It’s been proven that long, slow cardio can work for fat loss, but it usually works for young, heavily muscled males with time on their hands. These people can workout for 10+ hours per week.

There’s many men and women out there with little time to train but a real need to lose fat. These people have only 3-4 hours available for workout programs each week and they want to lose belly fat or simply tone their bodies from a weak physique. I have found that for most, slow, traditional cardio is not the way to go.

When we speak about fat burning exercises, we’re speaking about getting the most results in the least amount of training time. High-intensity exercise (strength training and interval training) ramps up your metabolism more than slow, marathon like cardio training sessions. But, with most kinds of training, there is a diminishing return on every set. So you can’t expect 4 sets to be twice as good as 2 sets. I have found that as long as you get in 1 hard set, you can be well on your way to successful fat burning and bodysculpting.

During high intensity training, the increased activity results in “afterburn” – which is the burning of more calories after the high-intensity exercise than you would have burned after low-intensity exercise such as slow cardio. Even though you often burn more calories during a long slow cardio workout (approx. 500 calories), when compared to an equal length high-intensity workout programs (using 325 calories), you will burn a lot more calories after the high-intensity training session. The result is more calories burned in a 24 hour period with high-intensity fitness training. If you combine this regimen with muscle-sculpting benefits of strength training, you’ll have a better body in no time.

The fact is, muscle burns energy. Think of muscle as the bigger the motor the more gas you use. If you’re completing intervals and weight training, at first you may not lose much weight but your body fat will decrease. The more muscle you have equals more calories burned while using those muscles.

If you have only 30 minutes, get in there and really work your butt off, you will do yourself more good than if you wait until you have that full hour and then work out more slowly.
nutrition and sports are complementary. In addition to completing a regular balanced fitness exercise program, nutrition is the real key to fat loss. With training, all you need to do is apply a relatively small amount of high-intensity exercise to your muscles and you’ll sculpt them or build them, whatever your goal.

Today there’s fitness workouts designed for home gyms equipped with only a bench, an exercise ball, and dumbbells (and a pullup bar for those that are strong enough).

Even if all you can do is a bodyweight circuit, do so safely, but with a high intensity. There is a huge variety of bodyweight exercises you can do…these will boost your metabolism.
Make your workouts fun, enjoy your sweet treats in moderation, and stay active with family activities where appropriate. Just don’t leave a big ol’ “butt imprint” on your couch. If you follow a regular workout programs with high intensity, you’ll soon be riding a huge wave of motivation where you can really achieve your fitness goals.

Check out more fat burning exercises at Workouts that Burn Fat and Tone Muscle

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