Don't Give Up on Your Midsection
June 04, 2010, By Kurt Simonsen 1 comment
For most married men, the days of the 32-inch waistline have long since expired and in its place rests a less than chiseled midsection capable of ingesting endless chicken fingers with the kids on the beach and a few beers out in the garage on a lazy Saturday afternoon after mowing the lawn. The jeans sag a little more, and the shirts remain untucked, so as not to show off the small belly creeping over their belt buckles. Women sacrifice their bodies during childbirth, something a man should never forget or even comment on, yet men certainly give away their physicality when becoming the dad. It's almost a prerequisite.
Yet a man's body need not completely fall victim to both time and children. No, he can no longer section off two-hour time blocks to run to the gym and spend time between bench press sets gossiping away with old high school buddies. Nope, time is too precious now for the old styles and haunts. Instead, however, every guy needs to know that the secret to feeling physically fit and healthy rests in perspective and priority, especially when it involves keeping a trim midsection.
A man's perspective changes over time, without question, and must be flexible enough to handle the unforeseen. An unhealthy perspective, one that is set up for imminent failure, allows for you to hold onto the past and expect that nothing changes. On the other hand, one that will permit comfortable growth and more importantly true happiness permits a man to change fluidly with an understanding that life can and should remain simple. That said, trying to stay healthy in the midst of being a good husband and father can be done.
So, rather than treating your stomach like a storage bin, start paying attention to it from the outside in. Watching what you eat is critical, but getting strong and toned in the middle does not come with healthy foods alone; you have to put in the work. The good news is, however, that the effort needn't be one that requires a trainer or a bunch of fancy machines. All you need is 15 minutes a day, three to five times a week, and some comfy space on the floor.
After you do some warming up, which can be done by simply running in place with sporadic sets of jumping jacks, drop to floor and follow these easy yet effective moves. You'll tighten up in no time.
Plank
Laying flat on your chest on the floor and prop up on your elbows creating a 90-degree arm angle. Then, holding your body straight as a board, hence the "plank" name, rise up on your toes. Thus, your body touches the floor only via your toes, your elbows and forearms. Position your head and eyes forward, and hold this position for as long as possible. You can do this to failure or do it for sets of 30 to 60 seconds. If your kids are hanging around, get them involved. Have them count down for you, lay under you and see if you touch them, or do the same exercise right next you. Repeat two to three times.
Side Plank
Same idea as above, but this time you'll focus on those love handles. Begin on your side and position yourself up on your elbow and side of your foot. Place the top foot on your bottom foot and be sure to keep your hip in a direct line with your shoulder and bottom foot. Hold this position to failure or for a set time; it's up to you. You can mix this up by set or by daily workout.
Full Body Sit-Up
This is not the old shove-your-feet-under-the-couch kind of sit up. Not even close, actually. This one, however, will challenge you in a major way. Lay flat on your back on the floor, and spread your legs wide, to about a 45-degree angle. Raise your arms straight above your chest, pushing your hands and fingers together and extending them toward the ceiling. From here, sit up using only your abdominals. Keep your hands high and push them toward the sky as you go up. Once you have reached the upright position and your hands are fully extended out and up ahead of you, turn to the left and touch your left foot. Come back to center, raise the hands high again, and then recline to the ground. That's one. Repeat, but this time go to the right at the top. Do as many of these as you can with good form. If you start flailing all over the place, just stop. A few quality good ones are better than racking up the numbers while doing them poorly. Fantastic exercise.
Doing these three movements consistently over time will have a tremendous effect on your midsection. You'll feel better about yourself, begin to see changes that you like, and have more energy to become the dad and husband you really want to be.
I liked this quick article on a few exercises to "tighten up". While I understand its not possible to spot tone, these can't be bad compared to sitting on your butt.
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