She’s the 40-year-old mother with an enviable physique.
And it’s clear physical education teacher Belinda Norton, from the Gold Coast, has worked extremely hard for her washboard abs.
But the fit mother-of-two admitted she used to fall into her own ‘gym traps’.
Here, she revealed the common mistakes you could be making at the gym that hinder your weight loss efforts – and how you can fix them.
Belinda Norton, from the Gold Coast, has worked extremely hard for her washboard abs
She admitted she used to fall into her own ‘gym traps’ that affected her weight loss goals
She revealed the mistakes you could be making at the gym that hinder your weight loss efforts
‘After years of going to the gym we tend to fall into bad habits. This is by doing the same thing over and over and our body simply gets used to it,’ she said.
‘Also over time we form other types of bad gym habits that we are unaware we have been doing. I personally fell into these gym traps.
‘I was trying to fit in work while I was warming up by being on the phone – this simple habit affected my session immensely and I was losing the quality in my sessions.
‘I had switched my mind off and this also means my muscles too. This simple thought of being in the moment and thinking of your muscles moving and breathing makes a dramatic difference to weight loss goals.
‘The key is to stay focused on your movements ensuring your are working at your full capacity after all you made the effort to get there now get going.’
The mother-of-two revealed the common mistakes you could be making at the gym that hinder your weight loss efforts – and how you can fix them
The mother revealed how she used to be distracted by her emails why working out –
Avoid using your phone on the treadmill
‘Ensure you use your arms,’ she said
Belinda explained how she used to by distracted while working out on a treadmill.
‘I tried to fit in as much as I could I would do emails. When we are unfocused in training it makes the warm up for the session less productive,’ she said.
Too much rest between weights set
‘Avoid the phone scroll, are you laughing because you do it? b.truth: I see this all the time.. do you do it?’ she asked.
‘Laying on the mat or sitting in a machine? Avoid getting your phone out and get the session done with quality and less rest.’
Belinda encouraged women to spend no longer than 10 minutes before swapping to another machine
Spending too much time on any gym weights machine
Belinda encouraged women to spend no longer than 10 minutes before swapping to another machine.
‘Plus it’s good gym manners,’ she added.
Not warming up properly
Spend at least 10 minutes doing a cardio warm up on any machine, including treadmill, stepper, bike or air walker.
She said 10 minutes of slow walk will not warm you up properly or energise your muscles.
‘Add speed and incline to get moving,’ she said.
The mother completely overhauled her lifestyle that she was able to transform her body
Don’t think about what’s for dinner
When you start thinking about food during your workout session, Belinda said this hinders your energy performance level.
‘It starts the body fueling thought process and this is counterproductive to training,’ she explained.
‘Notice when you start thinking about food, it either makes you feel sick or hungry. This is not what you need in the middle of a session.’
Avoid long gossip session
She encouraged people not to go to the gym to have long gossip sessions.
‘Get the session done and use the steam room for the gossip,’ she said.
Belinda Norton’s go-to HIIT workout
Every second week routine:
Warm up + 6 x Bench jumps
8 x Push up
10 x Speed squats jumps
12 x Push up
14 x Bench jumps (This is one complete set)
(Repeat 4 times as a beginner, 6 times as a weekly trainer and elite trainers do it 10 times)
Every other week routine:
Run 3km to pool
Dry land warm up with posture lunges + crawlers with hip openers + side steps with cross over + shoulders rotations
Swim 2km for recovery:
Easy 500m freestyle + Kick 5 x 100m + 50 Backstroke + 50 breaststroke x 400m + 4 x 100m freestyle efforts + 200 warm down