Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and lose your ‘mommy belly' once
and for all? If so, the following seven tips are exactly what you need to
improve your workouts and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips,
but beware, the result may be a number of admiring second glances and the need
to pull your ‘skinny jeans' out of the closet.
1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of free-weight, bodyweight
or cable exercises
Compared to machines, free-weight, bodyweight and cable movements often require
more skill, create muscular balance, and have a greater metabolic cost. For
example, it is more difficult to balance the weights, and to coordinate muscles
when performing free-weight exercises. Although this may sound like a
disadvantage, it is actually a benefit. By balancing and stabilizing
free-weights or cables you are working more muscles through a greater range of
motion resulting in more muscles developed and more calories burned.
2. Use exercises that work more than one muscle at a time
When focusing on fat loss, you can't worry about "shaping" exercises, instead
you should use exercises that'll get you the biggest bang for your buck and work
as many muscles as possible. Isolation exercises can be used at the end of a
workout to work on a specific target area, but they just serve to supplement
your core movements.
Virtually every savvy fitness professional is privy to the fact that compound
exercises recruit the most muscle groups for any given body part.
If you seek lean, toned muscles and the increase in metabolism that comes with
them, you must choose exercises that work as many different muscles as possible.
One of the main reasons why squats are superior to leg extensions for improving
your body is that they also work your butt, hamstrings and inner thighs in
addition to toning your quadriceps while leg extensions focus on just the front
of your thigh and don't really offer any other benefit. That same rationale hold
true for arm exercises too. That's why dumbbell presses and dips will are more
valuable for your arms than triceps kickbacks and pushdowns.
A good rule of thumb is to use movements that will allow you to use the most
weight. These will have a systemic effect on your body that'll help maintain or
increase your lean muscle, and in turn ignite your metabolism.
3. Pair exercises
Pair your exercises together so that you alternate between upper-body exercises
and lower-body exercises or between exercises that target opposing muscle groups
(e.g. chest and back).
This type of approach will keep your workouts short and efficient by eliminating
much of the downtime that comes between sets of a single exercise since you are
working on one movement while resting from another. This approach can also yield
huge benefits in your mission to burn fat. Since you'll constantly be moving and
keeping your heart rate elevated, you'll be burning far more calories than you
would during a typical workout.
4. Keep your reps between 8 and 12
Through research, it has been determined that the best range for building lean
muscle is roughly between 8-12 reps. Since the main focus of your resistance
training efforts is to gain lean body mass and stimulate your metabolism, this
rep range fills the bill perfectly. "High reps for tone and fat loss" is one of
the biggest (and most unproductive) training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga
and Pilates' community have convinced us that when we perform bodyweight
exercises or light resistance training for high reps, our muscles magically take
on a beautiful shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you
challenge yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body will take on a
bulky, unflattering appearance. If you believe this, you probably still believe
in the Tooth Fairy!
5. Rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets
When you keep the rest periods under one minute, it's easier to stay focused on
the task at hand and keeps your heart rate elevated. In addition, it forces your
muscles to recover more quickly between sets, along with keeping your nervous
system revved up.
If your first movement in an upper/lower body pair is squats, you might want to
rest 60 seconds before attempting your second movement. However, if your first
exercise is a fairly "easy" exercise, like lat pull downs, you might only wish
to wait 30 seconds before doing the second part of the pair.
6. Perform total body workouts
You must drop the notion that muscle groups work independently of one another.
Muscles work together and should be trained that way. Besides, not only does
this approach mean less time in the gym, but by working the whole body three
times per week, you'll be maximizing the fat burning effect of your program.
7. Cardio is not the cure-all for fat loss
Cardiovascular exercise aids in the creation of a caloric deficit, but the
caloric expenditure during cardio is temporary. Strength training addresses the
core of the problem by permanently increasing the rate at which the body burns
calories by adding muscle. The best programs will include both strength training
and cardiovascular training, but the core or the programs effectiveness is
resistance training.
Take these strategies and incorporate them into your workout routine. Not only
will you save a lot of time, but you'll also soon see a leaner and more toned
body. Not to mention a few more turned heads and the re-emergence of your skinny
jeans.
About the Author
Holly Rigsby is a nationally recognized women’s fitness coach, certified
personal trainer (CPT) and the author of the internationally popular e-book –
Fit
Yummy Mummy - Burn Your Baby Fat & Get Your Body Back. Go to
FitYummyMummy.com to get your FREE copy of her special report: "The Five
Ways To Boost Your Metabolism."
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