Ask the Trainer: Fat Burning

Q: What is the fastest way to burn fat?

Answer:  A lot of people when they want to lose weight will up their cardio and spend hours running on a treadmill or using an elliptical when really they should be focusing on strength training.   Cardio only burns calories and fat during the exercise but strength training leads to Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen or EPOC.  This means that your body continues to burn fat and calories for up to 72 hours later.

Muscle is metabolically active tissue,  it is the exact location fat is burned.  The more muscles you have, the more fat you will burn, even at rest.  This is referred to as your muscle metabolism.   For this same reason when you work out larger groups of muscles or even just larger muscles you will in turn burn more fat and calories during and after that workout.  This is why lower body workouts tend to burn more fat than other workouts.

A fat burning workout should consist of 3 major things:

1.  Sets involving multiple exercises performed back to back 2.  Full body circuits 3.  High intensity, repetitive exercises Strength training not only burns the most fat and calories but has numerous other benefits for your body as well.  The stronger your muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments are, the less likely they are to be injured.  Strength training also promotes elasticity in your muscles. It helps stop, prevent and even reverse bone loss.  It raises your bodies endorphins which will improve your mood and give you more energy. Lastly strength training is something that can be done by everyone regardless of age or athletic ability.  It is very easy to adjust exercises by adding weights or simply using your own bodyweight.

Check out our video for a complete fat burning leg workout!

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