We all want it, right? A lean, sleek, toned body with tight abs and muscular legs. Instead, what many people see when they look in the mirror is a slightly overweight, saggy body with bad posture and a little bit of a muffin top. Now this picture may be a bit harsh, but it is reality. Why is this the common picture of many women, young and old, in our country today?
Here are a few reasons why people are not getting the body that they dream about:
•Not exercising and training enough
•Not training the correct way
•Wasting a lot of precious time in the gym
•Performing too many cardio workouts
•Not building up enough lean muscle through strength training sessions
The process of burning body fat is simple, if you do it correctly. If you do not work out enough, if you waste too much time with the wrong exercises, and if you do too much long, steady cardiovascular training without properly changing your body composition, you will never see changes.
Here is how that simple process of body fat reduction works.
•You must lose fat and gain lean muscle
•Lean muscle development leads to an increase in metabolism
•Metabolism is the amount of calories your body burns for energy
•Metabolism is increased as lean muscle develops because muscle is a very active tissue
•Muscle needs more energy (calories) to function
•Fat tissue needs minimal energy to survive, thus more fat slows down the metabolic rate
•Proper strength training programs will develop lean muscle
•As the body performs consistent strength training workouts, lean muscle is developed and the metabolic process speeds up after each workout
•In the long term process, strength training is performed and then leads to the metabolism staying at a high rate
•This whole process will burn body fat because the body is using more calories for energy when it is resting
In order to achieve this process; you must perform correct strength training exercises that efficiently use a large number of major muscle groups. You must also focus on interval conditioning in place of steady and slow cardio training. This will give you the same effect as strength training because if done correctly; your metabolism is elevated both during and after the training session.
Here are the top seven fat burning exercises. Start these today and see huge gains in your overall physique, your strength, energy levels, and confidence.
1. Squats: Squats recruit all major leg muscles, plus the entire core and upper back. Using this large group of muscles will burn a lot of calories and will also build lean muscle which burns fat over the long term.
2. Push Ups: Skip your traditional machine based chest press or chest fly and try some push ups. Just as squats hit all major lower body muscles, push ups will recruit everything in your upper body and core to get the job done. Using this large muscle area will certainly burn a ton of calories.
3. Walking Lunges: Develop great leg strength and a toned bottom with walking lunges. Using all major leg muscles and requiring balance and stability, this movement will tax your entire body as well as raise your heart rate; raising your metabolism both during and after the training session.
4. Hill Sprints: Forget long, slow and boring cardio. Find a moderately steep hill and perform 6 8 sets of sprints, walking down for recovery. This will not only get your heart pumping, but will tone your legs, burn a lot of calories and fat, and make you feel great.
5. Jump Rope: This type of training will increase your metabolism, leading to high rates of fat loss. Performing 1 minute intervals of jump rope for 7 10 minutes depending on your fitness levels will burn large amounts of calories and keep your metabolism jumping for many hours after the workout.
6. Kettle Bell Swings: Kettle Bell work is amazing for the entire body. You will use your legs, core, and upper body to move the odd shaped object through the air and control it on the way down. This is a heart pumping exercise that will get you lean and slim in no time.
7. Prowler Sprints: Most people do not have access to a Prowler at a commercial gym, but if you can get your hands on this, get ready to get in the best shape of your life. Pushing the sled like apparatus will shape your legs, develop strength and power, get your heart rate racing, and best of all, burn a ton of calories both during and after the training session.
All of these movements are complex (not in terms of difficulty, just in terms of using many large muscle groups) and will automatically burn a high level of calories while performing the movement. The calorie burn continues for up to 36 hours after the training session is completed. If you perform high intensity (but safe) workouts like that every week, your metabolism will be constantly elevated and that leads to overall body fat loss.
Incorporate these exercises into your training plan. Try to strength train 2 3 times per week and include interval training 2 3 days as well. Workouts should be short, intense, and fun.
Author Resource:
Fitness expert Callie Durbrow is a personal training, running small group training programs for fat loss, body overhauling, and increasing energy. For more information please visit http://www.durbrowperformance.com
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