8 Tips to Burn Fat Fast

8 Tips to Burn Fat Fast!

Copyright 2005 Pat Rigsby



Are you looking for that "jump start" to rev your

metabolism and get you bathing suit ready? The following

eight tips will 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

stares when you don that bikini or pair of trunks.



1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of

free-weight or cable exercises.



Compared to machines, free-weight 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 mostly compound (multi-joint and multi-muscle)

exercises.



When focusing on improving body composition, you can't

worry about "detail" exercises, so you should use exercises

that'll get you the biggest bang for your buck. Isolation

exercises can be used at the end of a workout to work on a

specific weakness, but only do the bare minimum.



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 muscle and the increase in metabolism that

comes with it, you must choose exercises that allow for the

greatest load. One of the main reasons why squats are

superior to leg extensions for quadriceps development

relates to the fact that the load you can expose the

quadriceps to is much greater with squats. That's why

presses and dips will give you great triceps development,

while triceps kickbacks will do little for triceps

development and even less for the metabolism.



A good rule of thumb is to use lifts 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 muscle

mass, and in turn ignite your metabolism.



3. Super-set or group exercises.



Perform either non-competing muscle group training or

antagonist training.

Non-competing muscle group training would involve doing a

set of a lower body exercise, and following it up with an

upper body exercise

Antagonist training is executed by alternating exercises

that target opposing muscle groups (e.g. chest and back).

The list of benefits includes: quicker recovery, greater

strength levels and shorter workout times.



This design can be a huge advantage in your mission to burn

fat. If you alternate exercises for opposing or

non-competing muscle groups, you'll be able to keep your

heart rate elevated and burn calories like a blast furnace!



4. Keep rep ranges, in general, between 8 and 12.



Through research, it has been determined that the best

range for hypertrophy (muscle gain) 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 the "big kahuna" of

all training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilate's

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 superset 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

superset.



6. Every session should consist of approximately six to

eight exercises.

Why? Because empirical evidence has shown that normal

trainees can consistently maintain six to eight exercises

per session without burning out.



It's imperative to base your exercise selection around

compound, multi-joint exercises. Seventy-five percent (75%)

of your exercises for each session must be compound

exercises. Six single-joint isolation exercises are not

going do the trick. Sure, you can perform a few isolation

exercises, but the majority of your exercise choices should

be multi-joint.



7. Perform Total Body Workouts



First and foremost, you must drop the notion that a muscle

group can only be trained once or twice a week. Fitness

enthusiasts from the past didn't train that way and you

shouldn't either. The more frequent muscle producing / fat

burning sessions you can have, the better.



8. Cardio is not the cure-all for Obesity



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.







About the Author:



Pat Rigsby is a nationally renown fitness expert and

co-owner of Fit Systems. For the latest tips on fitness and

nutrition, you can subscribe to his popular newsletter at:

http://fitsystemspersonaltraining.com/fitnews.