Aug 12
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Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

I have been watching the Olympics a lot and I am so inspired by the rhythmic gymnasts and on a mission to improve my flexibility to the way it was.

MissfitnessLife flexibility strength 300x217 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

I also recently watched Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron and do you know he took Ballet classes to improve his posing routines to enhance his muscle tone appearance.

Did you know that being more flexible could enhance your muscle tone making your body look more defined?

When I was younger I participated in Dance, Physical culture and Gymnastics.

I was particularly good at tumbling – flips, somersaults, back flips, round off etc.

My sister and I were so into my parents even got us an Olympic size trampoline to practice on and my dad made a parallel bar to help us improve our skills and hip pullovers on the uneven bars.

trampoline Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

The trampoline was my favourite and we would always have competitions to see who could do the most backflips or somersaults in a row.

WOW I cant imagine doing that now – we didn’t even have safety padding back then – ha ha

Then high school hit and I guess it all stopped which was a shame really..

As I got older and my weight became an issue I did every class imaginable to lose the weight.

I got quite into Power yoga and Hot Yoga for a while and that was good – I was so sore for days though after every session but my flexibility came back eventually.

hotYoga Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

I was starting to feel my muscles lengthen and it did help with some weightloss, but it was slow and I still had a belly.

I then started going to a gym mainly used by body builders.

I was fascinated at how lean and defined they were.

It was a “ta da” moment

Once I discovered weight training and cardio intervals – the magic happened.

I lost so much weight and body fat so fast.

vix 15 3 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

I still remember going to buy my first pair of jeans in a long time at general pants.

They were the fitted LEE Lowriders and the shop assistant grabbed me a size 8 – What THE..!!

I was with my boyfriend and super shocked – thinking no way these are not going to fit.

But they did, and not tight but just right– it was amazing and I was so happy

MissFitnessLife vix 120x300 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

From that day I never looked back and stuck with weights and short cardio intervals to manage my weight.

But I forgot about looking after my flexibility…

After some sessions I am quite sore especially on the days I incorporate the TRX or really work my hamstrings and legs.

So what I have started doing is adding more flexibility training to my workouts.

I have been enjoying the feeling of allowing my muscles to lengthen and have been surprised at how quickly they have responded.

I have also noticed that I am even looking leaner.

This may have something to do with my posture being improved with the flexibility work combined with my muscle tone becoming more defined and elongated.

flexibility Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

The more flexible you are also has major advantages when lifting weights as your strength and range of motion will increase allowing you to engage more muscle and reduce the risk of strain and injury.

And on top of this I am yet to meet a client who stretches enough or even has enough knowledge about how to stretch correctly to receive benefit.

There is more to stretching than the funny moves that the old guys do down at the beach!

The best time to perform your flexibility routine is after exercise.

This is when the muscle is the warmest and when you can use the relaxation.

Focus on stretching the muscles you use the most during your specific exercise or sport.

I love to use a Yoga Belt to stretch – you can pick one up for about $8.00

YogaBelt strap Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

Here are my favourite stretches – Enjoy VIX

yoga belt 4 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

yogaBelt 1 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

yogaBelt 5 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

yogaBelt 3 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

yoga belt6 Stretching for Weight loss and looking Leaner

By Victoria Milicevic

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Posted in Exercise How To Lose Weight by Vix 2 Comments

Donna Greasby says:

August 30, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Hi Victoria,
I love your website, great job and thank you, i have been studying my certIII(on line)
and have not had the most committed mentor, so i have used the internet and load of books to help me progress, BUT you can get bogged down and overloaded with information. You have kept things simple which is the way exercise should be…. Thank you!!!

Vix - Miss Fitness Life says:

August 30, 2012 at 2:47 pm

Hey thanx Donna – The course is just the first stepping stone and there is so much to learn.

Training clients for over 10 years – (as many as 100 in a week) I have just worked out what works and kept things simple and easy to explain.

At the end of the day your clients want results but they want to enjoy the process along the way – as you know we dont stick at things we dont enjoy..

I have found no matter what I do I also learn something new and the more you do and implement yourself the more you will be able to help and relate to your clients.

Nothing worse then seeing a trainer get clients to do something without them having done or felt it themselves – if I think something sucks I am not going to put my client thru that just because i saw someone do it or talk about it – so try not to get too bogged down and enjoy the process

thanx again vix