Rapid Fat Loss And Fitness For The Busy Woman

The only way to build lean muscle in order to raise your metabolism to get rid of that unwanted bodyfat to a sustained level is through Strength Training. By increasing the lean muscle on your body using Strength Training, your metabolism increases dramatically burning fat at an alarming rate.

So what are the best forms of exercise for doing this? Well there are a few.

1 - Weight Training
2 - Interval training
3 - Kettlebell Training
4 - Bodyweight Exercises
5 - Tabata Training (A more advanced form of Interval Training)
6 - Yoga
7 - Pilates

Many personal trainers make exercise, fitness and weight loss more complicated than it has to be.

Exercise really is simple. Work hard with multi-joint exercises for just a few minutes at a time. Couple that with sensible eating and you will lose that unwanted bodyfat and weight.

As an example:

In an interval training workout, you alternate between periods of hard exercise and easy exercise.

For example, after your warm-up, you'll pick up the pace to a "harder than normal" intensity for 30-60 seconds and then bring the intensity down to a cool-down pace for 1-2 minutes. You'll repeat that cycle up to 6 times total for a massive fat burning and metabolism boosting effect. Not to mention the effect on your cardio fitness. This is a real quick workout that takes only 20 minutes.

Check the list from the previous module.

Your answer is All Of The Above.

I am a big believer in using different forms of exercise in my workout program.

I believe weight training should be the focus of an exercise program for fat loss. Not only is it more effective for fat loss, there is actually LESS chance of injury than with the typical repetitive-movement aerobic fitness activities (anyone who has tried to take up jogging when they're 20+ pounds overweight can attest to that!).

Weight Training when done properly and by that I mean concentraring on compound exercises (Squats, Bench Presses, Deadlifts, Presses etc) work the major muscle groups.

When you use compound exercises your getting a total body workout with each exercise. Hitting more muscle groups and burning more calories.

Weight Train 3-4 times a week add in 2-3 Interval Training, Kettlebell or Bodyweight exercise workouts.

Rapid Fire Fat Loss and fitness is your end result. Finally no more unwanted bodyfat. Not to mention increased energy, endurance, strength and flexibility.

Although all I have been talking about so far is exercise programs you must also be mindful of what you eat.

Muscle And Fat Loss
Having some muscle on your body is a great advantage in your quest for faster fat loss.

Having some muscle on your body will make your dieting efforts much easier. Your muscle burns fat even while you are sitting on the couch!

Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, much more so than fat. This means that muscle burns calories even when you are doing nothing.

Having more muscle means you can eat more and still lose fat.

The best way to gain muscle is through resistance training, e.g. weight lifting. This can be done 2 or 3 times per week for good results.

Aerobic exercise such as jogging may result in some muscle gain but it is minimal when compared to resistance training.

Muscle is what gives your body shape. You can lose all the fat you want but if you don't have any muscle to show then you won't have any real shape to show.

You should work out as much as possible. Since exercise has overall health benefits in addition to contributing to weight loss, the more we exercise, the better-right?

Not so. Weight lifting should be done only every other day, three days a week.

That's because strength training breaks down muscle,and the day off between workouts allows time for the muscle to rebuild.

You should also be careful not to overdo it on cardio. Too much can cause excess wear and tear on your tendons and joints, which over time can lead to joint pain or discomfort, especially in the knees, lower back, and shoulders.

You simply need to remember to give your body time to recover from its workout. Consider taking a day off once or twice a week as an "exercise holiday."

If you abuse your body, you will have difficulty achieving the results you are looking for.

Weight Training to lose fat is often mis-understood, with many people (women in particular) thinking that they would get bigger in the process.

Well, this just isn't true,in fact doing this to lose fat is both good and essential.

When people submit to a low calorie diet and cardio workout regime they lose muscle as well as fat.

However, when you gain muscle you can actually train your body to burn fat more efficiently.

Studies performed by Wayne Westcott, PhD, from the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, found that the average woman who strength trains two to three times a week for two months will gain nearly two pounds of muscle and will lose 3.5 pounds of fat.

As your lean muscle increases so does your resting metabolism, and you burn more calories all day long. Generally speaking, for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day. That can really add up.

They must be short (between 45 to 60 minutes maximum). After about 60 minutes, the levels of muscle building and fat burning hormones that your body produces (such as testosterone) begin to drop.

What this means is that training more than that will prevent you from gaining muscle and losing fat fast! It will also prevent you from fast recovery. As crazy as it sounds, that is the way it is.

The rest in between sets should be kept to a minimum (90 seconds or less). Keeping your rest in between sets and exercises down not only helps you to perform a lot of work and still finish within the allotted time frame, but it also helps improve your cardiovascular system. In addition, it has also been shown that this kind of training stimulates growth hormones output the most

This is a great full-body workout that hits all your muscles in the one go. It should be done three times a week on non-consecutive days, so there is one day rest between workouts.

1- Barbell or Dumbell Squats
2- Barbell or Dumbbel Bench Press
3- Barbell Bent Over Row or Dumbbell One Arm Row
4- Barbell or Dumbbell Press
5- Dumbbell Two Hand Tricep Press
6- Barbell or Dumbbell Curl
7- Calf Raises
8- Crunches

This is a medium load workout. Do this 3 times a week. If you haven't worked out for a long time or never do 1 set of 8-10 reps.

Work up to 3-4 sets per exercise. Stick with the same weight for a couple of weeks. Then try to add weight every week.

Kettlebells have been around forever. You know what they are right? Look's like a bowling ball with a handle attached.

Did you know that kettlebells are one of the best total body workouts you can get?

Check out the lens I have for you Kettlebell Exercise Workouts

Fat Burning Bodyweight Circuit Exercises

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS TurbulenceTraining

Fat Burning Bodyweight Circuit Exercises

When you travel, you worry about missing your workouts and eating poorly...So you must plan ahead for both (apples and almonds for planes, trains, & automobiles)...and bodyweight circuits for "no-equipment fat burning".

And while I have bodyweight exercises that are just as hard as the bench press and barbell squat in one of my bodyweight workouts, today we'll focus on replacing intervals with bodyweight circuits.

To do a bodyweight circuit...

a) Pick 3 lower body exercises

b) Pick 3 upper body exercises

c) Alternate between a lower and upper body exercise without rest, till you are done all 6 exercises

d) Rest a minute.

e) Repeat 2-3 more times until you are done 20 minutes

For example, this is a great circuit that doesn't need any equipment

1) Prisoner Squat (12 repetitions)
2) Elevated Pushups (8 reps per side)
3) Single-Leg Deadlift (10 reps per side)
4) Close-grip Pushups (As many reps as possible)
5) Jumping Jacks (30-60 reps)
6) Cross-Body Mountain Climber (12 reps per side)

Whew. That's pretty advanced...for a beginner, we'd slow it down like this and take some breaks between exercises...

1) Wall Squat (8 reps)
2) Kneeling Elevated Pushup (5 reps per side)
3) Lying 1-leg Hip Extension (8 reps per side)
4) Plank (30 second hold)
5) Jumping Jacks (5-10 reps)
6) Side Plank (15 second hold per side)

Safe travels, and of course, always check with your doctor before beginning a fat burning bodyweight circuit exercise program.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men's Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training

Let's see, take a 30-minute weight training machine circuit, add 60-minutes of cardio,
include 15 minutes for warm-up, stretching, and cool-down, and put that all together and
you have almost 2 hours "robbed" from you each day for your "fat loss" workout.

Now ignoring that these methods don't even work that well, who has 2 hours to spend in
the gym each day?

No one, unless you are a professional athlete, a movie star, or a hotel
heiress.

You live in the real world, where you need real results in as little time as possible.

And that's why I put together all of the right research and years of experience in
the gym to create the most efficient and effective fat loss program possible.

With Turbulence Training, you will be able to lose fat and gain muscle in only three
workouts per week, lasting less than 45 minutes each session.

Go click on the link to download Craig's free report The Dark Side Of Cardio

TurbulenceTraining

Check back often as I will be adding more exercises and workouts on a regular basis. As well as nutrition and clean eating guides.

No quick fix diets they do more harm than good.

I'll also get more into the how's and why's with kettlebells, tabata's, weight training and bodyweight exercises.

Thanks for stopping by. Joe