You can dress it up by calling them love handles, but, let’s be honest, no one likes their muffin top. This is perhaps why the Miracle Muffin Top Workout has recently taken the world by storm. The workout has been created by Marta Montenegro, a strength and conditioning coach and physiology teacher at Florida International University, who has incorporated high-intensity training into the regime to target hard-to-lose belly fat.
That is not to say that diet is no longer important for helping you boost your belly wellness; the simple truth is that both diet and exercise are integral to your healthy lifestyle and overall wellbeing. So, even though the Muffin Top Workout is primarily focused on doing high-intensity exercises to achieve the results you want, Montenegro still asserts that you need to stick to a weight loss diet as well as incorporating cardio into your workout routine. Once you’ve got those things in place, you need to get your hands on two small towels and two dumbbells weighing three to five pounds. For the workout, you do a circuit routine of six exercises that you perform one to three times, depending on your personal fitness level.
1. Dumbbell Squats: Fitness expert and Muffin Top Workout enthusiast Haylie Pretorius, a lifestyle writer and online editor living in Sydney, Australia, outlines the proper procedure for the dumbbell squat. ‘Holding a dumbbell in each hand, lower your body into a squat position while keeping your back straight and your core locked,’ she says. ‘When coming out of the squat position, lift both dumbbells over your head while rotating your torso to the right, using your abdominal strength to drive the motion. Finish off in the squat position. Repeat on both sides for 12 reps.’
2. Towel Leg-Ins: For this exercise, you need to start in a plank position with your core locked and a small towel under the toes of both feet. ‘With your back straight, bring both knees in toward your chest, using your abdominals for support and the towel to direct your toes smoothly,’ Pretorius instructs. ‘Hold for one count and then use your abdominal muscles to direct your toes back to the plank position. Repeat 12 times.’
3. Overhead Lunge Press: Starting with a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height, go into a lunge position. While doing this, make sure you don’t let your knee bend further than your toes. Pretorius advises, ‘When moving out of the lunge position, lift the dumbbells over your head, using your abdominals to secure balance. Finish in the lunge position and repeat six times before swapping to the other leg.’
4. Towel and Arm Roll-out: ‘Start in a plank position with one towel under each hand,’ says Pretorius. ‘With both arms straight, slide your right arm as far forward as it’ll go without moving your torso. Slide your right arm back to the plank position and repeat on the left arm. Complete 12 reps in total.’
5. Dumbbell Deadlift: For this one, you begin by standing with your feet together and holding a dumbbell in your right hand. Lock your core and, keeping your left leg straight, lean forwards and raise your right leg off the ground. Keeping your back straight, lower the dumbbell as far as you can and hold for one minute. Return to the standing position and repeat six times before switching to your left leg and arm.
6. Towel Mountain Climbers: From a plank position with your core locked and a small towel under the toes of each foot, use your abdominals to direct your left knee in towards your right shoulder. When you cross over your core in this control movement, make sure to keep your back straight and your core locked. Return to the plank position, swap to the other leg and repeat six times on each side.
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