In order to lose weight, you probably know that you have to eat right and exercise. Not all exercises are created equal, however. If you want to lose weight, you’ll want to do the exercises that give you the biggest bang for your buck. Constructing the perfect fat burning workout, and performing it consistently, will help you reach your weight loss goals.
Before beginning this fat burning workout, make sure you are healthy enough for exercise. Always check with your doctor before embarking on any workout and also weight loss program.
Your Fat Burning Workout
The key to burning fat is making sure you maintain high intensity during your workout. One excellent way to do this is to build a circuit training routine. In this kind of exercise program, you combine both cardio exercises and strength training together, with little to no rest in between each set.Circuit training helps you in multiple ways. First, you keep your heart rate up, giving your heart a nice workout. Second, you maintain your body’s energy usage in the ‘fat burning zone,’ maximizing the number of fat calories your body burns while you are working out. Finally, you build lean muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat simply by existing, so as your lean mass increases, your basal metabolic rate will increase, further accelerating your fat loss.
Do the following workout two to three times a week to start. It will be very intense, so you may want to build up a cardio base for a month or two first before beginning this new program. As you get better at the workout, increase the weights you lift, volume of exercises, total time spent in the workout, or the number of times per week.
To build your fat burning routine, pick four compound weight lifting movements. For this example routine, we’ll go with squats, cleans, bench presses, and military presses. You will want to do three sets of each, around 8-10 reps per set. In between each set, do 45-60 seconds of some sort of cardio activity.
This can be anything that will keep your heart rate up – jogging, treadmill, exercise bike, jump rope, step ups. Whatever you pick, the exercise should be simple enough and in close proximity to your weight to ensure that you can easily switch when necessary.
Here is an example workout:
- 1 set squats, 60 seconds cardio
- 1 set bench press, 60 seconds cardio
- 1 set cleans, 60 seconds cardio
- 1 set military press, 60 seconds cardio
Repeat this two more times. Make sure not to rest between exercises – move smoothly from one task to the next without stopping. At the end of the workout, you’ll be exhausted, but you’ll have burned a ton of fat!
A Few Further Tips
You can modify the above fat burning workout according to your fitness level, goals, and abilities. In addition, here are a few more tips to keep in mind when doing this program to make sure that you are getting the most out of your workout:Change up your routine every four weeks or so. Your body thrives on adapting to change, so make sure not to do the same routine over and over. Change the exercises, volume, weights, sets, reps, cardio activity – anything that will stress the body in new ways.
Be consistent. If you miss a day here and there, don’t get discouraged and give up. Just get back to your workout routine.
Support your efforts with sufficient nutrition, water, and rest.
Don’t push yourself so hard that you get injured. You know your limits. At the same time, make sure to push yourself. You need to find the line between pushing too hard and not pushing hard enough.
