Suksri's Blog

Step 1:
Since you'll still be doing a lot of resistance training (to minimize any muscle loss) your calorie needs will remain high. For the first week, cut your calories by 500 per day. Monitor your weight, and if possible your body fat percentage. At the end of the week, determine whether you're losing weight and body fat at a desired rate. Losing up to two pounds per week is considered healthy.

Step 2:
If by the end of the first week you haven't lost any weight or gained some, which is very possible, cut your calories by an additional 500 per day. If you have lost weight but not fast enough, cut 200 calories per day. Continue this until you reach the rate of weight loss you're happy with. Generally, the slower you lose the weight the less muscle you'll lose. Try to be patient and avoid cutting too many calories.

Step 3:
In addition to the amount of calories you take in, the type of foods you eat can play an important role in your body fat percentage. The first foods you should cut out of your diet are those high in simple carbohydrates or sugars. They're digested quickly and leave you feeling hungry soon after you eat. Because they are rapidly digested, they elevate your blood sugar. If you don't use this energy right away, it will be stored as fat. This is good when you are bulking or trying to gain weight but can wreak havoc on your cutting regimen.

Step 4:
Eat foods that are high in complex carbs such as whole wheat bread, brown rice & pasta, oatmeal and vegetables. The carbs found in these foods will give you a more controlled release of energy meaning you won't have to burn off the calories you ate right away. They are digested slower.

Step 5:
Stay away from foods that are high in saturated fat. While eating fat won't necessarily make you fat, your body prefers to use carbohydrates for energy, especially during exercise. You'll also need to take in an adequate amount of protein. Eggs, meat and dairy are great sources which can help keep muscles from breaking down during weight loss. Eat meats that are low in fat such as chicken, turkey, fish and lean cuts of beef.

Step 1:
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Place your hands on your hips and slowly bend over to one side. Bend until you feel a good stretch through your side. Repeat on the other side.

Step 2:
Cross one foot over the other. Your feet will be hip width apart, feet facing forward. Lower your trunk toward your legs, pulling your upper body in toward your legs. Twist until you feel the stretch through your obliques. The back of your leg and your lower back will also feel the stretch. Switch the position of your feet and repeat.

Step 3:
Place an exercise ball on the floor. Roll the side of your body onto the ball. Stabilize yourself using your legs. Lie down and lift your arm over your head to feel the stretch in your obliques. Switch sides and repeat.

Step 4:
Lie on your stomach and prop your upper body up onto your elbows and forearms. Keeping your pelvis and abdomen against the ground, lift your body until you feel a strong stretch through your abdominal muscles. Walk your arms out as far as you can to one side to feel the stretch in your obliques.

Step 1:
Start with reverse lunges. One reason forward lunges hurt the knees is because it forces the distal end of the femur (thigh bone) into the back of the patella (knee cap). Given that the femur is the largest bone in the human body, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a delicate little knee cap, especially if your knee caps happen to be low on cartilage. By stepping backwards into a lunge, the pressure from the femur is pulled away from the knee cap, resulting in a much less painful experience for many people.

Step 2:
Try stationary lunges without any weights. Once you’ve mastered reverse lunges, the next step in the progression is a stationary lunge. Make sure your feet are far enough apart so that your front knee does not extend past your toe when you lower into a lunge. And don’t be afraid to use a bench, rod or other fixed object for support when you’re first starting out.

Step 3:
Keep your weight in the heel of your front foot. This tip applies to all variations on the lunge--reverse, stationary or walking. Firmly plant the heel of the front foot and drive the weight down through this heel as you come back up to standing. This will engage the gluts and hamstrings as well as relieving some of the pressure on the knee.

Step 4:
Form two 90 degree angles with your legs. When you hit the bottom of your lunge, your legs should form two 90 degree angles. Most people fail to drop the back knee down far enough and this throws the whole form of the lunge off. Drop that back knee to within 4 to 6 inches of the floor and use a mirror when you’re first learning so check your form.

Step 5:
Keep your upper body erect and shoulders back. A common mistake with lunges is to let the shoulders round forward and the upper body to hinge at the waist. This puts pressure on the lower back and disengages the core. Keep your shoulder blades retracted, chest out and belly button pulled back and up. Get all the depth in your lunge from dropping the back knee, not from dropping your upper body forward.