If your desire is to lose inches and shape up your body, then
you should work on both decreasing body fat and increasing
muscle mass. Development of more muscles does increase your
metabolism and assists in burning more calories. Doing exercises
that help build muscle is made easier when fat is lost. You
should reach both goals at the same time if you exercise
properly. Using this two-step plan will allow you to get optimal
results.
Burn Fat
Interval training is among the quickest ways to burn fat.
According to a study by the American College of Sports Medicine,
more calories are burned during short, high intensity workouts
than in lengthy more slow paced workouts. The main idea behind
interval training is a high level of intensity. It uses small
cardio bursts mixed between intervals of slower exercises, which
allows you to get a full body workout while maximizing your
calorie and fat burning abilities.
The anaerobic and aerobic body systems will burn more fat under
this type of exercise program. The anaerobic system, triggered
by fast aerobic exercise, uses energy stored in the muscles. To
begin the aerobic system, you start with slower workouts. These
allow your body to take oxygen and change carbohydrates that
have been stored into energy. Burning of maximum amount of
calories and building of muscle is attributed to changing of
systems.
How would I begin my interval training? To warm up your
muscles, do some walking in place, followed by stretches, which
will loosen your muscles. The warm-up and stretching phase is
essential to prepare your body for the first slow interval of
two minutes. Calisthenics such as sit-ups, squats or crunches
are particularly useful exercises for the slow intervals.
100-110 beats per minute is the ideal heart rate. Decrease your
exercise pace even more if your heart rate is faster than this.
After the two minutes pass, you can start the fast interval.
This interval also lasts two minutes, however the focus now is
on high impact exercise such as running or jumping rope. To get
maximum effect alternate two minutes fast and slow intervals for
30 to 60 minutes.
Gain More Muscle
Interval training certainly does help in gaining some muscle
however, using the two-fold interval training and weightlifting
routine will provide the best overall results in the shortest
period of time. Alternating days between interval training and
weightlifting is the most effective method. This will give some
rest to your weight lifting muscles, yet you are still able to
build different muscles and burn calories.
Make sure you exercise slowly when you weight lift so that your
muscles can advantage as much as possible from the workout. In
addition, be sure to do diverse strength exercises to work many
different muscle groups: arms, legs, inner and outer, triceps
and biceps, deltoids, gluteus, pectorals and more.
You can train your abs every day, since they are stronger
muscles. Therefore, you should do sit-ups and crunches during
both routines, if at all possible.
Since you are simultaneously burning fat and building muscle,
this two-step method is ideal. Why wait? You can burn calories
and gain muscle all at the same time!