Waist Training Ideas for Winter Months

Sweater weather is officially here! This is the time of year we get to spend several different holidays with friends and family. This is also when many people are distracted from their fitness and nutrition goals. You can still reach your fitness goals despite the busy holidays and chilly weather. 

If waist training is new to you, it may be hard for you to imagine that you can exercise while your core muscles are being constrained by the waist trainer. However, waist trainers are comfortable to wear while working out and enhance your results.  

Even though there is significant compression, the most refined models are constructed with steel boning that is both thin and flexible. This gives you a wide range of motion despite the tight fit. In other words, your stomach will remain flat but the rest of your body will still have a full range of motion. 

Working Out In Cold Weather

In some respects, winter may provide unavailable advantages during the summer. 

Exercising in cold temperatures may help convert white fat, particularly fat stored in the abdomen and thighs, into brown fat, which is more effective at burning calories. However, there are precautions you should take when exercising outdoors. You want to dress appropriately if you are walking or jogging in cold temperatures.

Wear Layers

 To stay dry and warm when exercising in the cold is to learn how to layer your clothes correctly. By layering your clothes in a certain way, you can better control your body temperature and keep moisture away from your skin while working up a sweat. 

There are three main layers, each serving a different purpose. 

• The base layer wicks moisture and sweat away from your skin to keep you warm and dry
• The middle layer keeps you warm 
• The outer layer lets water vapor escape, blocks wind and rain

Your waist trainer should be your first layer because it is made of a unique material designed to draw any moisture away from your skin. The mid layer should be slightly looser than the base while maintaining contact with it. Mid-layers are often made of down, polyester, fleece, and wool. The outer layer should be rain and wind-proof.

Here are some waist training ideas for you to try during the winter that doesn't involve going outside. 

Target Your Obliques

The muscles on the sides of the abdominal wall are called obliques. These muscles allow you to bend to the side and twist your waist. Working the obliques helps shape and slim the waist, tones the abdominal wall, and tightens the midsection. If you want to get rid of your muffin top, add these exercises to your waist training routine and start working your obliques today. 

Bicycle Crunches

Bicycle crunches work both your abs and your obliques at the same time. They also keep your body moving, which raises your heart rate and helps you burn even more calories. 

Dumbbell Side Bend

By adding dumbbell side bends to your workout routine, you work both the external and internal obliques and shape them. 

Heel Touches

The heel toucher help tighten the entire side abdominal wall and can also help you cinch your waist and get that perfect hourglass shape.

Oblique V-Crunches

This move works the entire abdominal wall and obliques. It tightens the core, strengthens the back, improves balance, and makes you more flexible. 

Plank Hip Dips

This modified elbow plank, in which you rotate your hips, works your core even more and strengthens your abs, obliques, and lower back. 

Side Crunch

This move is excellent for strengthening the internal and external obliques and shaping the side ab wall. The side crunch helps cinch your waist and gives you a more shapely body. 

Hip Lifts With Side Plank

Side planks with hip lifts work the obliques and help build core strength and endurance. This exercise works your deep abdominal muscles and makes your waistline smaller and tighter.

Yoga

Taking a yoga class is a great option when you don't want to be outdoors in the cold while working out. Pilates and yoga are excellent choices of exercise classes because they concentrate on strengthening your core. You can sign up for one at your local fitness center or take an online course from home. Your waist trainer helps keep your stomach tight, giving you maximum benefits.  

Pilates 

Pilates is one way to strengthen your core and make you more flexible. Its moves, which can be changed to fit any fitness level, are meant to strengthen your body (especially your waist) and improve your balance. Start with kicks, leg stretches, and pulls, which are all basic Pilates moves. Want to try something different? Take your Pilates mat skills to the Reformer, a machine that will test your strength, balance, and coordination.

Resistance Bands

You don't have to go outside or to the gym to do bodyweight exercises. To get stronger and leaner, you need your body weight to work against. You could try supersets with resistance bands. You'll get your heart rate up and work against resistance without using much space for heavy equipment.

Dance On the Barre 

Even though barre-based workouts have been around in the U.S. since the 1970s, they have only recently become prevalent, and for good reason. Their moves, based on ballet, use parts of yoga, Pilates, and weight training to stretch and strengthen muscles. 

Even though most of the moves only require your body weight and the barre, you might be surprised by how hard the classes can be. If you don't have access to a barre, you can substitute it with a chair. 

Tai Chi

What looks like martial arts in slow motion is an ancient Chinese form of low-impact exercise. Tai chi involves slow movements and ways to breathe deeply. It's perfect for putting your thoughts back in order. Tai chi is a slow-moving art that has a lot to offer. It can improve heart health, reduce stress and anxiety, ease back pain, and improve balance. 

Waist training in the winter will keep you on track with your fitness goals. New to waist training? Look at the sport waist trainers at Squeez Me Skinny and get started today!