EXERCISING TO LOSE YOUR GUT IS simple – it’s all about your muscles. Let me explain: contracting your muscles requires fuel, like an engine does. So the more muscle you work, the more kilojoules you burn. This is one reason why the best way to lose your gut is with total-body weight training. But that’s just the start: since pumping iron also builds muscle, you’re simultaneously increasing the size of your engine – which helps you burn even more kilojoules in each workout.
Plus, lifting weights boosts your metabolism for hours after you train. My point: don’t dismiss this workout because it has only six exercises. They’re all you need to burn fat, build muscle and look better than ever.
Inverted Row
Secure a bar about one metre off the floor. Lie under the bar and grab it with a shoulder-width, overhand grip. Hang at arm’s length from the bar with your body in a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders [A]. Keeping your body rigid at all times, pull your chest to the bar by bending your arms and squeezing your shoulder blades together [B]. Pause, then lower yourself back to the starting position. That’s one repetition. Do a total of 10 to 12 reps.
Mountain Climber
Kneel on all fours, your hands in line with, but slightly wider than, your shoulders. Straighten your left leg completely and lift your right knee towards your chest. You should be on the balls of your feet, positioned like a sprinter in the starting blocks [A]. Now quickly switch leg positions [B] as many times as you can for 30 to 45 seconds. That’s one set.
Dumbbell Wood Chop
Hold a light dumbbell with a hand-over-hand grip, your arms extended above your right shoulder [A]. Keeping your arms nearly straight, bend at your knees and forcefully rotate your torso to the left as you draw your arms down and across your body [B]. (You should move as if you’re chopping wood.) When your hands reach the outside of your left ankle, quickly reverse the movement with the same intensity. That’s one repetition. Do 10 to 12 repetitions, then switch sides and repeat.
Squat-Thrust Chin-Up Combo
Squat on the floor beneath a chin-up bar and lean forwards so that your hands are on the floor and you’re on the balls of your feet [A]. To begin, quickly kick both legs back behind you into a push-up position [B]. Immediately reverse the move and go back to the squat position [A]. From there, jump up and grab the chin-up bar with an underhand grip [C]. Pull your chest to the bar [D]. Drop back down and repeat. That’s one rep. Do a total of eight to 10 reps.
Split-Squat To Push-Press
Hold a barbell at chest level with an overhand grip that’s just beyond shoulder width. Stand in a staggered stance, your left foot in front of your right [A]. Keeping your torso upright, lower your body until your front knee is bent 90 degrees [B], and then simultaneously push yourself back to the start as you press the bar over your head [C]. Lower the bar to the start. That’s one rep. Do a total of eight to 10 reps, and then switch leg positions and repeat. (If desired, you can use dumbbells instead of the barbell.)
Push-Up Travelling-Lunge Combo
Assume a push-up position, but instead of placing your hands on the floor, brace them on a pair of dumbbells [A]. Now do as many push-ups as you can [B]. Then stand up with the dumbbells and perform a travelling lunge: keeping your torso upright, take a step forwards with your right leg and lower your body until your front knee is bent 90 degrees [C]. Push from your front foot and step forwards into a standing position.
Repeat, lunging forwards with your left leg. That’s one rep. Do a total of six to eight reps, and then turn around and do the combo in the other direction.
By The Numbers
17
Percentage more reps per three sets men could do when they were well hydrated.
78
Percentage more likely men, who perform poorly in a pushup test, are to gain 10kg of flab over the next two decades, according to a Canadian study.
