How do you get rid of stubborn low belly fat?!

I’ve been asked this questions SO many times within the past few weeks so I wanted to do ALL I could to help you out with this one

So many factors are to be taken into account when we talk about “stubborn lower belly fat” & it doesn’t JUST have to do with working out.

Here are a few:

Nutrition: Are you giving your body the nutritions it needs? Are you eating enough… ?

Stress: If you are stressed about life OR not giving yourself enough rest and over training this could cause your body to hold onto water, hold fat and bloat you in that area. Stress does A LOT to our bodies

Exercise: Are you on a structure program and making sure you are ACTUALLY activating your core when you are working out? Are you being consistent?

Water Consumption: Are you drinking enough water? This helps digestion of food, removes toxins and helps burn fat.

Hormones: decreased estrogen levels...

Yeah you read that right …before you say anything let me explain… 

So you are CRUSHING your assisted pull-ups but as soon as you take the band away… nothing.. can’t do it..you feel like you are strong enough but it’s NOT HAPPENING..wtf… why is that? 

Ready for this… Doing assisted pull-ups gets you better at one thing… doing more assisted pull-ups… ‍

And what most people don’t know that that bands and machine give you the MOST assistance at the BOTTOM of the pull-up. 

Since we are constantly getting help at the bottom your body never learns how to engage your lat’s from a dead hang..

And guess where most people are stuck.. you guested it.. the bottom. 

So what can we do to help this and finally make it happen. 

Learn to how to recruit and effectively engage your lats. 

Which means doing Drills for the...

Ten Drills to Help you Conquer a Handstand 

First thing is FIRST make sure you are warming up the wrists and shoulders I like the good old spaghetti, meatballs, sauce sha-bang…effective and sounds delicious..if you don't know what I am talking about be sure to watch the full video ;) 

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Drills 

• Plank Hold:
  • It's important that you are able to support your body in this plank position before going upside down. Be sure to keep your core nice and tight. You should be able to hold this position comfortably for about 30seconds before progressing up 
• Plate Shoulder Shrugs: 
  • This is basically doing a handstand without being upside down. Keep your head neutral but gaze your eyes up towards the plate. Keep your arms straight and PUSH as if you were going to do a handstand on the floor. Core needs to be tight and do not lean back 
• Windmill Plate Pushes: 
  
  • To me...this looks like you are serving a pizza...not...

6 Basic Moves to know if you are NEW to the gym

The gym can be an intimidating place, especially if you are new to it. Not only do you get anxiety from being surrounded by so many people but you feel insecure that you are doing the moves wrong and that everyone is looking at you.

That's why I put this together. If you can master and understand these 6 moves it will help you understand so many other aspects of fitness. You will then feel more confident when entering a gym setting and ready to attack your goals! 

Elbow Plank:

This is a great core exercise that is used in SO many other aspects of fitness. So important for you to master and understand it! 

Form:

• Your should be directly over those elbow 
• Back FLAT (your butt should not be in the air or super low to the ground)
• You should NEVER have back pain during this exercise if you do, you need to re-adjust 

Tips for modifications:

• Drop down to your knees, maintain that tight core position...

8 Exercises to Improve your Grip Strength! 

So you are so pumped to get your first pull-up BUT….your hands literally slide right off the bar! 

This is extremely common which is why it's super important to work on grip strength drills. There are a TON of different ways to do this! But I put together some of my favorites below! 

1. Plate Pinches 
2. Towel Farmers Carries 
   1. Wrap towel  around a Kettlebell or Barbell & Walk! Increase weight to make it more challenging! 
3. Plate Tosses
   1. Great burn in the shoulders and its just FUN! Keep your shoulders NICE and relaxed while doing this and you can have some fun and toss the plate to your friends 
4. MB Half Get-Ups 
   1. Make sure to look AT the ball while you are doing this really hold on tight with your finger & grasp the ball. 
5. Rope Walk Downs 
   1. This is a great exercise also to progress you to a rope climb! Go down as far as YOU feel comfortable making sure to go...

 

 

 

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The magic formula to loose inches, shed pounds, & get that six pack.. . . Step 1: take magic pill . Step 2: 60 min of fasted Cardio . Step 3: 60 min in Sauna DONT drink any water . Step 4: 60 min more of Cardio . Step 5: 200 hundred crunches . Step 6: Lift....BUT not heavy... that will make you bulky . Step 7: Find two studs and have them pull you appart for long lean muscle . Step 8: Release Magic Pill . . What’s wrong with this picture ? And with all of this ? Besides well EVERYTHING. ‍‍ . . But for many it’s not their fault they get into these ridic traps of thinking they have to go to extremes to really get the body they want and to feel good. They try the extremes get discouraged and can’t hang onto it and then are back at square one . . How frustrating is that ? There is so much BS out there, but there’s a lot of GOOD out there as well . . So @lauren_kanski and I are ready to help...

This question comes up all the time. So this will go over a few different ways you can put your hands while doing a pull-up & also go over WHAT each grip specifically works. 

Also …the controversial question of  thumbs around or over the bar? Which is better? What does it do?

Thumbs over or Under the bar ?

This sometimes feels like a controversy..but it’s not! You literally can do either over or under the bar but both have different benefits. So I suggest you do a little bit of both honestly…but again lots of controversy here, let me talk about what the benefits of both are! 

Thumbs Around the Bar:

Allows for better lat engagement and easier transitions into muscles ups. It also can be used if you are doing a lot of pull-ups and start losing grip strength and sliding off the bar.

Wrapping keeps the shoulders slightly externally rotated and more engaged and can create a stronger pulling platform. 

Thumbs Over...

So you want to learn a pull-up...BUT you don't have access to a pull-up bar. What options do you have? 

These are my favorite at Home Pull-Up Drills & all you need is a small & Medium Band, a broom & a towel! All things which are easily accessible. 

 The below video goes over each at home drill! But read on for more details! 

Floor Pull-Ups 

This drill is a game changer. If this feels too difficult put the towel under your knees it will help you slide smoother on the floor! This is also a great grip strength drill because you have to grasp the floor.  I would do 10 of these and then transition into the army crawl ones I showed in video.

Broom Pull-Downs 

The biggest thing I want you to focus on here with the Broom Pull-Downs is to engage those lats and really act like you are going to break the broom in half before you pull-it down. This will help light up those lats, something that most people tend to lack when trying to do a...