Work Out Your Core to Slim Your Waistline - pg. 3
Best Approach for Using Cardio to Trim Your Waistline - pg. 6
Identify Your Physical Signals that it’s Time to Exercise - pg. 9
Be Good for the Sake of It - pg. 12
Transforming Negative Thoughts About Eating Healthy and Exercising - pg. 19
Keeping it Healthy at the Holidays - pg 22
Ideas for Treating Yourself in a Spirit of Good Health and Wellness this Holiday - pg. 25
One of the best ways to get rid of visceral belly fat is to work out your core. The core is comprised of the abdominal muscles, back muscles, and the muscles around the pelvis.
Weight loss and fat burning generally happens easier when you routinely train the long muscles of your body. The leg muscles and the core make up this grouping.
Another great side effect of core exercises is that they help you stay regular. So if not having a daily BM is making you appear as though you weigh more than you do, stretching and contracting the core muscles as a routine workout will help this.
There are some basic core exercises that you can do on a mat or carpeted floor.
These include: Crunches.
This is where you’re on your back on the floor, and you cross your arms over your chest or clasp the fingers of both hands behind your head, then lift your upper torso off the floor toward the knees to “crunch” your abdominals. Repeat in three sets of 20.
Bridges.
In the bridge, you’re lying flat on your back. Place hands on either side and press them into the floor while raising your pelvis up off the floor as feet remain planted. Clasp your hands behind you to touch your elbows behind your back to make a “bridge” with your upper body. Hold for six breath counts.
Quadruped.
your hands and knees but then get into a pushup position. Instead of doing a pushup, hold yourself up using your hands and toes, for six breath counts.
This pose has you on hands and knees. Align your head, neck and back. Lift up the right arm and stretch it out in front of you, parallel to the floor. Hold for several breath counts.
Place your hand back where it was. Lift the left leg out behind you, stabilizing your core again, and hold for several breaths. Then outstretch both the arm and leg. Repeat for the other side.
Plank pose and modified plank.
In plank pose, start on
You can modify the pose on your knees, or by propping your body on your forearms instead of using your wrists for support.
These and other core exercises are used in different types of exercise.
Check this list for interesting workouts you might like to try that strengthen your core:
• Do yoga.
• Try pilates.
• Take an aerobics class.
• Try spin class.
• Do ballet or barre.
• Try martial arts.
• Skate or roller blade.
• Try hula hooping.
Cardio for your waistline... really? Yes. One way that cardio exercise works to trim away visceral body fat, or fat that collects in the middle and around your organs, is to be consistent with cardio over the long term.
We talked about how if you’ve embarked on a fitness and nutrition plan, you’ll start to see muscle tone in your legs and arms, shoulders, back... but your thick waist may be the last to go.
This is because you generally must reduce your overall body fat to a certain percentage, 20% body fat or less, before your waist starts to look really slim and trim.
Cardio helps you reach the goal, and it’s amazing for your heart health which is why we call it cardio.
Sometimes when we settle into a workout routine that we like, we get into a repeat pattern. Maybe you always do the elliptical at the gym, or you always run the same path for the same time. This has you working the same muscle groups over and over, which basically makes the cardio less effective.
To continue seeing progress with your cardio routine that burns fat and show up as a smaller waistline, you’ll want to change it up on a regular basis. Keep challenging yourself and trying different types of cardio exercise.
There’s a great article on Sportskeeda that shares the 6 Best Cardio Exercises for Beginners to Get a Slim Waist.
These include:
add some variety to your workout routine:
• Zumba
• The froggy jump
• Burpees
• Side to side jumping lunges
• Front-kick lunges
• The speed-skater
• The long jump
Check out their videos demonstrating step by step how to do these exercises that help to burn belly fat.
Other fun cardio exercises to try if you’re ready to
• Spin classes
• Hula hooping
• Roller or inline skating
• Bellydancing
• Crossfit
• Aerobics
• Cardio machines
• Swimming
• Biking
• Skiing When combined with routine exercises that tone the abdominals, you’re more likely to see a smaller waistline.
Identify Your Physical Signals That it’s Time to Exercise
Are you hoping to manifest a healthy lifestyle and kiss the word “diet” goodbye forever? One way is to make daily exercise a permanent part of your life.
Too many people get the bare minimum of exercise. Many don’t exercise at all. Why not?
a big production of it. Just put on your sneakers. Get out there and walk.
Cold hands and feet.
We miss opportunities to move our body and use our muscles. We drive when we could walk. We outsource physical tasks that we can easily do ourselves, and burn calories in the process.
We make excuses. “It’s raining.” “I have a sniffle today.”
We aim too high with our exercise goals, then fall short and don’t exercise at all. Maybe you sign up for Zumba, but it’s canceled... so you stay home and read a book instead.
One way to transform your exercise routine from a dreaded obligation to a cherished daily ritual, is to get to know your body’s signals that it needs exercise.
Our bodies give us all kinds of signs, every day, that it’s time to exercise. Most of these, we see as “symptoms” that are beyond our control. Maybe we even talk to our doctor about these mysterious afflictions that we develop.
Tired,
lethargic or sluggish feelings, especially after eating.
We often feel tired after eating too much, or after we’ve had something sugary. Foods that contain processed sugar cause a rapid rise and fall of blood sugar; the energy boost, followed by a crash.
Taking a brisk walk for about a half-hour has been shown to lower blood sugar. This is especially effective after a meal. A post-lunch or post-dinner walk outside is a great way to slip some daily exercise in without having to make
Feeling cold in your extremities could be a sign of poor blood circulation.
Instead of viewing this as a static medical condition, see it as a need to get your blood flowing. Then, do that by engaging in heartpumping physical activity.
Strive for 20 minutes of cardio exercise (running, treadmill, stair master, elliptical, stationary bike) at least 3 days each week.
Tight, achy muscles.
This type of physical pain is becoming more prevalent with daily use of computers and phones. Next time your neck feels stiff or there seems to be a knot in your shoulder, search YouTube for some different stretches you can do to release muscle tension.
Yoga, Pilates or just some classic stretches all count as exercise to help you become more fit and healthy.
Digestive issues.
Did you know that lack of movement can create or exacerbate digestive trouble? In a sedentary state, it takes longer for your body to process what you ate. This can cause constipation, bloating, and a sluggish and tired feeling. Running and even walking at a brisk pace can stimulate digestion. (Think of what happens when you take your dog for a walk.) Certain stretches, like those you’d do in yoga, also work to move things along.
Headaches.
A headache can be caused by any one of a variety of problems; including elevated blood pressure, hormone fluctuations; caffeine withdrawal; upset stomach or general tension.
Both stretching and cardio exercise can relieve headaches. The instinct when we have a headache is usually to curl up in a dark room and sleep. But believe it or not, a headache can also be a sign that your body can use some exercise. Try it and see how you feel. If it doesn’t work, drink that
coffee or take that nap. Either way, you’ll have moved your body and burned some calories, which is a very good thing.
Insomnia.
Before you put a call in for that prescription or reach for an alcoholic drink to ease you into slumber, ask yourself an important question.
If I can’t sleep at night, is it possible that I’m not getting enough movement in during the day?
Exercise can be the cure for anxiety, mood swings, and insomnia. Try going out for a 30-minute jog each night for 4 days straight. Pay attention to how well you sleep at night. (Side note: try to get your exercise in before 7p.m. Any later, and you might rev up your energy to the point that you’ll have trouble settling down when it’s time for bed.)
Seek the Opportunity to Exercise; Make Fitness Part of Your Day’s Work.
Do you feel like you don’t have time to exercise? Are you tired and sluggish in
the afternoon? Do you have trouble falling or staying asleep?
Humans have lapsed into a sedentary lifestyle. In fact: if you do ordinary things that count as “exercise” in your daily life, people look at you funny.
Imagine a woman going into the store and carrying out a 40-lb. bag of dog food in both arms. People would look twice and think it odd. Many might offer to bring her a shopping cart. Big, strong, manly men might even offer to carry the bag for her.
But why? Carrying objects, taking the stairs, walking from the end of the parking lot to the front door of the building... these are opportunities to exercise and keep your body fit and strong while doing things that you need to get done in your life.
Instead, we look for the shortest route. We roll it out on a cart instead of using our muscles. Then we get home, glance in the mirror at our beer belly and flabby arms, and think, “I’ve really got to get to the gym.”
Be Good for the Sake of It
Jessi Lawless is an entrepreneur, hairstylist and social media influencer with a passion for boxing and making people smile. Jessi shared her tumultuous story, beginning with childhood poverty in smalltown Alabama, overcoming drug and alcohol abuse, and building up a fitness regimen that involves intense training six days a week.
Dennis Postema: How did you get to where you are today?
Jessi Lawless: It’s been a wild ride. Blood, sweat, and tears for sure.
I grew up in a very small town in Alabama where everybody knows everybody. Most people have a larger graduating class than my hometown’s population. My mom once told me, “Come talk to me before you date because any one of those boys could be your cousin.”
A lot happened in that small town. When I was a teenager, I knew I had to get out. That shit wasn’t for me. I wasn’t supposed to be there. I ran away often as a kid. At eighteen, I made my way to Florida.
I was a drug user, and I thought my problems stemmed from where I lived. I tried escaping that town by any means necessary. In Florida, I learned that it’s not always where you’re at physically that drives drug abuse, but it’s where you’re at mentally.
I still made mistakes and did dumb shit in Florida, but I was doing better overall. I stopped smoking
crystal meth, so that was a big step in the right direction.
At twenty-one, I joined the military. They taught me discipline. I still wasn’t where I needed to be, but considering my frontal lobe wasn’t fully developed yet, I give my past self a pass. Excuses are crutches for fools, so you won’t hear any excuses coming from my mouth, but when your brain isn’t done cooking, you don’t always make good decisions.
The military was a shortlived venture for me—364 days, to be exact. I got injured, couldn’t deploy, got mad about it, and reacted childishly by showing up to formation drunk. They told me, “If you do this again, we’re taking you to the MP station.”
I did it again. They followed through on their threat, and I was court martialed. Spent thirty days in jail in Fort Hood, Texas.
That was a lesson. When you have thirty days to think about your actions, you start looking for positivity in your mistakes, and the only way to gain from them is to learn from
them. It was helpful.
There’s a scene in one of my favorite movies, “The NeverEnding Story,” that I thought was dumb and boring as a child. In the scene, the protagonist, Atreyu, looks in a mirror. At this point, he’s lost his horse and he’s had to navigate around a series of sphinxes with laser eyes, yet looking at himself in the mirror was his biggest test.
I understand now, as an adult, that looking in the mirror is the only way you can change. If you can’t see your bullshit, you can’t fix it. That scene is so important to me now. Just look in the mirror and accept what you see; if you don’t like it, change it. Don’t say anything you don’t want repeated and don’t do anything you wouldn’t want seen by others.
Dennis: Do you think that movie significantly influenced your growth?
Jessi: Definitely.
In another scene, the main character is in the Swamps of Sadness, and he loses his horse. It’s like, what is he going to do? Sit there and marinate in his grief?
Think about why he’s sad and how sad it is that he’s sad? That’s what the Swamps of Sadness do. Atreyu’s trying to get through it. He’s like, “Keep your eyes forward and keep moving.”
His horse says, “Look at how bad this is.”
Don’t look down. Don’t look at the negative possibilities. I’m a dreamer. I have many ideas, and I want to do things. When people come in and poke holes in my ideas by saying, “What if this happens? What if that happens?” I’ll worry about it when I get there.
You have to strike a balance. You can’t always say, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Planning is important too, and I’ve learned that the hard way.
Dennis: How did you become a professional fighter?
Jessi: I didn’t plan on being a fighter. I thought about it and dabbled in it, training on and off. When I was a kid, I was into kickboxing.
In the army, we focused heavily on hand-to-hand combat. I fought in bars
and parking lots, which I do not condone or encourage, but I learned on the streets.
When I was offered this booking, I figured, “I can fight,” and that’s what I did. Switched up my diet and worked on my physique.
How badly do you want it?
People say, “Oh, it’s hard to do this.” It’s supposed to be hard. Growth is supposed to hurt. They call them growing pains for a reason. If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not improving.
While training for this last fight, I thought about my opponent Katie. “She’s not doing this, and if she is, I’m going to do more.” I want to know what you’re doing so I can do more of it. Be better today than you were yesterday and be better tomorrow than you were today.
In the fight, I expected a little cat-and-mouse game, but Katie is tough as fuck. I busted her nose. Thought I’d drop her with a body shot because my right hook connected so hard, and the referee leaned over to me between rounds and said, “You rocked the shit out of her with that body shot.” They want a rematch. I’m
torn because I’m training with the big dogs six days a week at Split T Boxing Club.
Dennis: What is your current training regimen?
Jessi: I wake up at around 6:00 or 7:00 a.m.
While training for my fight against Katie, I focused on cardio. On Wednesdays, I ran hills, went to the park and ran up and down a huge flight of stairs four times, and then transitioned into doing ten burpees, then up the hill again.
Up the hill, down the hill, ten burpees, rinse and repeat four times. Shadowboxing came after. Complete a lap around the track. That was my warmup.
I was drenched head to toe with sweat. Afterward, we’d leave the park and head to the gym for some power day training, which involves hitting as hard as you can. It’s like maxing out on the bench.
For the rest of the week, I took a fundamentals class. You can’t move into higher tier moves without perfecting the basics. Having the opportunity
to train with level two class boxers was amazing. Staying humble is crucial. If you get cocky, you get knocked out. Your teeth are too expensive to lose.
The goal of training, for me, is reaching a point where my matches are mainly muscle memory. When I fought Katie, I was thinking about my next move. I don’t want to think about it, I want to blindfold myself and swing the ball. It takes a lot of dedication to get there. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think, “You’re fucking nuts,” but you have to be to do this work.
Another key part of my training regimen is my diet. I eat a lot of chicken and steak for protein, and at least one banana a day for potassium. I take magnesium supplements, and I take Celtic salt before or after training, depending on how sweaty I am. I put a little bit of the salt into my hand, kick it back, and chase it with a bottle of water.
Dennis: What are your long-term boxing goals?
Jessi: I want to fight for a year or two, depending on how well I do. I want to earn another belt. I
currently have the Hot Boxing belt from an exhibition. It was for entertainment purposes. Katie and I were the most serious fight of the night. Everyone else ran.
Boxing gloves are as big as your chest. They’re huge. These dudes ran in, did windmills with their arms out, bouncing around, having fun, but I came in ready to fuck Katie up. Busted her nose in the first round.
As far as the rematch goes, I’m not afraid of it, but I understand she’s a professional wrestler.
I’ve started a new training routine for the rematch. I’m upping the ante, but my cardio workouts go so hard that I’m in great pain after and I hate it. I’m pushing myself as hard as I can, until I’m on the edge of vomiting, six days a week. Reaching that level is the only way to get ahead of the competition. By the time I’m done I can’t walk up the hill. I’m crawling. That’s when I know I’ve done enough,
and then it’s time for another round.
You can’t give 99 percent. You have to give more. My gym has a poster up that reads: We don’t play boxing. We’re here to take your head off.
In our last match, there was debate over whether I was the real winner. Next time there won’t be a second thought about it.
Dennis: How did you develop your inner entrepreneur?
Jessi: My goals around success aren’t heavily financially motivated. Like, yeah, I want nice things, but my motivation is to be successful enough to help the people around me. I want to access things that I can use to help others, to coach and inspire people. I also want to be able to say, “I came from shit, and this is where I am now.” I was a poor kid in Alabama.
My childhood home had holes in the floor and in the roof. We placed buckets around the house to catch rain. I came from nothing.
In my youth, I did so many drugs. I drank everything in sight until about four or five years ago. If I had a bad day, I beelined to the bar for a bottle of whiskey or locked myself in my bedroom and drank myself silly. I thought, “If I don’t make it through, who fucking cares?” I have been there. There were times when I didn’t want to wake up.
But look at me now. Life is different, better, and I’m thankful for everything I learned through the adversity I faced. Those challenges made me tough as nails.
Dennis: What work do you do in Florida?
Jessi: I’m a barber. I’ve had many child clients. They’re enamored enough by my appearance, tattoos and all, to sit still while I’m cutting their hair. If they don’t sit still, I’ll say something like, “Do you want a good haircut or a bad haircut? The more you move, the worse it’ll be, all right?” I talk to them like
they’re little adults. I’m not like, “Johnny, I need you to sit still for me.”
Most of my clients were preteen boys that wanted crisp fades with little designs on the side. Facebook was where I focused most of my social media attention back then, and my clients’ parents often commented things like, “My little boy sees pictures of your haircuts and he wants a haircut from you so badly, but I can’t afford it right now.”
In light of those comments, I held an event at the salon I worked at. Kids were starting a new school year, and they needed confidence. I remember being that poor kid with worn-out shoes and a terrible haircut. If my haircuts could take one focus point away from a bully, I wanted to offer that service.
I did it by myself the first year. I opened the salon on a Sunday, when we were usually closed. I cut kids’ hair for free all day. I’ve held that event for seven years.
When the pandemic happened and I couldn’t work, fortunately, I was successful enough to
sustain myself. When we were allowed to return to work, I held a free haircut event for all ages. People needed to attend job interviews, and a fresh haircut makes a good first impression. Did I lose money that day? No idea. Would they have been able to afford the haircut? Who knows? But many people appreciated that event.
The local news station covered the story. They asked why I chose to do it after missing three months of work. I said, “This doesn’t cost me. These people probably wouldn’t be able to afford the haircut anyway. I’m not missing out on anything.” Most of those people probably didn’t work for three months either. I just wanted to help.
Always remember that you can’t help others if you’re messed up. You have to prioritize yourself, and then help others secondarily.
Dennis: What advice can you offer people who are trying to pull themselves out of a negative mindset?
Jessi: Watch “The Secret.” Keep an open mind and
listen to what it’s saying. You have to accept that you’re responsible for where you’re at in life.
“But Jessi, I got in a car wreck and broke a bone and now all of these other problems have come up.” Was getting in a car wreck your worst fear before it happened? Because you might have manifested that with your negative thoughts. Stop thinking, “What if this bad thing happens? What if that bad thing happens?” and think, “What if something good happens?” Change your thoughts.
I went through a rough breakup. I wasn’t doing well. I was sad and I thought, “Why didn’t she love me? How did she leave me for this fool?”
I changed my playlist. I took out the sad songs and let Pandora’s algorithm pick happy songs based on one I selected, which was “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. Pandora made a station based on that song for me, and if any songs made me feel sad, I removed them from the list. By the end of the weekend, there were only happy songs in it.
I wanted to lock myself in my room with a bottle of whiskey and listen to sad music, but that’s dramatic. That’s letting your emotions run you. Stop letting your emotions control you. They can exist, but they don’t need to have so much power over you. Let them live— don’t try to kill them or lock them in a box, but don’t let them sit at the control panel either. Why are they flying the plane? That’s your brain’s job.
Logic and reason need to be at the forefront of your decision-making process. I knew I needed to get out of that funk, so I made a happy playlist and listened to those songs for a few months. When I drove, I was happier for it.
Sometimes you have to force yourself to be happy. It’s challenging, but you can do it.
My mom was a preacher. She was hospitalized after a man laid hands on her at church. I was six years old. We thought she was going to die, but she got up, started running around the church saying she was healed, and threw all her medications away. She’s been healthy as a horse ever since.
I witnessed that with my own two eyes, and I am a logical person—if I can’t touch, see, smell, or hear something, it’s hard for me to believe in. As a kid, I had questions about God, but when I saw my mother’s miraculous recovery, I knew I couldn’t question it anymore.
Eventually, I learned about energy and manifestation, and that’s real. That’s not a fairy tale. When you start believing in manifestation, you realize how powerful you are. It’s dangerous, because you have to be more conscious of your thoughts. I don’t believe in the traditional depictions of God. I don’t believe in streets of gold or lakes of fire. People ask, “If you don’t believe in that, what motivates you to be a good person?”
I’m just not a piece of shit. I want to be a good person for the sake of it, not because I’m going to be rewarded with streets of gold or because I’m threatened with a lake of fire. I want to make others smile.
Learn more about Jessi at jessilawless.com or find her on social media as Jessi Lawless.
