Battle the Holiday Bulge

The holidays are upon us! With thanksgiving less than two weeks away, can you already feel your waistline expanding? Let’s fight the holiday bulge with three calorie-blasting exercises.

Helping us today is Russ Beier, a Certified Fitness Trainer (CFT) and Specialist in Performance Nutrition (SPN), and the Fitness Director/Co-Founder of Carbon World Health in Madison, Wisconsin.

“Always get your core engaged to activate as much muscle as you can in the shortest amount of time,” Beier explains. Three of his top exercises are a combination of prone rows, overhead squats, and crawl push-ups.

Prone Rows

• Start in prone (push-up) position gripping appropriate weighted dumbbells with a sagittal grip (neutral)
• Pull the dumbbells up to your hip alternating each side

Overhead Squats

• Use a barbell, broom handle or smart stick
• Grip barbell wider then shoulder width (pending flexibility of the scapular complex)
• Feet shoulder width squat stance with insides of feet parallel
• Lock barbell overhead, in line with the spine
• Hinge at the hip, pushing hips back (as if sitting in a chair)
• Squat down until the belly of the hamstring is parallel to floor, keeping barbell above head and in line with the spine
• Additional note from Beier: When performing a squat of any kind, the angle of the upper torso should be the same angle as the lower legs (see photo)

Crawl Push-Ups

• Start standing up, feet and knees tight together
• Reach down to the toes elongating the posterior chain muscle groups
• Once fingers hit the floor, walk hands forward to prone [push-up] position
• With hands outside shoulder width, perform a push up while keeping the spine in a neutral position
• Walk hands back to start position, keeping legs straight and knees locked out

“The above exercises are a great ‘blast zone’ grouping. When performed correctly and in succession, 3 sets of 10 of each exercise will net you roughly 900 expended calories,” Beier explains. It’s a holiday gift for YOU!