What if everything you’ve been told about exercise and fat loss was wrong? I’m not really sure how the trend started, but somewhere along the way most people have been steered in the completely wrong direction about the best exercise for fat loss.
Best Exercise For Fat Loss
The fact is long (and boring) steady-state cardiovascular exercise (like jogging, elliptical trainer, or stationary bike) is NOT an effective method for long-lasting fat loss.
Long-duration cardio has been exposed as minimally effective at best. In fact, the Journal of Obesity notes,
“Most aerobic exercise interventions have consisted of moderate-intensity steady-state exercise, for about 30 to 40 min for 3 to 4 days per week, over a four- to six-month period. Disappointingly, these kinds of exercise programs have resulted in minimal fat loss.”
Another study in Obesity showed that after logging 300 hours of cardiovascular exercise (an hour each day, 6 days per week for a year — that’s crazy dedicated), women only lost 4 pounds and men lost 6. That means that for every 50 hours of cardio, you lose only one pound of weight!
Excessive cardio can also impair the production of your thyroid hormone – this screws up your metabolism. Too much cardio can cause muscle loss, thus slowing your metabolism further.
When you put all that together, if you want to lose fat, I’d suggest thinking twice about making cardio your primary source of exercise.
I’m not saying some cardio isn’t good for you. Cardio can be a wonderful ADDITION to your primary fitness program. Just don’t make it the main feature of your program if fitness and fat loss are your goals.
So what do you have to do for lasting weight loss?
If you’re serious about losing weight, there are two vital things you have to do:
1) For exercise, Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) is the way to go.
This is a form of exercise that involves total body, resistance-based exercises done in quick succession with little or no rest between.
Typical workouts last just 12 – 30 minutes.
The result is a metabolism that is supercharged so that it keeps burning fat even after you have stopped exercising. Plus, you get a built-in, heart-healthy workout on your cardiovascular system!
2) You’ve got to change how you usually eat, so that you stop adding body fat with your current diet.
It’s easy to burn fat. We do it all day.
The problem is, we generally put it right back on (and often even more!) with bad eating.
It doesn’t take a special, restrictive diet to lose fat.
But there are some simple principles you need to apply on a regular basis.
It Really, Really Works!
Steven Boutcher, a scientist at the University of South Wales, did a study on this kind of training, and found that more fat is lost during shorter, maximum intensity intervals than during slower and longer workout periods.
Two groups of obese women were divided into two groups with identical diets but different exercise protocols for fifteen weeks.
The results? In spite of one group’s longer exercise periods, the MRT group saw a higher loss of body fat (especially in the belly, thighs and hips).
We now know you get better body shaping results when you perform this kind of circuit training using multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts, rows, presses, etc.
It takes less time, and it’s a lot more fun too!
Now you know the facts.
You have the proof.
Metabolic Resistance Training, coupled with basic healthy nutrition, is the key to your fat loss success.
Let’s get started!
If you’re not already involved with Basics and Beyond’s exercise and nutrition coaching, what do you think about starting with this?:
Two 30-minute workouts each week, along with some basic nutrition help.
- We’ve got locations in Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Antioch, or we can come to your home.
- Nutrition counseling is done conveniently online, so you can take things at your own pace, and on your own schedule.
- You don’t have to do any packages, contracts, or memberships — there’s nothing to ‘sign up’ for.
I can’t make it any easier than that.
So if you’re not in yet, and you want in, just click here and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.