Fat Burning

Fat burning exercises, what are they and how often you should do them.

Once you have decided to do some fat burning exercises, unless you already know a lot about the subject you may be wondering which exercises are fat burning and how can you put together the best training program.

Which exercises burn fat is the easy part. The honest answer is all exercises burn fat it is just that some burn it better than others. Put simply, the more of your muscles involved and the more intense the exercise the more fat you will burn.

It is true that there has been some debate as to which level of exercise intensity is best for burning fat because it was discovered that lower intensity exercises like speed walking burn more fat than higher intensity training like fast running or circuit training.

The bad news is it is the high intensity training that wins the argument because even though low intensity training burns a higher ratio of fat to carbohydrates the fact is running for 1 hour will burn more calories than walking for 1 hour and at the end of the day calories is what it is all about. Women who are looking for fun fat burning exercises should check out myexercise-for-woman.com which has some great ideas on making women’s exercise fun.
So where do you begin once you have decided to start doing fat burning exercises.
First you need be honest with yourself and look at where are starting from, for example

What is your age, are you young and already reasonably fit?

Are you 25- 40 and still in shape or are you not as fit as you could be?

Are you now the more mature client of 50 to 60 plus?

Are you slightly overweight or do you have several stone to lose?

What about your time restrictions?

Finally, how much motivation do you have to succeed in your fat burning exercises and what are your fitness goals?



If you are under 25 and reasonably fit you should train using a combination of bodyweight exercises to build muscle and regular fat burning exercises such as high intensity cardio or even bodyweight exercises.

How can you use bodyweight exercises to burn fat? It is easy you just do them as interval or circuit training. You do your press ups, pull-ups and dips etc but instead of doing 8-12 reps and then resting for one minute like you would do to build muscle. You only do 7 or 8 reps and go straight from one exercise to another for the whole circuit.

You then take it slower for two circuits having a few seconds rest between each exercise and then go back to a fast one. You continue this for the 20 minutes or so that you are doing fat burning exercises.

Yes it is hard but it is one of the most effective types of fat burning exercise you can do, not just because of the calories burnt during the exercise but also because you metabolism will be sky high for hours afterwards which means you will be burning fat even when you are just chilling. How good is that?

So if you train lets say 4 times per week you would spend 20 to 30 minutes doing bodyweight exercises to build your muscles and then do 20 minutes of fat burning exercises which as mentioned before can be bodyweight exercises done as interval training or cardio such as fast pace running. The benefit of bodyweight cardio for your is you will still be training your whole body and not just your legs as in most cardio.

Remember, when doing your program of fat burning exercises to continue to do your muscle building exercises. This is very important not just because you will look better but also because muscle burns calories even when you are not doing anything. So the more muscle you have the calories you will burn even when chilling.
The 25 - 40 age group.
The fat burning exercises for this age group are exactly the same as a younger persons the only difference is the level of intensity at which you begin your training program. Common sense is the order of the day, what ever your present condition, start at the basic level and build up slowly week by week.

Certainly do not even think of going all out on the training program until you have trained for at least 3 months without any adverse reaction. Remember, it is not a race and every week you will get better and within few months you will be able to go at a pace that your friends will be amazed at.
The more mature client.
No one would expect a mature 60 year old to be doing the same level of training that a young fit person can do. Again common sense is the most important thing. Unless advised not to by your doctor the more mature person can and should exercise.

A good training routine can help prevent a number of medical problems associated with the ageing process such as osteoporosis and hardening of the arteries. However, mature clients must be realistic in there goals and start at the most basic level.

It is all about horses for courses; a young fit adult can train to do a high number of one arm pushups but at 60 plus it is not going to happen unless you are unique. You can, however, still get the most from your exercises and for example do press ups standing up and simply pushing your body away from a wall. Which ever age group and fitness level you fit into, always see your doctor first, tell them your plans and get there consent before you begin.

Also remember nothing stops those with the motivation and the will to achieve, so if you want to start doing fat burning exercises and you are fit enough to then go for it.
Some facts, tips and myth busters about fat burning exercises.
Fact - If you are fit enough train intensely it keeps your metabolism burning food for hours after training. This is why interval training is great for the burning of calories.

Fact - The more muscles involved in the exercise you are doing the more fat you will burn for example press ups and pull ups are better than bicep curls or triceps exercises.

Fact - Interval training is the best form of fat burning. The reason is your metabolism stays high for a long time after training.

Fact - Exercises that are weight bearing like running and walking are better for burning calories than ones like cycling.

Fact - Muscle building is a great form of fat burning exercise. Muscle burns fat even when you are doing nothing. The more muscle you have the more fat you burn.

Fact - Never eat less than 1,200 calories per day or you will send your body into starvation mode.

Fact - Fat spot reduction cannot be done. In other words you cannot pick and choose were to lose fat. it has to be done gradually throughout the whole body.

Fact - Sit ups and other abdominal exercises are terrible fat burning exercises. You would have to do 1000 sit-ups every night for over 2 weeks to burn 1 pound of fat. 500 sit-ups would only burn the same amount of fat as walking 1 mile.

Fact - Eat five small meals a day with each meal containing protein, this keeps your metabolism high and stops your body going into starvation mode which is when it will store fat.

Fact - A study on rats showed that those given all their food in one meal as apposed to those who had the same amount of food but in small meals throughout the day showed the ones who ate all there food in one go put on weight whilst the others did not.

Fact - Doing lots of cardio without muscle building will result in large muscle loss because your body will adapt to make the cardio easy by losing the heavy muscle. The result could be someone who has very little muscle but still carries some fat.