7 Great Exercises for Overweight People
A lot of American women have given up on weight loss goals. Now, fat acceptance is being pushed in lieu of pushing benefits for regular exercise and healthy eating and sensible road maps. The weight room keeps me sane and creative. You can do it, no matter how overweight you are. No matter how much time you have. No matter what lingering injuries you have. Losing weight isn't impossible.
There are some simple exercises you can start with today, without any equipment, anywhere.
Leg Exercises
Whether you just need to lose fat or have additional goals like building muscular strength and endurance, you have to start with the leg workout. Leg exercises involve the entire body and increase human growth hormone (HGH) and the ability to build overall muscle mass. More muscle mass leads to a higher resting metabolism which leads to you losing more weight when you're working on your fancy MacBook.
Squats
The body-weight squat is one of the first calisthenic exercises you should start. If your ankle flexibility isn't great, widen your foot stance or hold on to a door frame. Try to get your thighs to parallel, but take your time. It may take days or weeks, but you can build flexibility through exercise.
Lunges
Once you can do a lot of squats with no problems, try lunge variations: forward, reverse, or walking. If you decide to do walking lunges in a gym, maintain gym etiquette.
Push-ups
Push-ups can be intimidating. Start with kneeling push-ups and wall push-ups. I sometimes do push-ups on the knees after some push / chest day workouts to get as close as possible to muscle failure. No shame. We all start somewhere.
Core Exercises
Hundreds of crunches or sit-ups a day will not burn fat in your stomach. Spot reduction for fat loss is a myth. But your core muscles must still be targeted to better support full body movements.
Crunches
The crunch is considered an easier variation of the sit-up. I consider the standard crunch to be more effective at targeting the abs since the sit-up uses your legs, especially if you hook your feet under something. A strict crunch, with your lower back pressed into the floor, with various leg positions will get the job done.
Leg Raises
If you're feeling brave, or you love the pain, try following crunches with leg raise variations.
Lat Rows
You have to work opposing muscles. If you're doing chest exercises, you can't neglect the mid-back and biceps. Pull-ups require equipment and strength. But rows can be done with a rubber resistance band, or a door frame.
Rucking
Walking only does so much. You need a gym, or a good flight of stairs, to do stair steppers. But anyone can fill a book-bag with twenty pounds of crap and go rucking / hiking. You'll work the core, legs, and get some good cardio in all at once.
Where to Start
The common number is three sets of ten reps with one or two minutes of rest (3x10 & 1-2min rest). With time you can switch it up with less rest between sets and more weight or reps. Keep track with a wristwatch.
Don't worry about fancy movies or CrossFit workouts. A lot of that stuff isn't functional and makes you more injury-prone. Stick to the basics.
Have fun.
Tags: health, fitness, black-community
