Health and well-being: the importance of physical activity in the weight loss process

This article is edited by Professor Diana Tomasi, Professor of Sport Sciences, for over 30 years, at the G. B. Quadri di Vicenza High School and Head of the middle distance sector of Atletica Vicentina.

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In the last post we talked about the coordination skills and in conclusion we wrote that we would talk about how to lose the so-called “love handles“. If there was a trick or a quick and easy shortcut to reduce the abdominal circumference we would tell you immediately: the reality is that it takes determination and perseverance to obtain visible results.

Remember that abdominal fat, in addition to being unsightly, is also and above all dangerous for our health: every inch that we add to our waistline increases the risk of getting sick, for example of diabetes or cardio-vascular diseases, or simply of hypertension. If you give us a play on words, we can say that those who are a little “robust”, if they want to extend their life expectancy, must strive to shorten their waistline.

Stress, which increases cortisol in the bloodstream, is also a factor that can contribute to the storage of abdominal fat.

And then – as always – our well-being passes through the balance that we manage to achieve on the food front on the one hand and the activation of a dynamic lifestyle on the other.

By dynamic we mean that – albeit starting slowly, without overdoing it – we come to incorporate healthy motor habits into our daily gait.

So, keep an eye on the foods that help us control stress (for example, those that contain Omega-3, vitamin D, B vitamins, all present by chance in Bivo …) and keep an eye on finding time to do some of gymnastics.

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On the food front, do not fall into the error of eliminating fats thinking that this helps reduce abdominal fat; instead, think about drastically reducing simple and refined sugars. Remember that when your body detects a high blood sugar level, the process of turning sugars into fats begins. So read the labels of what you buy and try to avoid foods that contain a lot of simple sugars.

On the motor activity front, the advice to reduce the waistline is to do a daily workout at intervals and at high intensity.

The important thing is to set the large muscles of the body in motion (leg muscles, buttocks, etc.) in order to wake up our metabolism which is probably a little lazy.

It doesn’t take much time, it takes 12 minutes. You need a clock and maximum respect for the times. So: shorts, T-shirt and gym shoes and let’s start: divide the first minute into two parts, in the first 40 seconds do the exercise and in the remaining 20 seconds recover (if you can’t do it you can also do 30 “of exercise and 30” of recovery…).

We can also do exercises that are located in the abdominal area, but we find it more useful to start from an activity that awakens our metabolism, and high intensity interval training is the best way.

First exercise. You can start by doing 40 seconds of push-ups (the so-called “squat”). Simply bend your legs and bring your arms forward, trying to keep your torso straight and doing the exercise as often as you can express.

Look at the clock and when you reach 40 “stop and recover until you reach 60”.

With the stroke of the second minute, the second exercise begins: take a step back with your right leg and take a bow by lowering the knee of the right leg towards the floor. Go back up and bring your right foot where it was at the beginning, to repeat the operation with the other leg. Bring your left leg back and bow with your knee down to the floor. Repeat this sequence for 40 “and also in this case perform the exercise with the maximum speed that is allowed by your current physical shape.

At 40 ”stop and recover by breathing deeply until the stroke of the minute.

Third exercise: start from the careful position, standing with your arms at your sides, a sequence of hops begins in which you spread your legs and at the same time raise your arms externally up to above the head. Coordinate the movement of the arms so that the hands are high above the head when the feet are spread out and instead are at the sides when, thanks to the next step, the feet come back together.

Also in this case he jumps up to 40 “and then recovers until the minute runs out.

At this point three minutes have passed and you have done the first sequence of three exercises. Start again from the first exercise and do a second repetition of the three exercises.

With four repetitions of the sequence you will reach 12 minutes, and on the first day you may be tired, but you will have started a path that – if done every day – will lead you to awaken your metabolism and improve the mechanisms that lead you to burn fat.

After the interval training recommended above, if you have another 6 minutes available, you can also perform crunch exercises to slim your hips. Get a mat and watch the video below by repeating the exercises you see from the demonstrators:

Remember: the secret is constancy. Maybe not much (don’t tell me you can’t find 12 minutes a day …) but do it every day.

In conclusion: start today. Set yourself a goal to achieve in the medium term (i.e. I want to reduce the abdominal circumference by x centimeters). Measure your waistline and note the current measurement somewhere. Exercise daily and minimize the consumption of simple sugars. Do the waist measurement again in three months and compare it with the starting situation.

In the next post we will talk about exercises useful to prevent back pain.

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Video source: Youtube channel IMPACTOTRAINING