Originally published in Village Eye Magazine:
“What exercise is best for getting rid of my bingo wings”
When we’re talking about “bingo wings”, we’re talking about the triceps muscle on the back and underneath of the upper arm. There’s no one best exercise for this area because different parts of the muscle are more or less active depending on what exercise you’re using. If you pick just one exercise, you’re going to get disappointing results, so using a variety of exercises for this area is going to be more effective than looking for the “best” one. That doesn’t mean you should do something random each time you train though, random workouts produce random results. Choosing exercises that work the triceps from different angles and are progressed over time is the key to best results.
“How can I tone my stomach up?”
The most important thing to understand about your mid-section is that doing stomach exercises doesn’t burn stomach fat, it just works the muscles lying underneath. The best approach is to use a whole-body approach rather than focusing on the stomach in isolation. A full body workout done well can elevate your metabolism for up to two days after the workout-meaning your body is burning more calories even when you’re not exercising. Working the whole body will achieve much more than marathon workouts that just focus on the stomach area. Making sure that you’re eating healthily is also important as this will ensure that every workout is moving you forward, whereas if you’re not eating healthily, you’ll be using your workouts to play catch up, which makes things much harder.
“Do I need to use a protein supplement”
Protein supplements only help you build muscle or recover from exercise if your diet is already deficient in protein. If you’re already getting enough protein to meet your needs from the food you’re eating, then adding a protein shake won’t improve your results. There’s an upper limit to how much protein our body can use, and if we take on more than we need, the rest is broken down by our bodies and part of it goes down the toilet, with the rest being stored as body fat-the opposite of what most people want from their workouts! Some supplements have also been found to be tainted by stimulants and steroids despite claiming to have been tested by an independent laboratory. Real food doesn’t have this drawback, so focus on food first.
-Steve Shreeve