13609 Central Ave, Ste E Chino, CA 91710
One of the things that many of our clients in Chino Hills, CA, love about kickboxing, is that it helps them get rid of that muffin top. Not only do they take off extra pounds, all that kicking and twisting the body works the obliques and helps tighten the waistline. Muffin tops are also called love handles and even if the names are cute, the actual flab isn’t. It dangles over the waistband of your jeans and looks like you’ve got a tire around your waist, which brings us to the other nickname, “spare tire.”
All types of muffin tops start in the kitchen.
Whether you’re talking about the top of an actual muffin or that roll of flesh that hangs over the top of your jeans, it begins in the kitchen. No matter how much you exercise, if you’re overweight, you’ll still have excess flesh that’s primarily fat coating the outer layer of your body, so your hard efforts won’t show. Start with a healthy diet that consists primarily of whole foods without extra sugar or processed foods. Cardio workouts help burn calories and so do strength building ones. You need to tone while you shed those extra pounds.
Working on your core muscles is important.
Whether it’s your belly, back or sides, toning your body, particularly core muscles, helps slim you down and improve your silhouette. You can start to eliminate love handles by doing exercises, such as Superman. Superman tightens the lower back and abdomen. Lay on the floor with your face down, arms straight ahead and legs stretched out straight, looking a bit like Superman in flight. Now the real work begins. Tighten your core muscles and lift your arms and legs up at the same time and hold for 10 to 20 seconds.
A bicycle crunch can help tone those obliques.
When you tighten and tone the obliques, you’ll be smashing that muffin top. For a bicycle crunch, lay on your back, lifting your feet as you bend your knees and have your calves parallel to the floor. Put your hands behind your head and bring your left knee to your right elbow as you straighten your right leg. Then bring the right knee to the left elbow and back down, as though you’re pedaling a bike.
- Do a Russian twist, sit on a mat and press your feet into the ground with knees bent. Lean your body back. Join your hands together and rotate to one side and then to the other side as you twist your torso. As you get stronger, hold a dumbbell.
- A butt lift can smash those muffin tops and tighten your tummy. Lay on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift your bottom until your body for a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Lower and repeat.
- Add weights to your workout. Whether it’s a cardio workout or not, carrying a little extra weight in the form of a dumbbell or ankle weights can help burn up extra calories.
- You’ll watch those muffin tops melt when you use our personal training option or sign up for kickboxing. Try our special five kickboxing class offer that includes gloves to learn how kickboxing burns fat.