how to lose belly fat in women

 

The big secret to burning abdominal fat naturally

“To lose, you have to win.” The phrase is from Fernando Sartorius, the mythical -and singular- Spanish coach who made the Americas and triumphed in Hollywood, chiseling the sculptural anatomies of Hale Berry, Bianca Jagger, and Nicole Kidman, among other stars. In ‘Max Challenge’ (Sphere of Books), the book of which he is co-author with Elsa Pataky, Sartorius revealed one of his great secrets to obtaining the best possible version of the already spectacular actress from Madrid: increasing her muscle mass.

What is the reason for this obsession with taking out a mole when most people are concerned about losing weight? Because (here comes the explanation to the sentence with which this text starts) there is no better method, more natural and effective, to lose weight than to give our muscle mass that role that our lack of daily action has stolen from it. Why? In Zen we do not tire of repeating it: the muscle not only has a structural function (as an enabler of movement and support, both bone and visceral, among many other things) and another aesthetic (being erect, hard, and marked), but develops a very important endocrine activity. “It is a powerful metabolic oven”, sentenced Iván Gonzalo, Bachelor of Science in Physical Activity and Sport and creator of the Elements training system and the Indoor Triathlon.

Indeed, although this small detail goes unnoticed, muscle mass participates in the release into the bloodstream of certain hormones that affect caloric expenditure. That is, the more muscular we are, the more calories we will consume, even at rest (sitting or sleeping).

SEDENTARISM AND OLD AGE

Sounds good, right? Well, Diego Calvo, another Spaniard who, like Fernando Sartorius, has managed to become one of the most sought-after coaches in Los Angeles, confirms this. “If you eat a balanced diet, the more muscle you have the more the tendency to lower the percentage of fat increases. Why? Because muscle is a very expensive tissue — in terms of calorie consumption — for the body .”

Perfect machinery where they exist, the human body has this powerful and effective natural fat burner incorporated as standard. The problem is that little by little, we are stealing prominence and power for two main reasons. Of the first, we are all to blame in the world. It’s called a sedentary lifestyle and the good news is that we can remedy it with movement.

Unfortunately, the progress of the second is relentless and, before him, we only have the resource to live it with the best quality of life possible (which is already a lot!). It is called aging. “From the time we are born until the age of 30, more or less, we go like bullets cellularly. Our body works at 1,000 an hour. From that age, we begin the stage of decline. Cellular repair processes slow down, decreasing of physical abilities is close to 10% per decade, but we did not begin to perceive it until 40 or 50 “, explains Noe Todea, personal trainer.

TENDENCY TO PUT ON WEIGHT

Dramatic? It can, but it is what it is. If the muscle is not worked from youth, we are not only condemned to become the grass of sarcopenia (degenerative deterioration of muscle tone and functionality) when we reach maturity, but we will increasingly have a tendency to gain weight.

Here, by the way, is the explanation to one of the great mysteries of Humanity: why as young people we eat like limes and what we feel like without getting fat and, over the years, we get even a lettuce salad. So, going back to Sartorius, if the goal is to lose weight, the way is not to pound yourself with aerobic workouts to try to destroy everything (even with our joints if you opt for high-impact and long-lasting routines) but to find a balance between cardio and strength to induce a metabolic change in the body, through the strengthening of muscle mass. On the contrary, from spending and spending -without toning- trying to lose weight, in the long run, we will produce the opposite effect: we will reduce the muscles to their minimum expression, weakening their endocrine function and favoring weight gain.

Calvo goes one step further to point out that women are the ones who should take this task of muscle-strengthening more seriously since, with age, “they experience a noticeable decrease in the level of strength.”

At this point we come across one of the great (and false) myths of the gym: weights are a man’s thing. Like Noe Todea, Pilar Rubio’s coach -among other celebrities-, Diego Calvo emphasizes the falsity of this old urban legend that maintains that force work shapes bodies in the image and likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He, who physically conditions the most beautiful models and actresses in Hollywood, firmly states that “it is impossible for a woman to put herself as a bodybuilder with strength training” Each person, he clarifies, has” a determined potential for muscle growth that cannot be exceeded naturally. “In the case of bodybuilders, for example,” they often use supplements that help them exceed the limit set by their genetics. and they train two or three times a day, an activity that is not comparable to normal sessions. “

No matter where you look, the plan is perfect. Strengthening muscle will not only help us protect the health of our bones and viscera, making us appear more attractive, healthier, and even taller (by improving our posture), but it will keep fat at bay (as long as we take care of our diet). What was said, Fernando Sartorius is more right than a saint. “To lose — in this case — you have to win.”

HOW TO STRENGTHEN MUSCLE MASS

There is so much life beyond the dumbbells. Today, the great secret to strength training success is to have fun. Diego Calvo, a personal trainer in Los Angeles (California), explains how he manages to get the best version of his elite clientele:

Routines. “We usually spend the first half-hour doing strength. I work a lot with explosive exercises and I set challenges to get them to push their bodies to the limit in a fun way. We start with the largest muscle groups (legs and back).”

Upper body. “My favorite exercises for men are chest press; standing and dominated shoulder press (with three types of grip: pronator, supinator, and neutral). With women, I use more elastic bands with high repetition series of 15/18 or 19 “.

Lower body. “It is the great obsession of my clients. We tone it with squats and deadlifts (varying the distance between the feet and the depth of the descent). I also love the effectiveness of the barbell hip lift because there is brutal gluteal activation which can be further intensified on the outside if elastic bands are used. “

Objectives. “It is already known: to gain volume, shorter series. To lose weight, the series is lengthened.”

Material. “In addition to lifelong dumbbells, we strengthen muscles using our own body weight, elastic bands, medicine balls, or TRX. The important thing is to vary, never to fall into boredom.”