10 ways to get a beach body in a month

By Graeme Hilditch

Planning a holiday but fearful about your figure? Get into shape with these tips from leading personal trainer Graeme Hilditch.

1. Reduce your calorie intake

‘Let’s face it, we all eat too much and often we imbibe too much of the wrong foods. You could easily lose 5-7lbs in a month by simply reducing your calories.’

2. Press-ups

‘Press-ups might be old school, but they are great at toning the upper body and core. Aim to do 30-50 a day for a month and you’ll look nice for the beach.’

3. Run

‘The best exercise to burn calories is running. If you can fit in a 30-45 min run 3-4 times a week you could burn up to 10,000 calories in the month leading up to your holiday.’

4. Limit alcohol

‘A bottle of wine contains just over 600 calories and a pint of beer contains just over 150 calories. Cutting them out for a month before you go on holiday can lead to significant weight loss.’

5. Suck in your stomach

‘By simply sucking in your belly button regularly throughout the day, you can tone the deep stomach muscles which help to flatten your stomach.’

6. Jump squats

‘Squatting low then bursting up into a jump is a fantastic exercise to burn calories and tone your legs and bottom. For real results, do this exercise for 60 seconds and then follow it with 60 seconds of sit-ups. Repeat five times.’

7. Reduce carbs

‘We all eat too much carbohydrate. If you love your spuds/pasta/rice/toast, try halving the amount of carbs you eat at every meal or snack.’

8. Drink water

‘Did you know the body often confuses thirst for hunger? Subsequently, drinking plenty of water can quench your hunger and therefore stop you eating as much.’

9. Take the stairs

‘Stairs are great at toning the legs and the bottom, so for the next month make sure you take the stairs whenever you can. If time permits, go up and down them two or three times to make the most of your leg and glute toning opportunity.’

10. Sit-ups

‘I mentioned sit-ups above and it’s time to mention them again. Good old-fashioned sit-ups can help tone your abs if you’re lucky enough to carry very little abdominal fat. Aim to do 50 a day in the run up to your holiday and you’ll look better than Homer Simpson at the end of this video.’