Everyone wants to know if aerobics is better than strength training or cardio better than intervals. The main question is “What is the best way to lose my belly fat?”
Well, to say I’ve done them all would be an understatement.
With over 15 years experience helping others, training myself, training for sports, spending countless hours in the gym, AND actually conducting laboratory research studies on different exercise methods, I’m pretty confident in knowing what works and what does not.
Time. Do you have it? For those of you who can’t spend 90 minutes per day exercising I want to talk to you.
People read in magazines that we need to spend so much time on this and we disconnect.
For someone who is not a triathlete and just wants to tone and lose weight you don’t need to work out 6-8 hours/week.
Therefore to get a better body, you need…
For warming up use your body-weight, to build muscle use strength training supersets, and then to burn fat in a short amount of time and finish your workout use interval training. This system is made so that you can be in and out of the gym in 45 minutes only 3 times per week.
Warm up using 5 minutes of bodyweight exercise. This will be much more effective than walking on a treadmill. Walking on a tread mill will only get you ready to walk more on a treadmill.
The next 20 minutes are going to be spent with strength training supersets. Use two exercises back to back with minimum rest in the middle. For this you will use basic exrcises and depending on your goal for muscle building possibly add more bodyweight exercises.
Finally, 18 minutes of interval training. This will include a warm up, then determined by the client’s fitness level five or six short intervals while switching off with short periods of low intensity recovery.
Most people run, cycle or ride a cardio machine for 45 min. straight which will burn calories. But won’t get you that six pack.
In fact, long slow cardio has a downside. We already know results are different. But overusing muscle groups leads to injuries and it is an inefficient form of exercise. When are you going to build your muscles and sculpt that beautiful body if you are on a cardio machine for 30-45 min straight?
So the best way to burn belly fat is with a combination of strength training and interval training. It’s fast, it works, and it’s fun!
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. To learn more please visit Craig Ballantyne’s Website here.
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