GET FIT MOVE IT FAST & LOSE IT
A simple, half-hour workout to get the body you always wanted
ERSONAL trainer Alice Liveing, better known by her Instagram handle @Clean_ Eating_Alice, used to dread the gym.
“I saw exercise as a chore,” says the pint-size 23-year-old of her life three years ago. “It was something that I knew I should be doing, but I didn’t enjoy it — I was going on a treadmill for 20 minutes and doing crunches and leaving.”
Everything changed when the British Instagram star, who now has more than 470,000 followers, joined a new gym in March 2014.
“I met a personal trainer who said, ‘Maybe you should try strength training,’ ” she tells The Post. “Straightaway I was really interested. I was like, ‘I’m enjoying this. I want to see where this can take me.’ ”
Over the course of a year, her 5-foot-1 body transformed from a soft 140 pounds to a toned 120. At the same time, Liveing began posting photos of healthy meals on Instagram. To break up the egg- and vegetablefilled recipes, she sprinkled in a few snaps of her newly toned body. As her audience blossomed, thanks to inspiring before-and-after photos and a liberal use of hashtags, she realized her followers turned to her for fitness information she didn’t always have. “Having a large following comes with a lot of responsibilities,” she
says. “People were asking me questions, and I felt like I couldn’t comment unless I was a professional.”
For example, her followers wanted to know how much time she spent in the gym and which exercises would help flatten their abs, so Liveing got her personal training certification in late 2015.
She describes her get-fit plan in her new book, “Clean Eating Alice: The Body Bible” (Harper Thorsons, out now), a step-by-step guide to adopting a healthy diet and effective exercise regimen — and she’s giving an exclusive preview of her full-body workout to The Post.
To get started, Liveing encourages changing the way you think about exercise. The key to sticking to a workout plan is “making it a habit, incorporating small changes into your lifestyle so you learn what to do, and you’re not just being told,” says Liveing.
Plus, she says, you’ll see benefits beyond weight loss, including body confidence, improved mood, decreased stress levels and better bone density.
Liveing’s workouts are centered on high-impact exercise, or moving intensely for short intervals of time. Liveing suggests exercising four days a week, for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Spend one day per week on each muscle group — legs, upper body and abs — and one day on a full-body workout.
“This is a time frame that is achievable and can be woven into a busy day for the average person,” she says.
If you’re new to strength training, Liveing suggests starting with the basics: squats, bridges and cardiovascular moves such as mountain climbers.
“It’s really important that, before you even load the body with any amount of weight, you ensure you’re comfortable with basic movements,” she says.
Equally as important is giving your body a chance to recover. “You should take at least two rest days in each week,” she says. “Those are your days to relax.” And, above all, make sure you enjoy yourself. “There is no right or wrong way to get active and exercise,” she says. “You just have to find something you love, do it and stick to it!”
Here, Liveing breaks down ten great moves.