Say goodbye to unwanted belly fat!

As I’m sure a few of you are, I suffer from the occasional ring of belly fat, which is least flattering, and I pray to god at nights that it’ll be gone by the morning, but as we know, that’s not even a remotely logical method of burning off that extra skin. I’ve found a way to get rid of the belly fat, in 6 easy steps! I know how infomercial-esque this sounds, but I think it’s an awesome method, and well, it’s working for me!

I stumbled across the recipe for a flatter stomach earlier today on iVillage (links will be provided). The article suggests that as women (I know..but it’s working for me!) get older, their body fat starts to be redistributed, usually to around the belly area. By fat being in this part of the body, you’re opening up your chances to high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. But enough about that, let’s get started!

I’ll be using the stock images from iVillage in this walkthrough because I cannot be bothered to get into them and wait for a self timer!

Warming Up

This is a really important part of the exercise, so make sure you do it! Firstly, you need to up your heart-rate, and to do this, you can use one of the three two minute exercises:

1. Jumping Jacks – Do a continuous cycle for two minutes.

2. Jumping Rope – Do a continuous cycle of jump rope jumps for two minutes.

3. Stair Climbing – Walk up and down on a step for 2 minutes, switching the lead-leg every 30 seconds.

Alternatively, you can just jog on the spot doing a jump rope action with your arms, like I did!

The “Strengh-Cardio Circuit”

Here’s where the real exercise comes into the equation. You need to do the circuit 3 times a week, and it goes as follows:

• Exercise 1,
• Exercise 2,
• Two minute warm up,
• Exercise 3,
• Exercise 4,
• Two minute warm-up,
• Exercise 5,
• and Exercise 6

And here are the exercises:

Exercise One

Start by lying on the floor facedown, resting on your forearms and toes. Slowly lift until your body is parallel with the floor. Pull your shoulder blades together, keeping your neck straight and your eyes on the mat. Hold for one minute, then lower yourself to the floor and repeat.

 

Exercise Two

Position yourself on your hands and knees. Extend your right arm straight out and your left leg straight back. Hold for five counts, then return arm and leg. Perform 10 reps; repeat with opposite arm and leg.

 

INSERT TWO-MINUTE WARM-UP EXERCISE

 

Exercise Three

Lie on your left side with your upper arm perpendicular to the floor. Slowly raise yourself on your arm until your body is at a five-degree angle from the floor. Hold for one minute. Repeat on opposite side.

 

Exercise Four

Position yourself on the floor on your stomach with your arms and legs extended. Lift arms and legs, reaching hands forward and pointing toes back. Hold for 10 counts. Lower to floor. Perform 10 reps.

 

INSERT TWO-MINUTE WARM-UP EXERCISE

 

Exercise Five

Lie on your right side with your head resting on your extended right arm, left hand on the floor, in front of you. Place your left foot on top of your right, with all toes flexed. Slowly lift legs about three inches. Hold for 10 counts. Perform 10 reps. Repeat on opposite side.

Exercise Six

Balance yourself on your right leg with knee slightly bent — use a chair back for balance if necessary. Slowly lean forward, arms out, keeping your back straight as you extend your left leg. Aim to keep your body parallel to the floor. Hold for one minute. Repeat, balancing yourself on your left leg.

 

 

 

 

And that’s it!

 

For me I found that I could actually feel and see the difference after the first circuit, so that’s why I found this to be incredibly useful! I hope it helps you too!

Source: iVillage

Why I don’t need an Apple Mac.

Before you read this, I have to get one thing straight, and out of the way, I love Macs, I love the design, the functionability, the intergrated software, everything, I’d assume that most people out there would gladly choose a Mac over a PC anyday, taking into consideration the benefits of better security, better support for software, adbility to dual boot, and all of the other great things Macs have to offer.

Now, I don’t have an iPod, I don’t have an iMac, MacBook, or a MacBook Pro, I don’t have Apple tv, I won’t have an iPhone, but does that mean that I’m not a dedicated fan?

Let’s forget life for a second here, and go off to a life where wealth is a standard.

Now I’ve got my MacBook Pro, my 4gb iPod Nano, and my brand new iPhone, jealous? I’m sure you are.

And oops, there goes gravity, I’m back in reality, and I’m looking back at my AMD Athlon 64 3800+ generic computer; but I’m happy. Because I know I can sit here long and long for a sexy range of Apple products for my very own by waiting and saving up my hard-earned money, or I can sit back, and just learn to admire what I already have. I can run Photoshop on here, I can play the games I want to play, I can listen to music, share photos, talk to people, surf the internet, write a blog, post in forums, and feel comfortable while I’m doing it. I can do anything that I want to do, on my current computer, I can make a website, I can shop online, I can have video conversations, I can make phonecalls, I can stream live radio, I can do just about anything, on my current computer. So really, what’s the point in going to such extents just to get an expensive computer because of it’s aesthetics? Practicality, you might say, but never has my current computer failed me because of it being impractical. For high-end gaming, you then suggest, but I’ve never really needed to play a demanding game that my computer cannot already get through with ease, except for Supreme Commander of course. I then reply, why save up your hard-earned cash to buy a top-of-the-line Mac, when you can’t upgrade it yourself, it costs a lot more than it should to have a single memory upgrade, and you have a limited amount of games and software to run on it, because it only runs Mac-compatible software?

I think I’ve made my point, just for now, while I’m on a tiny salary working part-time, Apple’s not for me. But maybe, when my dream comes true where I’m sitting on a park bench with my laptop, sipping at Starbucks while typing up an article, maybe Apple’s for me.