7 pro tips for your perfect shape

The motivation to get rid of some of the almost beloved body fat assaults each of us once or twice a year. However, you should know that there is no such thing as secret tricks that will lead you to your goal by a shortcut. Nevertheless, you don't have to bury your head in the sand, because what will definitely help you lose weight is the advice of professionals and a lot of discipline. We would like to introduce you to seven of these tips in this article.

Tip 1 - Sweat your way into the day

Many successful athletes, especially competitive bodybuilders, swear by revving up their cardiovascular system every morning to optimize fat burning. A training duration of about 20 minutes at a moderate intensity is recommended. Where you do these workouts is basically up to you, as both cardio equipment and outdoor training are suitable. To ensure that you work in an energetically optimal range for fat burning, you should also make sure that you keep your heart rate in a range of 65 to 78 percent of your maximum heart rate for the entire duration of the workout. You can determine your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from the value of 220. If you don't necessarily have a heart rate monitor, you can also use a rule of thumb that provides reliable information. It says the following: The optimal training pulse is reached when you can still hold a small chat during the training but no longer sing. Now, you don't necessarily have to sing loudly to test this, but in practice you will quickly realize what is meant.

Tip 2 - Keep your hands off the smartphone

It should really be a matter of course to give your all in the gym and leave out incidentals for once, at least for the duration of the workout. And yet many of us can't resist the temptation to constantly reach for our smartphone. Whether we just want to skip a song in the playlist, reply to that one message, or accidentally get stuck on that one interesting Facebook page - hardly anyone can escape it. If you want to maximize your training successes, distraction and time wasting are exactly the two things you definitely need the least. Instead of staring at your smartphone, use that time to do some push-ups, burpees, or even a few sets of squats. If you can't do it on your own, there's a simple rule: every time you look at the screen during your workout, you have to do 10 push-ups - how does that sound? You can reinforce the learning effect by instructing your training partner to consistently remind you of your "misdemeanor".

Tip 3 - End your strength training with a HIIT session

If you leave the gym with a relatively dry towel, you've definitely done something wrong and certainly not trained to the absolute limit. But we have a solution for you that will help you melt your fat pads. First of all, do your normal strength training and push yourself to the limit every now and then. After you've put the weights back in the rack, it's not the end of the day yet, because afterwards you'll do a High Intensity Interval Training session, which will demand the last reserves from your body. All you need is 20 minutes of time and a cardio machine of your choice. In such a HIIT unit, there are two load phases that alternate one after the other until you have reached the full training time. You start with a moderate load in the time frame of a good 90 seconds. This is followed by a considerable increase in intensity, in the course of which you go to your performance limits for a good 30 seconds. According to scientific studies, this combination of loading and unloading ensures significantly better fat burning than conventional "slow and steady" cardio training.

Tip 4 - Eat more fiber

Foods rich in fiber, such as beans, leeks or cabbage, are mainly known for causing violent intestinal twists. What few people know, however, is that dietary fiber can play a significant part in helping you get through a diet successfully. This is primarily due to the fact that the dietary fibers contained in foods swell up as soon as they come into contact with water or digestive secretions. This increase in volume results in a satiety effect that curbs your hunger and protects you from cravings and thus uncontrolled calorie intake. In addition, the consumption of dietary fiber is important to keep the bacteria cultures in the human digestive tract healthy, which of course should also be in your sense. In addition to the foods already mentioned, oatmeal, asparagus, bananas, onions and chicory are also suitable as high-quality sources of fiber.

Tip 5 - Take carb timing seriously

If you are in a real hurry to lose weight and you want to optimize your body composition as quickly as possible, you should make sure that you do not arrange your carbohydrate intake in any way, but place it around your workout so that the carbs can be used optimally. In detail, this means that you should consume a good 70 to 80 percent of the carbohydrates immediately before or after the workout. Directly before the workout they provide an enormous energy boost and directly after the workout they are urgently needed by your organism to replenish the plundered reserves and to restore the muscle glycogen.

Tip 6 - Don't just be diligent in the gym

Hey, your goal is to optimize fat loss, right? Then you should also do significantly more for it than the average. How do you do that? Simple. Don't make the mistake of thinking that after a good workout you can lounge around on the couch for the rest of the day. Seize the day and get moving, the more the better. Ditch the car and do your grocery shopping on foot or ride your bike to college. Try not to spend the whole day sitting down, but walk around the apartment while talking on the phone. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Watch your favorite show while standing or just take an extra evening walk. The possibilities for burning fat by simply tweaking your daily routine are limited only by the boundaries of your creativity.

Tip 7 - Do not reward yourself with food

Set consistent weekly goals that you want to achieve in terms of weight loss and follow them consistently with the help of the tips already described. Once you have reached such a goal, you should not torpedo your progress by treating yourself to a thick ice cream sundae or a triple cheeseburger menu, as you will then shovel a large part of the calories you have saved right back onto your ribs. Stay disciplined about eating and reward yourself with a fancy shirt instead, but it won't fit you perfectly until you lose another four pounds over the next six to eight weeks. Is that not motivation? Well, okay, a trip to the cinema with friends will do the trick.