Posts tagged burn fat

Muscle vs. Fat

Feb 6th

Posted by Funkster in Diet and Nutrition

No comments

What is important to remember when you are undertaking any exercise or weight loss programme is that if you perform weight training, you WILL put on weight. If you’re obsessed with weighing yourself, this isn’t going to help you one bit and can lead you off the right path onto the wrong.

Instead, get rid of the scales and let your clothes tell the truth. I always know when I’ve lost weight because my clothes are loose. The scales always show me at the same weight or more but I do a lot of weight training.

The reason I state this is because muscle does weigh more than fat, so obviously if you are doing regular weight training the muscle gain will show up on the scale. This can make some people panic but remember muscle is your best friend and will help to burn off the fat over the long term. It may not be overnight but you will certainly look leaner if you keep up weight training.

Another myth that most people worry about with weight training is that they will bulk up to look like Arnie. Even if you start with light weights and perform 20-30 reps, you will start to build muscle. To burn serious fat, try to increase the weights every week. The more weight you can squat or press, the more leaner your muscles will become. Avoid pyramid training which use heavy weights and you’ll be fine. I would highly recommend Body Pump. It is tough but work on building your mental strength to perform weight training.

Even today I weighed myself and I usually never do. Twelve stone. I am lean but I perform a boxing training, body pump, spinning, and skipping over the week so my metabolism is high. Another great thing you must know about weight training is that it will burn still be burning off fat for up to 48 hours afterward. Cardio may burn it for up to 2-3 hours afterward so how cool would it be to burn fat through the night.

Remember to eat lots of protein to fuel the additional muscle.

, , , , , , , , ,

Tips to get Killer Abs

Jan 21st

Posted by Funkster in Hints and Tips

No comments

We all have beautiful killer abs inside us. It is only because fat covers the muscles that we do not see them. It is pretty simple. Lose weight and  improve muscle tone equals weight loss. What many people seem to think is that starvation diets will help them to lose weight or thousands of crunches will burn off fat around the stomach. This is a myth!

In order to shed weight and show off those killer abs, it is important to carry out both aerobic and anaerobic training. Aerobic training may be cycling, walking, rowing, skipping, running etc. Anaerobic training can take advantage of body weight training ie. sit-ups, pressups etc, weighted machines like the leg press and chest press, or free weight training, which involves using the core muscles and specific weights to tone areas of the body. Free weight training is a lot more effective than weighted machines but this kind of training may cause an injury if the exercises are not performed correctly.

Remember that muscle tissue does weigh more than fat so if your weight increases slightly and you have made no changes to the diet, this may be because you have gained muscle tissue. This is good because, over time, it will get rid of fat and shrink the cells. Although your weight may stay the same your body will look leaner because the body is burning many more calories per day and at rest.

If you are serious about getting killer abs, both weight training and aerobic exercise is extremely important. Women need to get their body fat percentage down to around 12-15% for sexy muscle tissue to be visible. Men need to lower it to 8-12%.

Obviously, do it the right way without any silly diets. It is important to eat a lot of protein when you are undertaking weight training to repair the microscopic tears to the muscle tissue. Also have a rest day every two days. Weight training performed regularly will increase the metabolism for up to 48 hours afterward.

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Burn Fat in 15 Minutes

Jan 11th

Posted by Funkster in The Workouts

No comments

This tough workout is so effective. It gets the heart pumping, burns fat, and builds important lean muscle tissue. This short circuit has no rests, which keeps the heart pumping and burns calories.

Equipment required

  • Stability ball
  • Medicine ball
  • Skipping rope
  • Exercise mat

The workout

  • Skip for 4-5 minutes to warm up the muscles.
  • Perform thirty high jumps non-stop to work the heart. This requires mental strength to perform the exercise correctly. Try to jump to waist height. Motivate yourself with mantras.
  • Grab your medicine ball and jump on the stability ball. Roll the ball over your abs and push the medicine ball over your head. Perform 20-30 non-stop.
  • These are tough. Press-ups on a stability ball. Place your hands on the exercise mat, your feet on the stability ball. Steadily push down into press-up position without your legs falling off stability ball. Raise up and then pull your legs in to your chest slowly on the ball, then push out again. That’s one rep. Try to do 5-10. These are very tough but work effectively to tone the core muscles.
  • Perform thirty squat thrusts to further kill the arm muscles after press-ups.
  • Do 20-30 tricep dips on the stability ball. If you can hold your legs out straight for a harder burn or keep the knees bent for an effective exercise.
  • To finish off, perform 20-30 squats. Place your hands behind your head and squat down so that your thighs are parallel with your feet. Keep the back straight and feel the burn in your thighs and buttocks.

How’s that for a short, intensive, fat burning, muscle building workout?

, , , , , , , , , , ,