by David Schneider
(Los Organos, Peru)
On Home Beach
What’s a good workout plan for a 63-yr-old for Stomach, Butt and Thighs?
I have lower back problems so something that isn’t too hard on that.
David from SBI
www.inside-peru.com
Skye’s Answer…
A good workout plan coupled with a solid diet will help you shift fat from EVERYWHERE whilst building/maintaining muscle. There are exercises you can do which target specific areas but fat loss as a process is a whole body affair.
You don’t say what your goal is but I assume it’s not to build a muscular bottom so it’s likely you want to lose fat from those specific areas and tighten them up a little.
Losing fat from a specific area of your body is known as spot reduction and studies have proven this to be a myth. Despite this, many products on the market target the perpetuated belief that working an area of the body allows you to lose fat from that area.
Best Exercises To Lose Weight
Fat loss is a result of dieting or expending enough calories to create a deficit, however, most people struggle to achieve enough a deficit through exercise alone. It’s for this reason dietary control is key to fat loss.
So there are no best exercises to lose weight, however, there are exercises you can do which help work the muscles in those area’s which make them firmer. The best exercises for the specific areas you mention are squats, deadlifts, leg presses, dumbbell lunges which will work your quadriceps and glutes specifically.
Weight Training With Lower
Back Pain
You mention you have lower back pain so you may struggle to do some of these but usually it’s due to poor exercise form. I know of one person who had scoliosis who started squatting and deadlifting (despite friends and family decrying the dangers of this) and he went on to become a champion power lifter and cured his back pain forever.
You may not have any interest in becoming a power lifter but this example clearly demonstrates the rehabilitative benefits of the squat and deadlift when performed in good form.
Bodyweight squats will be an adequate substitute if you’ve not trained with weights before or you find your back causing you too much pain. You could also use resistance bands to add additional resistance if bodyweight exercises are too easy.
You don’t need to do lots of reps, 3 sets of 6-10 reps per exercise will be fine, and the key is progressive resistance. For this reason a set of adjustable dumbbells or a barbell with weights would be ideal to safely add resistance.
Best Ab Exercises
For your stomach area you could add abdominal exercises but in my experience I usually prefer to leave them out. Heavy compound lifts like deadlifts and squats require you to engage your core and that tends to develop your abs more than enough. The key is losing the fat around your abdominal area in order to reveal the chiselled abs that have been hiding under there the whole time!
I hope this helps David, good luck!
You mention you have lower back pain so you may struggle to do some of these but usually it’s due to poor exercise form. I know of one person who had scoliosis who started squatting and deadlifting (despite friends and family decrying the dangers of this) and he went on to become a champion power lifter and cured his back pain forever.
You may not have any interest in becoming a power lifter but this example clearly demonstrates the rehabilitative benefits of the squat and deadlift when performed in good form.
Bodyweight squats will be an adequate substitute if you’ve not trained with weights before or you find your back causing you too much pain. You could also use resistance bands to add additional resistance if bodyweight exercises are too easy.
You don’t need to do lots of reps, 3 sets of 6-10 reps per exercise will be fine, and the key is progressive resistance. For this reason a set of adjustable dumbbells or a barbell with weights would be ideal to safely add resistance.
Best Ab Exercises
For your stomach area you could add abdominal exercises but in my experience I usually prefer to leave them out. Heavy compound lifts like deadlifts and squats require you to engage your core and that tends to develop your abs more than enough. The key is losing the fat around your abdominal area in order to reveal the chiselled abs that have been hiding under there the whole time!
I hope this helps David, good luck!