Strength Training to Burn Fat

While some experts say that the best way to burn fat is through aerobic exercise, you can also burn fat with certain types of strength training. The reason is that the more muscle you have, the more fat you can burn though normal activities. You can also combine aerobic exercise with strength training to get a double whammy effect against fat.  

Don’t Worry about Bulking Up

Strength training doesn’t necessarily have to bulk you up. It can actually tone your body and help build your muscles just enough to help hold your body in more perfect alignment. Doing so can help you appear thinner and reduce body fat at the same time.

Try Circuit Training

This is something you can find at different studios that involve doing each machine for a specific period of time – usually at a fast pace. It’s a good way to get both cardio in and strength training. Usually there is little or no rest in between each machine and exercise are done in between machines.  Unless you are unlucky enough to have someone in front of you who decides to text in between sets… (this has happened to me so many times!)

Isometric Weight Training

This is a type of resistance training where you use the weights by holding them at certain angles for 30 seconds to one minute instead of doing faster repetitions. This kind of strength training can also be done without weights. For instance, doing planks works well too. It increases strength and stamina.

High Volume Training

This type of strength training involves working one muscle group per week, concentrating on cardiovascular the rest of the time. This gives the muscle groups ample time to recover allowing for the best and most efficient building of strength training without bulking up your muscles. You can have long, lean muscles with high volume training.

Core Exercises

Doing core strength training exercises such as Pilates and yoga will help your body become a fat burning furnace. Try hot yoga, or purchase a Pilates machine to use at home for no excuse workouts that build endurance while building strength. The better shape your core is in, the better your fitness level will be and the more fat you’ll burn.  I love using the bosu ball to do my core exercises and it offers a lot of flexibility.

Resistance Training for Building Strength

Using your own body, bands or other methods to provide resistance during exercise will build your strength and muscles which will also burn more fat off your body. The great thing about resistance training is that you can combine it with cardio for increased results. Using simple tools such as bands, or workout equipment like the resistance exercise chair.

Mixed Exercise: Cardio Plus Strength Training Combined

Many exercise gurus have put out videos and programs that combine cardio with resistance training that work extra well. You can typically work out for half the time by combining the two together in creative ways and burn more calories. You can seriously blast fat away with these programs.

That’s what I love about going to the group classes at the gym – the instructor ensures a great workout and you just have to keep up!

Cardio Then Strength Training

You can also burn fat by doing the exercises separately. The strength training builds muscle, which burns more fat, and the cardio burns fat. You can do the cardio and the strength training together or separately. Studies show that it doesn’t really matter, other than the fact that when you do it together you can do it in half the time.

Burning fat through strength training is a two-pronged effort. You’ll need to combine strength training with some sort of cardiovascular exercise for it to be the most effective and to avoid having bulky muscles.  It is typically recommended to do 5 minutes of cardio warm-up, then 20-30 minutes of strength training, then 20-30 minutes of additional cardio. For long-term fitness goals, this is your fat burning answer.

In Health & Happiness
Dr. Tara Clapp, ND

Best Fat Burning Exercises for Women

If you’re a busy woman who may be a mother, have a career and who still needs time left over for your partner, it’s not always easy to find time to exercise. If you’re looking for fat burning exercises to fit that busy life, the best ones involve aerobic activity that gets the heart pumping. Here are some great exercises to try:

* Running – Even though not everyone can practice running safely (check with your doctor first), running is still one of the best ways to burn a lot of calories fast. Try sprinting fast for twenty seconds, then jogging at a slower pace for a minute and repeat. Wear a sports bra and supportive fitness clothing especially made for women for added safety.

* Fast Walking – A safer method of burning calories fast is walking quickly. There is a lot less impact, but you won’t be able to cover as much ground. However, the safety can’t be beat as you won’t cause any damage to your joints or internal organs with fast walking. 

* Swimming – If you need a super low impact form of exercise that can burn a lot of fat, try swimming. But, you can’t just do any kind of swimming. Shoot for moves that cause you to use all of your body, your arms and your legs such as the butterfly stroke and the breast stroke, so that you can burn the most calories and fat in each movement.

* Aerobics – You know the good old-fashioned dance aerobics that your momma used to do? It is popular for a reason: it works. It’s also fun to do and you can burn an enormous amount of calories in a short period of time if you make large, exaggerated movements.  Make sure you are wearing supportive shoes to minimize the impact to your joints.

 * Dance – Almost any sort of dancing is a great calorie burner. If you wonder why you were skinny “back in the day,” it is probably due to going out dancing on the weekend. And dancing is fun to do! You want to do dances that cause you to breathe hard and sweat. Don’t be shy either; you don’t even need a partner. You just need good music and a little space in your living room.

 * Spinning – This is a type of bike riding where the bike doesn’t actually move, and you have a leader running you through the paces in super-fast intervals with fast intervals. Make sure you are signed up for a class that is appropriate to your exercise tolerance, as some of them are for advanced exercise veterans and not for the infirm.  I enjoy spin classes that alternate so I get a chance to catch my breath and grab a drink from my water bottle!

 * Jumping Jacks – The exercise you did in PE during elementary school is actually an excellent fat burner. You need to make big movements and move quickly to get the full effect. Try doing three sets of 100 reps to get your day moving.  That will make you sweat. Note: for some of us, jumping jacks may cause urinary leakage, so if that is you, pick a different activity!

 * Jump Rope – This is an excellent way to burn fat for anyone. You can move very quickly and try different types of moves from jumping, to skipping, to one leg or two. Shoot for three sets of 100 reps.

 * Rebounding – Made popular by astronauts, this form of exercising which requires that the exerciser jump up and down on a small trampoline has great benefits outside of fat burning. It works every muscle in the body and burns an enormous amount of calories – twice as much as running in some cases, without the stress on the body.

 Besides these exercises, ensure that you drink enough water, eat less fat, and watch your caloric intake. However, don’t cut your calories too much to avoid the starvation effect that causes your body to shut down on its fat burning efforts.