AerobicBlog.com

There’s a lesson I wish I had learned a long time ago. It is that there are other ways to burn calories and lose weight besides aerobics. Because it seems that resistance training may be as important for burning off the fat.

Which might be one reason my fat loss was less than I expected despite hours peddling the stationary bike in my bedroom.

So if you too are laboring (literally) under the misconception that aerobics is the best too, the isn’t it time to clear the air? I mean just why is aerobic training said to be best for burning fat? Or so it seems? And where does resistance training fit into this picture?

Well from what I can tell aerobic exercises have always been associated with fat loss. The reason is not hard to see. Aerobics is relatively easy and not all that uncomfortable to do. I mean come on now. It’s not THAT tough compared to some things. Besides the theory is simple enough. Reach your fat burning zone. Stay there for 30-40 minutes duration. And you are done.

And don’t forget you can often distract yourself with TV, music or other types of entertainment when doing aerobics.

Resistance or strength training, on the other hand, now that involves a lot of stress and strain. You have to struggle with weights, do 2-3 sets with 12-20 repetitions in each set at least. I mean who wants to get out of the comfort zone of aerobics and do resistance training? Not me.

But let’s do a reality check here and take a hard look at the list of relative benefits of cardio exercise versus strength training as defined. With an easily overlooked drawback thrown in too.

When it comes to burning off fat here’s how I see what cardio offers.

Your cardiovascular training routine burns more calories than weight training - but not significantly more.

Fewer calories are burned AFTER your cardio workouts stop however.

Plus you can’t ignore the serious stress you’re putting on your joints and the strain on your muscles unless of course you’re doing water aerobics.

Okay so what does resistance training do for you in the fat burning department?

Actually, depending on the number of reps and how much weight you use, you can burn about the same number of calories as with an aerobic workout.

And get this. Post workout, your metabolic rate remains elevated by as much as 30% and will stay that way for as long as 36 hours. Meaning that as your muscles rebuild and repair you are still burning calories. Even while you sleep.

Any core workout that strengthen your ab muscles means there’s less chance of injury because you’re improving your overall balance and coordination.

Voila! Looks like resistance training builds fat burning muscles and helps you lose fat too. No complaints there. So now what? What should you do about it?

First this revelation is no reason to call the whole thing off. Your cardio routine that is. No, the reasonable thing to do is combine moderate weight training with low impact aerobics. I suggest that because aerobic activities themselves bring with them their additional benefits.

They make you heart and lungs stronger so that they are more efficient.

They improve blood circulation.

They assist in the development of improved stamina, endurance, and level of fitness.

They can help speed repair of muscle tissue damage resulting from your strength training workout.

That makes the success formula obvious. Simply embrace a complete system of cardio, resistance training and better diet to become a fitter, leaner you. Easy, right?

Want to know more about aerobics like say a jump rope fitness workout? Are you aware of the benefits of jumping rope? If not you are missing out on a cheap, simple exercise that can be done almost anywhere. To find out more why not visit MeltOffTheInches.com now?

Looking for a way to eliminate those embarrassing love handles? Do those bulges visible through your sweater seem resistant to every attempt you’ve made to get them to melt away. As you’ve found occasional jogging and crunches galore haven’t budged them as they hang in there as noticeable as ever.

What you’ve got is a bit of a Catch 22 here. Because it’s not easy to spot reduce the fat away from a specific part of your body. Yet let’s see if we can’t suggest an approach that might help change your life for the better as you lose those pesky love handles.

So are you ready for it?

Part of the problem is that for some anyway the love handles are one of the last fat reserves to go. Not what you wanted to hear I know. But not only is it not possible to spot reduce the fat you’re trying to get rid of has a tendency to resist all reduction efforts to begin with.

Your best bet is focus on lowering your overall body fat percentage. For women that would be like 20-30%. While men reading this want to aim for 10-19%. Obviously the closer to the lower number you can get the better.

So how to go about getting there? Here’s what you need to do.

A diet plan that has you eating 500 less calories daily is critical. And don’t think you’ll be depriving yourself here. Not when a one cup serving of sugar covered corn flakes has nearly 400 calories by itself. I’ll bet there are plenty of other things you could stop eating or drinking that would make 500 calories seem like nothing.

But let’s say 500 calories a day still seems insurmountable. Even if it doesn’t you still want to do a 30-45 minute cardio workout four times a week. Five sessions would be better still. Doing so will increase the calorie burn giving you two ways to burn off that fat clinging to your waist.

The ideal thing is to get into a sustainable routine that you enjoy. Over the long haul if you can cut back on how much you eat and burn off more calories you will see those love handles melt away.

The third step in this process is to go ahead and exercise the muscles you’re hoping will become evident eventually. While doing oblique focused exercises won’t have an immediate impact they can’t hurt.

To focus on your obliques do things that involve twisting your core. Even better your entire torso. So you want to do exercises like side crunches, weighted side bends and bicycle crunches. This will help tone and firm those muscles giving you something to show off once the fat is gone.

So there you go. Anyone can have sensational abs by consistently following a prudent diet and a workout routine designed to burn off the fat. Probably not quite as simple as 1-2-3 but this three way approach should have you looking in the mirror without wincing in no time.

And anyone interested in additional tips on how to treat love handles or a tummy toning ab workout should definitely visit MeltOffTheInches.com. That site is loaded with helpful workout tips, ideas and other useful abdominal training advice.

Losing weight is an extremely difficult task and it can be even more difficult if you aren’t getting the right advice. You are about to find out what a Washington, DC weight loss specialist has to say about the incorrect information that dietitians have been feeding you for years. It is now time for you to know the truth so that you can get rid of that weight for good.

There are many things that dietitians are saying that are not correct. To start with they will lead you to believe that aerobic activity is the best type of exercise for weight loss because it burns the most calories. The truth about this is that aerobic activity is not the best type of calories burning exercise. When looked at in a matter of calories burnt per a certain amount of time, interval training burns far more calories than aerobic activity.

Another piece of inaccurate information frequently passed on is that you need to workout 60 to 90 minutes a day, in order to lose weight successfully. That is a lot of time even if you spread it across the whole day. Getting in that much exercise is not easy for the everyday person. That is one of the major reasons why many people decide not to go through with exercising and losing weight before they even begin. But the fact is intensity training does not require that much time.

Yet another lie from the dietitians is that your body has a natural weight where it will stay no matter what you do. The truth is that you can lose however much weight you want and get to the weight you want. You can do it without exercising yourself to death or starving your body.

Another piece of information that has been misleading people is that strength training does not contribute to weight loss. The truth about muscle is that it burns more calories than fat and it makes you look leaner. Muscles will help you to lose weight in the course of time, that is why you have got to build them up.

As you can see many Washington, DC weight loss counselors and dietitians are way off about what they are telling you to do. The real truth is proven by people who have lost weight and kept it off. Dietitians learn everything they know from within their industry. These people may not know the whole truth. They are often stuck in the past when less was known about losing weight. Many of the statements above are things that were thought to be true in the past, but have now been proven false.

Before you completely let someone else tell you how to lose weight, you should do your research. You also should try out different things and figure out for yourself what works and what does not. You should look for proof to back up any statement made about weight loss. This will help you to ensure that you find weight loss solutions that true and not ones that will mislead you. Look for Washington, DC weight loss expert that will direct you to success.