Fat loss is probably the number one most common fitness goal people have in modern society. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the many things that most people are really bad at achieving.
The many things people do wrong with their diet when trying to lose weight is a topic for another article. Today I want to focus on the exercise side of the equation.
When it comes to exercise most people equate more fat loss with more jogging. Unfortunately, jogging is not only a very boring but also a very ineffective method for burning fat. (My apologies to all you jogging nuts who might be reading this. I only call jogging boring because most of us think that it’s really, really boring.)
Jogging, Pros and Cons
Now, before I go bashing on jogging to much, I will mention that it does have its pros. It does utilize the aerobic system to burn energy. If done properly that energy will come mainly from fat. This is good, because in case you haven’t been keeping up, burning fat is what we want more of.
Although this method is effective at utilizing fat for energy during the workout there is one problem. Once the workout is done, the fat burning is done too. Because of the low intensity of this exercise the body does not need to utilize much energy to recover from it.
A more efficient way to exercise when trying to lose fat is to perform brief, high-intensity workouts. The high-intensity of such exercise causes the body to make repairs after the exercise is completed. The result is that while you’re watching TV and resting after an intense workout your body is still burning fat. In fact, it might continue to do so for up to 48 hours after the workout is finished! That means you’re burning fat while you read, you’re burning fat while you waste time on Facebook and Twitter and who knows what other kinds of social networks you’re into, and even burning fat while you sleep. It’s not a bad deal as far as I’m concerned.
By now you’re probably thinking, “Please, Jedi Master Seth teach and enlighten me in the subtle art of fat-obliterating workout routines!”
Well, never you fear. Today I’ve got not one, not two, not three but four workout routines to choose from that you can use to pack in some awesome fat blasting in under 20 minutes.
Hill Sprints
Sprints in general are possibly the most valuable tool we have when it comes to burning fat through exercise. Have you ever been to a track meet? If so, did you notice a contrast between the distance runners and the sprinters? If your experience has been anything like mine you will probably have noticed two very different physique types.
The distance runners were probably, for the most part, thin and scrawny.
The sprinters were probably, for the most part, lean and muscular.
It doesn’t take a genius to recognize the potential of this pattern. But, there are ways to make our sprints even more effective for fat loss. One of these is sprinting up hills.
Our strategy here is a rather simple one.
Workout: Perform a brief warm-up consisting of things like light jogging, dynamic stretching, plyometrics and/or light bodyweight exercises.
Sprint hard uphill for 10-20 seconds. (You don’t need to be completely exact with time. It’s better that you sprint hard and estimate time, then that you sacrifice intensity to be able to check your watch.)
Rest between 10-60 seconds depending on how advanced you are in your ability and on how long you are sprinting.
Repeat for a total of 6-10 sprints. Afterwards walk briskly for five minutes as a cool down.
Note: If, like me, you live in an area where hills are basically nonexistent you can always try substituting them with stairs or bleachers.
Sled Pushing Sprints
Another way to perform sprints for fat loss is by performing brief bursts of weighted sled pushing.
Pushing against a weighted sled has several advantages. It’s excellent for building strength and power. It helps to develop overall athleticism and conditioning. And it’s an excellent technique for causing the fat to melt off your body.
One problem here is that a lot of gyms do not include weighted sleds. If this is the case in your gym, you have a few choices.
Number one: Talk to the gym owner or manager about maybe providing one.
Number two: If the first option doesn’t work you can always buy your own. The Prowler is a good option, but unfortunately it’s not exactly cheap.
Number three: You could improvise with your own makeshift sled made with a small pile of weighted plates that you just push across the floor.
(If you have another idea for what could be done, please let us know about it in the comments.)
Workout: Perform a brief warm-up consisting of things like light jogging, dynamic stretching, plyometrics and/or light bodyweight exercises.
Push the sled hard for 20-30 yards. Rest 30-60 seconds. Repeat for a total of 4-6 sprints.
Kettlebell Swings
In recent years the rise in popularity of kettlebells has been hard to miss, especially if you’ve been following the fitness industry. The buzz has been so extreme that there seem to be many who claim that kettlebell training is all that is necessary for fat loss, exercise and fitness.
Personally, I adopt a more moderate approach when it comes to kettlebells. I consider them to be one of the many tools in our exercise toolbox. That toolbox also contains things like barbells, dumbbells, strongman equipment, bodyweight exercises, etc.
Personally I believe that barbells have certain advantages over dumbbells. Dumbbells have certain advantages over barbells as well, I believe. I believe bodyweight exercises have some advantages over kettlebells. I also believe kettlebells have some advantages over bodyweight exercises.
One strength that kettlebells certainly seem to have is the effectiveness of kettlebell swings when it comes to fat loss. There is simply a great deal of evidence that kettlebell swings are not only effective for shaping the glutes but for blasting the fat as well.
Workout: Perform a brief warm-up consisting of things like light jogging, dynamic stretching, plyometrics and/or light bodyweight exercises.
For this workout we want to select a kettle bell of moderate to heavy weight. Our goal is going to be 75 total kettlebell swings. The amount of sets it takes to complete 75 reps will depend on your strength, endurance and willpower. If you’re getting all 75 reps done in 1-2 sets consider upping the weight. This workout should be challenging to complete.
Complexes
Weight training in general is one of the best things you can do if your goal is to look and feel great. If you have time for one single type of exercise, and only one, I highly recommend strength training.
Strength training is generally excellent to for fat loss. This is probably something that you don’t hear very often. You’re probably used to the idea that if you want to get strong and muscular lift weights, if you want to lose fat go jogging.
You need to get this out of your head. Like I mentioned earlier in the article, jogging (or any type of low intensity, slow go cardio) is only effective for fat loss during the workout. We want something with higher intensity that causes us to burn fat after the workout.
Because of the high demand resistance training places on the body, our bodies need to use ample amounts of energy to recover and rebuild after performing such exercise. Fat is stored energy. If the body needs plenty of energy to recover from a workout, guess where it’s going to get that energy from.
Today I want to offer a method of weight training that can be used to accelerate fat loss even more than most types of resistance training: complexes.
Complexes can be basically defined as a group of exercises put together into a circuit that are performed without letting go of the weight bar. The strategy that we are going to use is putting together a few different exercises that are fairly equal in difficulty. This will allow us to use a weight that will be close to equally challenging for each exercise.
What we’re going to do is choose a weight that can be performed for about 10-12 reps on the weakest of the exercises that we’re performing.(Yes, I know I said they should all be about equal in difficulty. The keyword here is about. They’re not going to be exactly the same.) Then we’re going to group the exercises together and perform only five reps per exercise.
Now, you might be thinking, “If I can perform 10-12 reps on the weakest exercise, why am I only doing five reps per exercise?” It’s a good question. The answer is that we’re not trying to build strength here we’re trying to burn fat. By keeping the reps lower we allow ourselves to have sufficient strength and energy to keep going with other exercises, without a break. The end result is that instead of doing 10-12 reps we’ve done 25 reps in just one set, with exercises that can only be performed about 12 times by themselves.
Now, by doing this we’re not building up much strength but we are pushing the limits of our work capacity. We are performing a great deal of work in a small amount of time. The body will have to use energy to recover from working so hard. More energy usage equals less fat equals us being happier. It’s just a great big circle of bliss!
Workout: Perform a brief warm-up consisting of things like light jogging, dynamic stretching, plyometrics and/or light bodyweight exercises.
We’ll be grouping five exercises together: power clean, front squat, bent over row, push press, stiff legged deadlift. Perform five reps for each of the exercises in that order with a weight that you can lift 10-12 times on the weakest exercise (probably bent over row). Do not take a break or put down the bar until all 25 reps are performed.
Rest for 1-2 minutes. Repeat for a total of five rounds.
Conclusion
Well, that about covers it. Four fat blasting workouts that can be performed in under 20 minutes. Which one do you like best? And why? Let’s hear about it in the comments!
Seth Coyne is a Certified Sports Nutritionist and a Certified Personal Trainer. He is the founder of www.youthfulblueprint.com. He is the author of the report “The 3 Pillars of Health” which is available for FREE DOWNLOAD.
