There is a lot of information out there today on weight loss and some of it is good, but a lot of it is not in your long term best interests, or more importantly, not healthy for you. I'm going to go over the REAL DEAL information that will guarantee you results. I'll cover 3 topics over the next few days:
1) Exercise
2) Nutrition
3) Mental/Emotional
So, without further ado, here we go:
1) Resistance/weight training is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck. Here's a quick explanation - weight training breaks down the muscle fibers which requires the body to repair them. In order to repair them your body needs energy, also known as calories. This raises your metabolism for at least 24 hours which burns more calories more efficiently. More muscles also needs more calories
2) Skip the slow cardio work and do HIIT or high intensity interval training. For example, hop on the treadmill or elliptical and after a quick warmup, do 5 sets of 3 minutes fast, 2 minutes easy or 3 minutes at a high level of resistance, 2 minutes of easy resistance. Same principles here apply as above. Don't forget to get in a 5-10 minute cool down
3) Work the big muscles! The biggest muscles in your body(glutes, legs, chest, back, shoulders) will require more energy to repair due to more muscle fibers so spend extra time working those muscles and do them first in the workout. If you have time go ahead and include abs, biceps and triceps but they are not priority.
4) Combine movements for more calorie expenditure. Grab a pair of dumbbells and while doing lunges alternate doing shoulder presses or do dumbbell push ups combined with dumbbell rows. This makes the workouts more challenging and is excellent for those that have limited time.
5) Aim for hypertrophy - hypertrophy is specific to defining/toning the muscles which is doing 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. This is going to be challenging enough to get the results you want.
A few extra tips
- perform weight training before cardio if training for weight loss
- while endurance sports help you lose weight, they are not the most efficient
- it takes hard work and dedication, there is no way around it
- for weight training ideas, check out http://www.gettingfitness.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I like this list, Matt! I just added HIIT to my workout in the hopes of burning more fat. Plus, I really hate jogging because I get so burned. Hopefully switching things up will keep me more entertained.
Thanks for reading Jill - Adding HIIT will add a huge boost. Let me know if you need any specific set targets to do and I can send you some ideas.
Post a Comment