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Muffin Top Exercises: How To Lose Weight In Your Midsection

Fine Tuning: Exercises To Lose Your Muffin Top
Beautiful fitness model doing plank stretch on park bench near the beach.
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Beautiful fitness model doing plank stretch on park bench near the beach.

THE GOAL: Losing weight around your waist and lower stomach, or "muffin top"

THE EXPERT: Vanessa Ast-Biller, personal trainer and owner of Vastfit in Toronto

THE INFO: Excess weight around the lower belly or "muffin top," thus called thanks to the spilling effect it creates with pants, is one of the areas many people try to lose when starting a weight loss regimen. However, as Ast-Biller points out, there's no such thing as 'spot training' — you have to work the whole body in order to see results where you want them.

She's created an interval-style workout that, when performed regularly (three to five times a week) can get results in your belly and elsewhere within two weeks. The muscles focused on are the obliques, back and core. "Circuits combine cardio with strength-training, which results in the calorie-burn required to cut through fat, revealing the muscles we have worked hard to chisel underneath," she explains.

THE MOVES:

Squats/Squat Jumps

Exercises For Your Muffin Top

Perform in a circuit format of 30 secs on / 10 secs off, or 45 secs on/15 secs off, depending on your fitness level.

Squats/Squat Jumps

Feet hip-width apart, lower body weight down as if sitting into a chair while extending arms out in front of you, bring arms to your sides as you stand or hop back up. Repeat!

Works: Full body

Mountain Climbers

Begin in a plank with shoulders stacked over your hands, and toes tucked under, and jog your knees into your chest as you exhale to deepen the abdominal contraction.

Works: Full body, core, abs

Wind Shield Wipers from Belly

Lay on your belly with arms and legs extended; neck is a natural extension of your spine, move your arms and legs as if performing a jumping jack, while lengthening your limbs as much as possible.

Works: Full back body, glutes

Toe Taps from Plank

Begin in a plank with shoulders stacked over your hands and toes curled under, stepping your toes away from your body, keeping your navel drawn in towards a neutral spine. Left side first, then right!

Works: Full left body, full right body

Side Plank with Pulse

Stack left shoulder over left elbow with forearm resting on the floor. From stacked knees, or stacked or staggered feet, lift hips away from the ground so that your spine and body are straight, as if sandwiched between two walls. Hold, or add a pulse! Then repeat on your right side.

Works: Side body left, side body right

Have something that needs fine tuning? Let us know in the comments below.

The new year is the time to take on new challenges, so for the month of January and beyond, The Huffington Post Canada's Living team brings you Fine Tuning: daily workouts, with tips on how to tone up, get healthy and stay fit for the whole year. Each workout will focus on one fitness goal or body part, with our favourite trainers showing you simple ways to get stronger and healthier in less than 45 minutes.

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