control food choices better as well as balance your diet with adequate amounts of all nutrients especially fiber, protein and water intake.
You can also find similar questions and answers on this blog or on the following page:

Filed under  //  muscle toning   tone   toned body   toning   weight loss  

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Jan 25 / 4:37pm

Benefits of Circuit Training

by Personal Trainers

QUESTION:

Hello, I'm a 1.50m tall 52kg woman.  Could you tell me if doing Circuit training is beneficial and how much weight I should do for the machines in a Circuit training area?

ANSWER:

The best way to decrease the size of your legs and lower body is of course to drop your overall body fat percentage... I don't know what your percentage currently is, but i can tell you that you must do your cardio training at an appropriate intensity and duration while also encorporating consistent muscle toning exercises to give yourself the great metabolism that muscle tone provides...

Circuit training is beneficial becuase it can give you some added cardio work aside from your pure cardio routine, as well as stimulate muscele tone. But this is only if you are in good enough condition to do it at the necessary pace... The weights you should be using depends on what is heavy enough to challenge you to complete a target repetition range necessary for toning.  A consistent target rep range, corresponding weights, amount of sets, etc... are all important and must be structured week after week to acheive your results.

I hope this was helpful to you! Please feel free to check me out at my site JasonSpencer.askthetrainer.com and get to know me as a professional... I would love the opportunity to offer you that structure and organization I talked about. I have great programs that I gaurantee will suit you very well with your toning and slimming objectives! I want to give you all the tools to get where you need to be as quickly and effectively as possible! All it takes is structure... I hope to hear back from you!

JasonSpencer.AskTheTrainer.com

Filed under  //  muscle toning  

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Jan 19 / 9:12pm

Fat Roll under Breast

by Personal Trainers

QUESTION:

After two kids I gained quite a bit of weight, I have (over the last year) lost most of it. I am working out at the gym to tone up. I have like I guess a roll right uder my breast.. What exercises can I do to get rid of it?

ANSWER:

It sounds like your excess body fat is being stored upper abdomen which is very common.  Most people misunderstand fat distribution.  Depending on your genetic fat distribution but most people have "problem areas" which are the areas which their genetics determines where they store the majority of the fat.  This does not mean there is still not excess fat stored around the rest of your body.

By "working out in the gym" you've taken a step in the right direction.  There is no specific exercise you can do to spot-reduce fat you just simply need to perform your cardio 3-5x per week and eat a healthy diet.  If you really want to ramp up the intensity to speed up results, you can perform combination exercises which work multiple muscle groups.

Filed under  //  fat loss   muscle toning   weight loss  

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Jan 15 / 9:13am

Cure for Elephant Butt

by Personal Trainers

QUESTION:

Hello, I'm a 5'1" tall, 112 pound woman and I've been trying to lift and shape my glutes and hamstrings but nothing seems to work. I use the The Firm with weights (lunges and squats with 12 lbs weights) and one-on-one training with Jackie Warner (Lunges and squats with 12 lbs weights) DVDs. Yet I don't get the results I'm looking for.

My hamstrings and butt are still "saggy" and are not defined as two separate units. Is there anything that I should be doing differently? What exercise equipement would best work these two areas? Or am I doomed with a saggy elephant butt?

ANSWER:

Without knowing your height and weight you probably could stand to lose a couple pounds of body fat.  This will allow you to "tone up" as the subcutaneous fat layer beneath your skin will become thinner allowing your muscular definition to come through and make your "elephant butt" go away.  Your diet is of the upmost importance but you can also manipulate factors of your exercise program.

To accomplish this feat consider the FITT principle.  It stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time & Type and those are the basic factors you can manipulate (increase) to achieve fitness goals.  Out of the four factors of the FITT principle increasing intensity has the most effect for most people.  If you're doing the same workout programs with the same weights, your intensity is staying the same which goes against the most very basic priniple of weight training, progressive overload.

What you can do about it is increase your frequency (i.e. perform an extra session per week, increase time (workout longer), chang the intensity (increase weights) and of course type.  A good solution is to perform high intensity cardio workouts such as sprinting type exercises which are best for burning calories and increasing metabolism along with your weight training.  Here are some unique ideas for workouts you can do at home or in the gym.

Filed under  //  bigg butt   muscle toning   workouts  

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