To lose weight and build muscle, keep your posture regular! Warm up with cat and dog poses

"Why can't I break through the plateau when losing weight?" This is the most common dilemma faced by people who often trouble themselves by maintaining exercise but can't get through the plateau. In fact, if you want to break through the weight loss plateau, fitness coaches remind you that you must rely on muscle gain and fat loss to help, especially by exercising muscle strength and improving metabolism, you can achieve your dream.

Muscle strength is important for bone health, physical activity, metabolism and quality of life, but how do you properly build muscle strength and incorporate it into your daily life? First of all, you need to understand your current condition, set goals and weight loss strategies; then perform muscle training to prevent muscle loss and promote fat burning; pay attention to warming up before training and cleaning up after training; do two training sessions per week for different parts of the body, and focus on large muscle groups such as the back, abdomen, buttocks and legs, which will help improve efficiency.

Start training your muscles with a three-phase workout

It’s time to start training your muscles! RIZAP, a professional fitness team with top nutritionists, coaches and doctors, stated in their new book "Renpai Fitness Coach at Your Home (Sports Edition)" that they have developed special training based on science, and set the training period to 2 months. Although the actual progress varies from person to person, the first week can be arranged as Phase 1 "Introduction Period", the 2nd to 4th weeks are Phase 2 "Sculpting Period", and the 5th to 8th weeks are Phase 3 "Forming Period", and the training intensity and frequency can be changed according to the period. If your goal is to lose weight rather than build firm muscle, you may want to extend the training period in Phase 2. Adjusting the intensity and frequency of training according to personal goals can effectively stimulate the body and avoid stagnation in the weight loss process.

Warm-up exercises are essential, including cat pose, dog pose, and spider man pose.

Reminder: Before doing muscle training, you should start with warm-up. In addition to doing a round of the day's training with a low load, or jumping on the spot to warm up the body, you may also do the following "cat pose, dog pose" and "Spider-Man pose" warm-up exercises:

Even if you are thin, you cannot let your posture worsen. It is important to keep your spine in a normal state. Doing cat pose and dog pose can make the back soft. The spine should be the center, and both the abdomen and back sides should be stretched comfortably.

【Back Cat and Dog Pose】

Cat pose and dog pose (Photo courtesy of Yuanliu)

Step 1: Place your hands directly below your shoulders, your knees directly below your pelvis, get on all fours, and look naturally diagonally forward. As the name suggests, this pose is like kittens and puppies. This is the starting position.

Step 2: First, do the "cat" movement. Look towards your belly button, lift your pelvis and move your back upward. Let your entire back stretch like an arc. Use your abdomen to pull your back upward.

Step 3: Then look upward, retract your shoulder blades, and return your pelvis to its original position, pressing your back to stretch your abdomen. Repeat several times, keeping your breathing natural.

In addition, people who lack exercise are prone to stiffness in the lower body. This stretching exercise can effectively stretch the area around the hip joint, the back of the thigh (hamstrings) and the inner thigh (adductor muscles).

[Leg and hip spider pose]

Spider-Man pose (Photo courtesy of Yuanliu)

Step 1: Stretch your legs in a straight line from your shoulders, in a push-up position. At this time, the waist cannot be concave. The torso remains straight like a stick.

Step 2: Step your left foot forward next to your left hand. At this time, your back should also be kept straight. Look slightly forward. Really stretch the hamstrings of your right leg up to your buttocks. If you find the next move too difficult, repeat the first two steps left and right.

Step 3: For those with good flexibility, maintain step 2 and place your left elbow on the ground to further enhance the stretching effect. At this time, do not bend your back, keep it straight.

Step 4: People with good flexibility can try to straighten their left leg. Straighten your knees and raise your toes to stretch not only your hamstrings but your calves as well. Repeat the above movements left and right.