With all the fat burning hype that’s in the media, it’s enough to confuse anyone. People
just want to know what they need to do to get rid of the fat and reveal their six pack.
In today’s article, I’m going to go over the fundamentals of a good fat burning exercise
and give you a few so you can choose one on your own. These exercises have been proven
time and time again to blow torch fat.
1. Needs to have a high EE or Energy Expenditure. This is the amount of energy you
expend during the workout.
The reason P90X and Insanity work so well, is because you use A LOT of energy during those
workouts. You can look at any athlete and tell this is true. Most sports, done
vigorously will give you a great workout.
2. Has to take advantage of EPOC or Excess Post Oxidation Consumption – long phrase that
means energy burned after the exercise. This is where the “burn fat in your sleep” comes
into play.
3. Maintain a high heart rate. Studies have shown that at heart rate of 60% to 70% for
at least 30 mins is optimum for burning fat.
4. Should be good for building muscle. Muscle is an active tissue and burns fat around t
the clock. Typically, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the more
fat you can burn (except for bodybuilders in the off-season – TOO many carbs).
So looking at those criteria, we can come to a few great fat burning routines.
a. Interval Training. This is where you go hard for few seconds to a minute, then rest about
twice as long. American football is a great demonstration of this. Interval training has a
high EE, high EPOC, but the heart rate is usually above 70%.
b. Circuit Training. You do a certain number of exercises either for a set number of reps
or a set period of time (e.g. 30s per exercise) in a back to back fashion, then rest for
a minute or two…then repeat the circuit. High on the EE, great heart rate, and depending
on the exercises – can be great for building muscle.
c. Lactic Acid Training. Typically higher reps with a lower weight so you reach failure
at about 15 reps with little rest in between each set. This training floods your muscles
with lactic acid. Your body responds by sending in blood and growth hormone to clear
it out. That growth hormone breaks down fat to repair damaged muscles. High EPOC.
d. Super-setting. Doing two antagonistic exercises back to back (e.g. bench press and bent
over rows) followed by a short to moderate rest. Usually a high EE, high EPOC, and great
for building muscle.
Those are the 4 basic types of training that will give you the best fat burning workout.
You can combine them at different levels to have ONE HELL OF A FAT BURNING WORKOUT.
Let’s see an example.
Combining B, C, and D. So, you’re doing super-sets in a circuit fashion, with high reps
and short rest periods. I borrowed this routine from my buddy FitJerk.
Do each exercise 4 sets of 15 reps each. One circuit will be one set. Rest 60s, then repeat the circuit 4 times.
Exercise
Bench Press
Bent Over Row
Squat:
Stiff Legged Deadlift
BB Shoulder Press
Weighted Chin-up
IF you survive that routine, you’ll be in GREAT shape.
Other routines you can do include
-Bodyweight cirucuits
Do each exercise for 3 sets of 15 reps each set. One circuit will be one set. Rest 60s and repeat three times.
Exercise
(a) Push up
(b) Inverted Row
(c) Lunge
(d) Good-mornings
(e) Decline Sit Ups
-Bodyweight Interval Circuit
Do each exercise for 20s, then rest for 10s, and move on to the next exercise. Do as many as you can in that 20s time period. Repeat the circuit 3 times.
Exercise
(a) Push up
Rest 10s
(b) Inverted Row
Rest 10s
(c) Lunge
Rest 10s
(d) Good-mornings
Rest 10s
(e) Decline Situps
These are some examples. I encourage you to come up with your own combination.
I prefer these over steady state cardio, because while effective, it only keeps your heart
rate high, while you experience no EPOC, no high EE, and if done too much, can actually
waste away your muscle!
Plus, these are just more fun!
Enjoy, and leave a comment below to let me know how it goes.
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