Use my top five fat burning exercises to maximize your workout time. A 20-30 minute workout is all you need for an intense fat burning workout. This type of workout will burn more calories during and after your workout.
Build more muscle mass to speed up your metabolism and burn more fat. To recruit more muscle fibers during workouts and improve your success, focus more on multi-joint or compound exercises.
Compound exercises will help you burn more fat because you are working large muscle groups in your body. For example, the largest muscle in the body is the gluteus maximus and squats/lunges would target this area (among other areas).
Examples of single-joint exercises are biceps curl, seated calf raise, leg extension, leg curl and triceps pushdowns. Spend less of your time on these exercises.
Here are my Top Five Fat Burning Exercises:
1. Squats and squat jumps - Bodyweight, dumbbell or barbell. Do your squats!
2. Deadlift - Deadlift is a must for your exercise program. It is also one of the best ways to build muscle thickness in your lower back. Lower back fat is a problem for many people.
3. One-arm dumbbell rows and pullups/chinups - These two are a must for any routine so I'm counting them as one exercise.
4. Clock Lunges - Clock lunges work your body in all planes of motion. Lunge with your right leg at 12 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 5 o’clock and 6 o’clock. That’s one repetition for your right leg. Lunge with your left leg at 12 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 9 o’clock, 7 o’clock and 6 o’clock. That’s one repetition for left leg. Maintain upright posture throughout to improve core strength.
5. Dumbbell Chest Press on Ball - Doing the chest press on the ball forces you to balance while lifting. Each arm also has to do equal work.
Note: I also include exercises like standing shoulder presses, medicine ball chops, medicine ball throws, sprints, step ups, pushups on medicine ball and triceps bar dips in my workouts.
You can also use supersets to save time and burn more fat. An example would be pairing the dumbbell chest press with dumbbell rows. The two exercises work non-competing muscle groups. The dumbbell rows would be performed immediately after the dumbbell chest press. You would rest one minute and do the pair again. Superset workouts are proven timesavers and fat burners.
Burn more fat in less time with exercises that work and build large muscle groups.
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT is a Certified Personal Trainer and former NCAA Division I athlete. Mark’s Fat Blaster Athletic Training System has been proven to give his clients the fit, sculpted and athletic-type bodies they want. Visit Mark’s sites:
My Fitness Hut http://myfitnesshut.blogspot.com
Her Fitness Hut http://herfitnesshut.com
Sports Fitness Hut http://sportsfitnesshut.blogspot.com