What is the best way to exercise to reduce body fat?
These days we are spoilt for choice when it comes to exercise. From reformer pilates to intense HIIT workouts or the latest cycle classes, it can be a minefield trying to work out the best “workout” for you. And while we would most probably like to try a whole bunch of classes, it can get expensive signing up to multiple gym memberships in Perth.
The most common question you find yourself asking is “what is the best exercise class to reduce body fat.”
Aside from doing 200 burpees everyday (which has been proven to be one of the highest calorie burning exercises!) let’s look at what the experts are recommending.
- Aerobic Exercise
What classifies as aerobic exercise? It’s termed “aerobic” as this form of exercise requires increased oxygen consumption and is known to increase your heart rate to deliver more oxygen-carrying blood from your lungs to your muscles.
Exercise such as;
- Running
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Dancing,
is classified as Aerobic exercise.
If performed at a high intensity, you can burn more calories in an aerobic exercise than you would when lifting weights. But just before you announce you’ll never pick up a dumbbell again, read on.
- Weight Training
As mentioned above, cardio has been known to increase your body’s ability to burn fat, more so than lifting weights. However, it can be argued that weight training helps us to build our muscle fibres, which in turn burn more calories at rest than other tissues.
Experts believe that incorporating weight lifting into your weekly exercise regime will help to increase your resting metabolism.
In layman’s terms, weight training will help you to burn more calories when you’re sitting at your desk reading blogs like this!!
According to PubMed Central a highly-respected database from the National Institute of Health, studies that followed both men and women over the course of 24 weeks of weight training highlighted a 9% increase in the resting metabolism of the men. The women were saw an increase of almost 4%.
Before you race off to lift the heaviest object closest to you, check out our recent blog here for “how to avoid muscle strain at the gym.” https://www.langerhealth.com.au/how-to-avoid-muscle-strain-at-the-gym/
- HIIT Training
HIIT training, which is short for High Intensity Interval Training has grown in popularity due to its efficiency. Who doesn’t like the sound of a 10-30 minute workout? Research has shown that when performed correctly, you can burn up to 30% more fat with a HIIT workout.
The key is to exert yourself with every exercise, it’s a hard and fast workout that puts a certain level of stress on the body. It’s this stress to forces change ie. fat loss. However, studies show that whilst short term stress helps to increase cortisol, which helps the body to grow stronger, long term stress can have negative benefits. Therefore, no more than 2 x HIIT workouts a week are recommended.
“Research shows that 30-40 minutes of training with your heart rate above 90 percent is a suggested maximum cumulative time per week, in order to prevent symptoms of overreaching.” Jinger Gottschall, Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University
- Abs are made in the kitchen, and at the gym…
Finally, there’s that age old saying, “Abs are made in the kitchen.” No amount of exercise is conducive to a poor diet. If you are reversing your hard efforts by chowing down on high sugar snacks, chances are your fat loss journey will take a lot longer.
Experts believe that a combination of all of the above is essential to successful long term fat loss and your overall health and wellbeing. This is why franchises such as F45 that combine weights, HIIT and cardio have grown exponentially.
Next time you are browsing the local gyms and fitness classes of Perth, keep the above in mind and work towards a happy medium! And remember…
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…”Theodore Roosevelt