Deep squats strengthen lower body and increase muscle mass. Stand upright with feet, shoulder-width apart. Place your hands in front to help maintain balance. Bend your knees and drop your butt. Squat until thighs rest on the calves. Avoid rounding your back (keep it flat). Keep your heels on the floor throughout. Then slowly rise until you are upright and repeat.
Cheat days tend to become munch-on-junk-food days. The name cheating implies that its wrong and causes guilt. Cheating make it difficult to form healthy eating habits. Most cheat foods are addictive, so overeating is inevitable. In trying to compensate, people tend to over-train which causes further damage. Its best to eat treats as regular foods, eat more quantity of healthy food or abstain completely.
Start with simple hand grippers. Practice hanging on a thick bar, on one arm, or on your fingers. Perform fingertip push-ups or hold a straight arm plank on your fingertips. Walk around with heavy weights (extended arms), as long as you can. Squeeze a rubber or tennis ball until your fingers are tired. Grab a weight plate between thumb and fingers and hold for 30 secs.
Step box exercises burn fat, build muscles and improve athleticism. You can perform step ups, box jumps, push-up variations, side planks with elevated feet, box dips, burpee box jumps, split, box and power pistol squats, running toe taps, V-Sits and hip thrusts with a step box. Start with a low box and increase height as you grow fitter!
Don't sag your back, spread your weight over your palms, tighten your abs, glutes, and back muscles, form a plank. Progress through pushup styles: wall, incline, knee, decline, dive bomber, handstand pushups. Be regular, track and increase your reps gradually. Lose weight, and strengthen your back muscles with pull ups to avoid bad posture and muscle imbalance.
Strong hamstrings improve your overall strength, flexibility, balance and boost athletic performance. Reverse Hyper is a great beginner exercise for someone with weak hamstrings. Exercises like split squats, Russian leg curl and single leg deadlift can quickly improve hamstring strength. Sliding leg curls strengthen both knee flexion and hip extensions at the same time.
Sitting for long hours shortens hamstring muscles. This along with weak abdominal muscles causes an anterior pelvic tilt which further stiffens the hamstrings. Warm up and hold short stretches repeatedly to increase hamstring flexibility. Stretch interconnected calf and hip muscles. Practise standing, floor and foam exercises to increase your hamstring flexibility.
Have a meal plan and shop accordingly. Buy good-quality same-size containers and weigh every food item on a food scale to restrict calorie intake. Start slow by prepping meals for 2–3 days. Don't try new recipes. Chop veggies beforehand and store for use later. Roast different veggies together. Cook lunch the night before and spice up your meals with fresh ginger and lemon. Eat healthy snacks out of small jars.
