Fit and fine: Burn fat even when working out at home

The right exercise can not just strengthen you but can also help in burning fat

In the last column, I wrote how you can continue to gain strength and muscle by incorporating the pistol squat and one arm pushup while staying inside your home without access to weights or machines. In this column I am going to introduce two exercises which work the whole body. They are exceptional in building functional strength and conditioning at the same time and if you do them with intensity and consistency, then they are great fat burners too.

The Swing is a simple hip hinge exercise, just like a deadlift (Shutterstock)

Enter the swing and the get up

The Swing is ideally done with a kettlebell but since the focus here is to train at home then we can substitute the kettlebell with a plastic milk jug or big plastic water bottle. The Swing is a simple hip hinge exercise, just like a deadlift. So keep the knees unlocked, swing the jug/bottle between your legs, reverse the motion by bringing the hips forward with a snap. The arms do not go above the shoulders. This is an important point as people make it into a front shoulder raise! Let me reiterate - swing the jug between the legs and reverse the motion by snapping the hips. The Swing works the big muscles in the posterior chain – low back muscles, glutes, hamstrings and calves. The other important technique point is keeping the jug or bottle close to the groin otherwise the load on the lower back increases unnecessarily which could lead to issues down the road.

The Get Up works the entire body but emphasizes the core and pushing muscles of the body in multiple planes of movement (Shutterstock)

The Get Up works the entire body but emphasizes the core and pushing muscles of the body in multiple planes of movement. The easier way to balance the Swing is to pair it with a push up or bench press but those two exercises do not come close to the overall functional impact on the body of the Get Up.

On a side note, the Get Up is a favourite exercise for wrestlers who want to go from being on the floor to being upright while manhandling their opponent. Initially, I recommend using a very light weight for this exercise. Lie on your back, hold light weight, arm extended at ninety degrees to the torso, sit up, then come to a tall kneeling position and finally stand up. The arm holding the weight goes to overhead position. Reverse the order while returning to the lying down position. This is one repetition! As you can see, balance, stability will be strongly challenged going from supine to standing upright while holding a weight overhead.

Sets and reps – how to program the swing and the get up

Since you are not using too much weight and we want to create a conditioning effect, focus is on doing lots of repetitions. Start with doing 5 sets of 20 reps for the Swing while alternating with 5 reps of the Get Up on each side. Repetitions can be increased from 20 to 50 as stamina improves. To make this program tougher, you can add in place jogging for a minute after every paired set –

1.Swing for 20 reps

2.Get Up 5 reps each side

3.60 seconds of in place jogging

4.Repeat

Now go and do it…

Author bio: Kamal Singh is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has been coaching for 15 years

From HT Brunch,April 5, 2020

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch