Jul 6 2012

3 Weeks To Awesome – Tighten Your Abs

Today is day 11 of my 3 week program to hit your fitness goals. I’m excited because today’s super power comes directly from a request one of you made on YouTube. I’m also excited because my shoulders, neck and back are healing so I was actually able to blow dry my hair today. Silly as it sounds, it’s little those little things I’m really missing as I recuperate from the car crash.

The super power I want you to develop today is simple. You are going to learn how to hold your abdominals tight by drawing them in and activating your very deep abdominal muscles, called your transverse abdominis or TVA.

Tomorrow is a tough track workout day, so to get ready for it, today is also an active rest day. An active rest day is different from a complete rest day. Today I want you to do something that keeps your body moving and active, makes you happy and isn’t quite as strenuous as one of our typical workouts. Try hiking, swimming, yoga, dancing.

Try your best to make the time for a fun, ‘active rest’ activity. Even if you don’t have time, you can still be active by doing my little trick to activate your deep abdominal muscles. Check out how to do it by watching today’s video and reading the super power below.

Whenever I say, “Abs are tight,” in any of my workout videos, remember how it feels to draw in your abs just like you are learning in today’s super power.

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You – Fitness Program Day 11

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You – Fitness Program Day 11

I went hiking with my dogs for my ‘active rest’ activity today. I think my dogs got a little more exercise than I did since they were being chased by cows.

You can be entertained by my doggies by watching this little video of the beginning of our hike. Our hikes typically take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Keep in mind that exercise isn’t new to me; I worked up to this level of conditioning over a period of years.  Make sure that you’re staying active today, but not pushing it too far. You want to be active, but still allow your body to rest and recover.

My Active Rest Day – Hiking with My Doggies and Being Chased by Cows

Make sure you are also starting to think about nutrition. We will go over nutrition in more detail during the program, but to maximize the results you will need to back it up with smaller portion sizes and more frequent meals. I know you have heard that before. That’s because it works. I want you to really try it. Not just for a day. Not just for a week. I want you to really try it for the entire 3 weeks, then see if you can keep it going long afterwards.

Eating small portions 6-8 times per day will have a dramatic impact on your metabolism. Take a few minutes to go through the food and diet section of the site to read about nutrition.

Also, make sure to develop the super power I give you during this program each day. The little things I ask you to do over the next 3 weeks are the super powers that are going to supercharge your results. Even though today’s super power is simple, don’t dismiss it. Trust me when I say it will end up propelling you toward your results even faster, but it will only work if you do it.

Every aspect of this program counts. Every little detail matters. Trust the process and try your best to commit 100%.

xoxo ~ Cori

Invoke Your Super Power: Draw It In

Today you are going to learn to activate your deep abdominal muscles by using measuring tape as a feedback system. All you need is an inexpensive measuring tape and a safety pin.

I want you to cut the measuring tape about an inch longer than your largest circumference measurement. Cut it. If you really don’t want to cut your tape, you could also measure a ribbon or any long piece of fabric to the right length. Wrap it around your true waist, then safety pin it. Make sure it’s snug when you’re in a relaxed position.

Now take a deep breath in, lift your chest up, exhale hard and as you do, pull in your waist. Pull in your abdominals. Pull them in tight. Pull your waist away from the measuring tape. Hold them there. Try to breath normally, talk normally, move normally. Each time you feel your skin touching the measuring tape again, pull your abdominals back in. I want you to wear the measuring tape around your waist all day today. You might be surprised how sore your abs are by the end of the day.

Over time, I want you to learn how to hold your abdominals tight like this even without the reminder of the measuring tape. This small, little drill will make a huge difference in your results. Sometimes it’s not about how hard you can work out or stick to your diet. Sometimes it’s about how consistent you can be with the little details each day. This is one of those little details.

Learning how to hold your deep abdominals tight will not only trim up the appearance of your waist, it will also help you with back pain, hip pain, neck pain, posture and form.

Follow Through

I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.

Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.

Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.

You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?

Cardio

I recently cut my cardio to a minimum of 30 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio 5 days per week.

When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day, but one session is really more like light activity and less like cardio.

I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it.

The pay off is that I feel awesome. It might take me a little longer to build muscle because I do love my cardio, but it’s the cardio that helps me to keep focused and positive for the long haul. It’s important to know what keeps you motivated for the long haul too. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.

Post Workout Nutrition

When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.

When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.

I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.

Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.

Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.

You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.

Cori Ann’s Prepping Fat Loss Diet:

You can click on the image above to link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.

This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.

My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.

My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).

That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.

I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.

Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!

Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!

By Cori Ann Lentz • Life & Love • 8 • Tags: Lean, Measurements, Motivation, Sleek & Sexy: Transformational Stomach Exercises, Strong Abdominals