You may or may not know this
about me but I used to be a long-distance runner. That was
about 50 pounds ago... :)
But one of the most useful things
I picked up in my time as a runner was a technique for really
tightening up the waist fast - especially the love handle
area, which is always a target for people.
Relax - I'm not going to make
you do any long-distance running! You'll be using this technique
with interval training for maximum effectiveness.
The technique I'm going to tell
you about does require either a treadmill or a road/track.
You want to be keeping a pace that is a fairly fast run but
not a sprint.
For me, I set the treadmill
speed to 10 and go for 30 seconds per interval - it's about
85% of a full sprint for me - the advantage of the treadmill
is that it forces you to keep the same pace. The problem,
of course, is that is you need one.
You can do this same technique
on the road, though, and calorie-burning-wise, it'll be more
effective for the simple reason that you have to propel yourself
forward. The treadmill does that for you. It's a tradeoff
- this will work on both.
Now, I don't have pictures or
video of this technique because, to be honest, it wouldn't
really show you anything other than me running. Yee ha.
The whole thing with this is
all in how you set yourself while running and how you visualize
your stride and body movement. Basically, you have to feel
it in yourself rather than see it in action.
So here's what to do while you're
running...
1. Run "Tall"
VERY IMPORTANT - Keep your chest
high, shoulders back and your back straight - don't let your
shoulders hunch forward and don't sag forward. You need to
keep VERY good posture for this to work. If you hunch forward,
you will compress the abs and lose the effect of this technique.
Imagine like you're a marionette
on a string and the string is attached to the top of your
head. Someone is pulling up on that string, pulling your torso
up and body straight, making you as tall as possible. Run
in that position.
2. Relax The Abs
As you're running, try to RELAX
your entire core. Don't clench it up - concentrate on breathing
easily and deeply but not tightening up the abs. Think of
it like you're pulling in your abs like a vaccuum, e.g. as
you keep your chest high, suck your abs in. Stand up and try
this right now - you'll notice that as you breathe deeply
and your rib cage rises up, your abs have to relax anyway
because they're getting stretched.
3. Separate Upper and Lower Body In Your
Mind
Next, think of your upper body
and lower body as two separate parts of a machine. The lower
body is the propulsion, the upper body is the balance. The
abs are the "joint" in between the two.
4. Reach Forward And Wring Your Abs
As you're running, try to "reach"
forward with every stride, trying to get as long a stride
as possible - basically, trying to get your leg as far forward
as you can. As you reach forward with your leg, reach forward
with your opposing shoulder as well.
So if you're stepping forward
with your right foot, your left shoulder is coming forward.
Your hips and shoulders are rotating in opposite directions
on each stride. You're basically wringing your abs out on
each stride! Each step is putting maximum rotation on the
core.
And because your rib cage is
elevated and your frontal abdominals are relaxed, this tension
and torque gets transferred through the obliques and transverse
abdominus (the rotational muscle of the core).
With every single step you take,
you're doing a very effective trunk-twist exercise!
Summary:
When doing this, I would recommend
at least 5 to 10 intervals of 30 seconds using this technique.
Use a good pace and keep practicing the main points in your
mind.
1. Run tall
2. Relax the core
3. Separate upper and lower body
4. Reach with each stride and wring out the abs
Give this a try on your next
cardio session and I think you'll really feel the difference!
This is one of my very favorite "secret" techniques
for tightening up the love handles FAST!