Recommended Sites
Archive for the ‘Burn Fat’ Category
As we continue our discussion on ways to burn fat and keep our metabolism revved up, one of the most important things you can do is…EAT! That’s right, eat every 2-3 hours. It doesn’t have to be much, a peice of fruit, a handful of nuts or some veggies. Never, ever skip a meal!!! You might think the opposite would be true, au contraire!
When you don’t eat, your body thinks there is a famine and your metabolism actually SLOWS down to conserve energy. By eating every few hours, forces your metabolism to maintain its use of energy which can help the body burn fat.
The key here folks, is what you choose as a snack! Yes, your metabolism will maintain itself if you eat a bag of chips, but is that a wise choice? Think about eating a small amount of nuts, which has good fats that will help you to feel fuller longer.
Combine adding muscle to your body and frequently eating, the metabolism will maintain energy, burn fat, and promote weight loss at the same time. It’s a double whammy and you win all the way around!
As we age, our metabolism slows down which means the ability to burn fat also slows down. There are a number of reasons for this. One reason is genetics. The genes we inherited from our parents determines the levels of appetite controlled hormones within our bodies. These hormones dictate our basic activity level. One example of this is fidgeting. Fidgeting actually burns more calories and uses more energy. Therefore, people who fidget are the higher metabolism types. I’m sure we all know someone who can’t sit still without moving their leg, or just be able to sit and talk on the phone but has to walk around.
Gender is another reason why women burn fat and metabolize slower than men. Since men usually have more muscle mass than women, their metabolism is higher and so is their fat burning abilities. In fact, on average men’s metabolism is 10-15% higher than women’s. Women’s bodies are designed to hang onto their body fat in case of pregnancy.
Don’t be discouraged though, regardless of genetics and gender there are ways to burn fat and increase your metabolism. For the next couple of days I’ll share some of those secrets with you!
There are a variety of ways to burn fat, and some ways are smarter than others. Experts agree that you should elevate your heart rate for at least 30 minutes to burn fat. There are some concerns I have to mention during these summer months with regard to safety and your workouts. If you are taking your fat burning workouts outdoors, be mindful of the heat and humidity. It will take your body at least 7-14 days to get acclimated to this type of weather. Remember to stay hydrated before, during and after a workout.
Even if you are working indoors to burn fat, be aware that you may achieve a higher heart rate quicker than usual due to the heat and humidity. It may not take as much energy to get the heart rate in your targeted zone, so pay close attention to it. The rules still apply, that is, to not exceed your maximum heart rate! A heart rate monitor is the best way to do this.
You don’t need anything fancy with a GPS, and all crazy bells and whistles. Simply get a device that monitors your heart. The average cost is about $50. It’s probably the best investment you can make for yourself to be safe and burn fat! I have a perfect Polar heart rate monitor for less than $50, just click here!
The ability to burn fat is directly proportionate to muscular endurance and caridorespiratory conditioning. As you will learn here, the more endurance you have, the more efficient the body will be at burning fat in the aerobic energy systems.
Endurance relies on repeated muscular contractions over a long period of time. Cardiorespiratory conditioning is the efficiency in the way our bodies use oxygen to get to the working muscles. The more efficient the heart can pump blood, oxygen and nutrients to the muscle, the greater your body’s endurance. The way to increase your muscular and cardio endurance is by maintaining your heart rate in its target heart rate zone (between 55-90% of your max heart rate) for at least 20 minutes. The longer time and the more frequently you do that the better your endurance.
The benefit of better endurance is a lower resting heart rate, a higher stroke volume,
which is the amount of blood pumped from the heart. The quicker you will get to your target heart rate and a more efficient use of your aerobic energy systems, for glycolysis and fat burning.
The body also needs anaerobic conditioning as well, for those short bursts of high energy needs. This anaerobic energy system uses ATP, Creatine Phosphate, and glycogen within the first 2 minutes of your immediate high energy needs, and then converts to the aerobic energy systems which burn fat.
The best way to achieve muscular strength, power and endurance, is by interval training. Interval training requires maximum amount of energy for a small finite period of time, followed by a submax, or recovery period for a longer period of time, alternating between max and submax conditioning. Refer to my web site, www.fitnessfromthepro.com for more on interval training.
The more flexible we are the less risk of injury, because we will have a greater range of motion. Although, that ROM is joint specific and direction specific. No matter how flexible we are, our knees and elbows will NEVER bend backwards. Our flexibility, is genetic which determines the length of the ligaments and tendons. Flexibility is also based on lifestyle, and past athletic history. Flexibility becomes limited with age, so it is good to incorporate stretching into all workouts even if they don’t burn fat!
Yesterday I went to this fabulous training called AthleKinetix! It was all about doing multiple exercises, with multiple pieces of equipment, at the same time for one complete hour. There were no breaks between movements. We were up and we were down, we balanced, there was yoga and pilates. It was a plethora of fitness! This training kicked butt!
This was similar to a bootcamp, but had much more balance and yoga. It wasn’t the” on the floor yoga” but more standing poses, from Warrior I, II, III into Triangle and Half Moon. Then we would go into plyometrics to get the heart rate up again. You will definitely burn fat, tone up, stretch out, increase balance and muscle endurance with this class. Tomorrow, I’ll go over some challenging moves.
You have resolved to lose weight and burn fat for this new year. Admirable, now let me help you achieve your goals. Or perhaps you need to change up your routine. May I suggest a Boot Camp style class. My gym calls it “Train with the Trainer.”
The American Council on Exercise (ACE), had research recently completed a study, which shows doing a boot camp class, using calisthenics, can burn 300 calories for every 30 minutes of exercise. If the class is an hour long, that is 600 calories in hour…roughly a calorie a minute!! This is an intense class using exercising with incremental rests, is very similar to interval training.
You will burn calories and most definitely burn fat. Try to work in a boot camp class once a week to keep things fresh!