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| Quang Anh, tốt nghiệp khoa Exercise Biology trường ĐH UC Davis (Hoa Kỳ) |
The human body is meant to always be in an active state. We sit at the office 5 days a week staring at the computer screen. When we go home, we might all feel too tired to do anything except eat and sleep. This is a very bad habit that should be adjusted. Exercising not only boosts our metabolism to get rid of that extra fat in that abdominal area but also strengthens our hearts so that we can live longer and healthier lives. When we exercise regularly, our body uses fat as an energy source therefore burning off that extra fat to make us look healthier.
Wait, what if you are already skinny? Skinny does not necessarily mean healthy. Skinny can look like a person might not have enough nutrition in their body and when that type of person exercises, they cannot do it for very long and tire quickly. Instead, they start using up proteins and carbohydrates because there is no fat to use. What is left is a person that is just skin and bones.
Exercising 30 minutes a day can really improve a person’s health. You don’t need a gym membership to work out. There are 5 exercises you can do at home that will get your heart pumping and burn off that extra fat. The most important thing to remember is you need to be motivated and always push yourself further. You want people staring at you when you go to the beach.
First, drink a glass of milk right before you start your workout or right afterwards. This helps increase your protein levels inside your body to help you get stronger. You also always want to train to failure. No, I don’t mean training so that tomorrow you won’t train again. I mean training to the point when you can no longer do the exercise. When you are sore, that is a good sign and means the exercises are doing their jobs.
The Burpee
This is the hardest workout of the five. However, this workout also works your heart the most, helping your endurance level. This workout should always be done first because doing the other exercises first will not help you increase your overall strength as much. Yes you will be very tired at the beginning, but this gets your body to start using up fat sooner. Do 10 repetitions at first but later on, try and do as much as you can in 1 minute.
The Push- Up
The push-up is a great workout to do because it engages your entire body and makes you stabilize your arms and back as you move against gravity. Even if you are a beginner, never do a push-up on your knees because that does not benefit you in any way. If you can only do 3, that’s ok. Make sure tomorrow you do 4. Once you get the hang of it, start doing 3 sets of 10 repetitions. If that’s too easy, just increase the increments. Always try and beat yesterday’s total.
The Leg Lift
The leg lift targets that lower abdominal area which is one of the hardest places to burn fat in our body. Doing leg lifts can tighten your core better than a regular sit up. Sit ups only target that upper abdominal area; however, a leg lift makes you work out your entire core. Again, if you are a beginner, try and do 10 reps and increase your reps each day. Do no more than 20 reps per set, because your body will need a breather.
The Plank
The plank can be a challenging workout but when you are able to stabilize your body, it will do wonders especially for your back and abdomens. Start off small, 15 seconds. Then each day add 5 to 15 seconds depending on your level. Do 3 sets per day.
The Russian Twist
The Russian twist targets your sides, known as your obliques. This area also stores a lot of fat and there are not a lot of workouts out there that target this area. You may have flat abs but if you don’t work out your obliques, the fat moves to this area instead. To start off, do 10-15 reps.
Exercising does not need to be a chore. You should have fun exercising. Listen to your favorite music. Get yourself to feel good. You can also alternate days doing these exercises or go run for 30 minutes. Make sure you have goals that you want to achieve. Write it down. Day 1 you make only be able to do 3 push-ups but by Day 10 get that total to 13. Keep track of how much you can do. Rest for a bit between sets, but make sure that rest is no longer than 2 minutes. You should be breathing hard and sweating after you exercise. Your body is always changing, it never stays the same therefore make that change to become a healthier person. (Quang Anh)
