Written by Tim Rigby
Let’s face it, putting on weight is not something exclusive to winter. Trips to the cottage or out-of-town often entail high-fat barbecues and lots of alcohol. It’s some of the best fun of the year, but from a fitness point of view it usually comes with a cost. Therefore, we're here to help you get a head start on cutting off the curves. So, take note of these important secrets:
CARDIO: USE A MIX OF HIGH-INTENSITY AND LOW-INTENSITY
Science shows us many things, but you have to look at the big picture. There is no denying that low-intensity cardio exercise uses a greater proportion of fat for energy than high-intensity, and it definitely can be very useful in burning fat. However, we do not recommend that you take this scientific premise and hammer it to the hilt. For one thing, after you complete 30 or 40 minutes of light walking, having burned off a small amount of fat, your body’s metabolism very quickly returns to a stable state since your heart rate normalizes fast. Effectively, the only fat burning you’re doing is conservative and intra-workout. Another flaw with going all-out low-intensity is that it only works properly provided that you are burning off more calories than you’re consuming overall.
Alternatively, you can perform high-intensity training. If you can take your cardio exercise up to a high 80-90 percent of your maximum heart rate, you’re not only fit but you’re setting yourself up for some major calorie burn. You’ll feel the sweat, and definitely burn calories during your training session, plus you’ll keep your heart rate up and metabolism stoked for when you’re sitting at home three hours later watching Netflix. The problem with constant high-intensity, however, is burnout and overtraining. You may also expose yourself to injuries, and you may sooner or later get fed up with going balls-to-the-wall each workout – it really can be taxing.
Using a sensible hybrid approach of low- and high-intensity cardio training is the best strategy to ensure consistent fat burning results. Mix things up and alternate your approach on a workout or weekly basis. In the same way that your muscles are best stimulated with a variety of resistance training protocols, so too is your body’s fat burning system.
WEIGHTLIFTING: SIMPLE APPROACHES TORCH FAT FAST
As we said previously, science shows us many things. One such incontrovertible fact is that the greater your muscle mass, the more efficiently you’ll burn fat. “Great!” you say, “I’ll get as muscular as I can and always stay lean!” Well, it’s not all that simple. If you abruptly started to go all out with weight training, without a sound plan, your diet would likely include high protein – and high carbs and fat as well. This is not our objective. So, the following strategies will detail sound weight-training approaches for fat loss:
>> Circuit training is very helpful in meeting fat loss objectives. You simply combine elements of resistance training and high-intensity cardio, and repeat the cycle for a designated number of times, to promote a huge energy expenditure and keep your metabolism stoked for hours after you stop training.
>> Beware the isolation moves. Yeah, it’s nice to have an impressive biceps peak, but it does very little for fat loss either unto itself or via the training involved to achieve it. Stick with full-body compound moves which incorporate several muscle groups at once and promote fat loss efficiently over time. Such exercises include deadlifts, bench presses, squats, upright rows, overhead presses and lunges.
>> Carefully keep increasing the weight, provided you’re able to maintain the 8-12 rep range. As your strength improves, you’ll grow more muscle. Don’t stick with the same weight and add reps; rather, stick to the ideal range of reps for muscle growth, increase the weight and watch your fat cells shrink!