Model in featured photo: Kira Hamilton (@kira.fitness)
So you fell off the wagon of your New Year’s fitness plan, and oops! You aren’t as ready for a hot, skin-baring summer as you wanted. But fear not, because if you buckle down now, you can tighten up within a month of strict fitness. And you’re a hardcore badass, so it’ll be easy.
1.Low-carb diet
This forces you to burn through glycogen stores, thereby using fat for fuel. It’s why the Paleo Diet worked so quickly for some people. Grains are a staple food in every part of the world, but having too much, especially in refined versions, is contributing to soaring obesity rates. Lower your overall intake and look for foods high in fiber.
2. Weight training
Muscle burns calories at rest. This can take a couple of forms. You can do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or lift-based. HIIT is just like it sounds. A series of max-effort exercises performed with minimal rest in-between. Sprints, push-ups, squats (weighted and/or jumping) and explosive step-ups are good starts. You want dynamic, high-range of motion exercises. If you want to go lift-based, stay with compound exercises. Squats burn more calories than any other exercise and deadlifts are amazing, as well. Don’t be afraid, you won’t get bulky that fast.
30 minutes to an hour, five times a week, and you’ll really be turning on your metabolism. If you decide to go with heavier weights and barbells, make absolutely certain you have proper form. You don’t want to spend the summer with a sprained back.
3. Fasted cardio
You know what makes cardio really effective at burning fat? Not having any carbs to burn through, first. As a survival mechanism, the body uses primarily carbohydrates for energy, then switches to mostly fat after it runs low on of carbs. You can use this process to your advantage by doing your cardio in the morning, but not eating for about 12 hours before hand. So you have dinner at 6pm, sleep, do an endurance workout at around 7am the next morning.
This is one you’ll definitely want to check with your doctor about, since if you aren’t getting adequate nutrition, you run the risk of harming yourself.
