Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and lose
your 'mommy belly' once and for all? If so, the following
seven tips are exactly what you need to improve your
workouts and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of
these tips, but beware, the result may be a number of
admiring second glances and the need to pull your 'skinny
jeans' out of the closet.
1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of
free-weight, bodyweight or cable exercises.
Compared to machines, free-weight, bodyweight and cable
movements often require more skill, create muscular
balance, and have a greater metabolic cost. For example, it
is more difficult to balance the weights, and to coordinate
muscles when performing free-weight exercises. Although
this may sound like a disadvantage, it is actually a
benefit. By balancing and stabilizing free-weights or
cables you are working more muscles through a greater range
of motion resulting in more muscles developed and more
calories burned.
2. Use exercises that work more than one muscle at a time.
When focusing on fat loss, you can't worry about "shaping"
exercises, instead you should use exercises that'll get you
the biggest bang for your buck and work as many muscles as
possible. Isolation exercises can be used at the end of a
workout to work on a specific target area, but they just
serve to supplement your core movements.
Virtually every savvy fitness professional is privy to the
fact that compound exercises recruit the most muscle groups
for any given body part.
If you seek lean, toned muscles and the increase in
metabolism that comes with them, you must choose exercises
that work as many different muscles as possible. One of the
main reasons why squats are superior to leg extensions for
improving your body is that they also work your butt,
hamstrings and inner thighs in addition to toning your
quadriceps while leg extensions focus on just the front of
your thigh and don't really offer any other benefit. That
same rationale hold true for arm exercises too. That's why
dumbell presses and dips will are more valuable for your
arms than triceps kickbacks and pushdowns.
A good rule of thumb is to use movements that will allow
you to use the most weight. These will have a systemic
effect on your body that'll help maintain or increase your
lean muscle, and in turn ignite your metabolism.
3. Pair exercises.
Pair your exercises together so that you alternate between
upper-body exercises and lower-body exercises or between
exercises that target opposing muscle groups (e.g. chest
and back).
This type of approach will keep your workouts short and
efficient by eliminating much of the downtime that comes
between sets of a single exercise since you are working on
one movement while resting from another. This approach can
also yield huge benefits in your mission to burn fat. Since
you'll constantly be moving and keeping your heart rate
elevated, you'll be burning far more calories than you
would during a typical workout.
4. Keep your reps between 8 and 12.
Through research, it has been determined that the best
range for building lean muscle is roughly between 8-12
reps. Since the main focus of your resistance training
efforts is to gain lean body mass and stimulate your
metabolism, this rep range fills the bill perfectly. "High
reps for tone and fat loss" is one of the biggest (and most
unproductive) training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga
and Pilates' community have convinced us that when we
perform bodyweight exercises or light resistance training
for high reps, our muscles magically take on a beautiful
shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you
challenge yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body
will take on a bulky, unflattering appearance. If you
believe this, you probably still believe in the Tooth Fairy!
5. Rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets.
When you keep the rest periods under one minute, it's
easier to stay focused on the task at hand and keeps your
heart rate elevated. In addition, it forces your muscles to
recover more quickly between sets, along with keeping your
nervous system revved up.
If your first movement in an upper/lower body pair is
squats, you might want to rest 60 seconds before attempting
your second movement. However, if your first exercise is a
fairly "easy" exercise, like lat pull downs, you might only
wish to wait 30 seconds before doing the second part of the
pair.
6. Perform total body workouts.
You must drop the notion that muscle groups work
independently of one another. Muscles work together and
should be trained that way. Besides, not only does this
approach mean less time in the gym, but by working the
whole body three times per week, you'll be maximizing the
fat burning effect of your program.
7. Cardio is not the cure-all for fat loss.
Cardiovascular exercise aids in the creation of a caloric
deficit, but the caloric expenditure during cardio is
temporary. Strength training addresses the core of the
problem by permanently increasing the rate at which the
body burns calories by adding muscle. The best programs
will include both strength training and cardiovascular
training, but the core or the programs effectiveness is
resistance training.
Take these strategies and incorporate them into your
workout routine. Not only will you save a lot of time, but
you'll also soon see a leaner and more toned body. Not to
mention a few more turned heads and the re-emergence of
your skinny jeans.
----------------------------------------------------
Holly Rigsby is a nationally recognized women's fitness
coach, certified personal trainer (CPT) and the author of
the internationally popular e-book – The Busy Mom's Fat
Loss Bible. Go to http://www.busymomsfatloss.com to get
your FREE copy and discover everything you need to know to
losing unwanted fat and how to keep it off for good.
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