Many people wanting to go to the gym sometimes have this notion that they are working out because they just want to get rid of fat in one part or a specific area of the body.
But guess what? It is one huge myth that gets thrown around so people will actually buy into what they are selling.
Doing all those crunches using some contraption you’ve just seen on television will not burn the fats on your belly. Ultimately, it also will not give you a six-pack by doing a hundred crunches when your abs are hiding under the fat.
The human body works in mysterious ways. It needs you to follow a certain regime for it to come up with the results that you wanted.
In reality, those workouts you do is for burning fats in your entire body. You become healthier and fitter; and you can then target which muscle groups to develop.
But fat-burning? That’s a little more complicated.
How do you burn body fat?
Here is what works for fat burn: regular exercise and good nutrition.
Targeting muscle growth can help improve the muscles’ definition and you could break it down into specific areas: chest, arms, legs, abs or back.
But going back to fat burning, why don’t we try workouts that are geared towards a holistic fat burn or that will blast the calories, burn fat all over your body, and get the body ready for muscle toning?
Cardiovascular exercises like running are great ways to burn fats, but it is proven that cardio workouts — partnered with resistance or weight training —are way better means as it burns fats faster.
What are these fat-burning exercises?
- Burpees. These are known to be a full-body exercise. It involves a lot of movements and targets a lot of muscles. In doing the burpees, you need to do it fast and the most number of repetitions in order to get the fat torching level.
To do burpees, you start with a plank, push-up, squat and jump. String them together and repeat those movements to torch those fats.
- Jumping Rope. What? That game little girls play? Yes! let’s up it a hundred repetitions and it will be one of the best fat blasters of any grown person.
A jump rope may look like the most basic ‘equipment’ in the gym, but it is one of the best things that could get you to burn fats.
To do jump ropes, you need to hold the rope on each end with your arms locked on your sides. Spin the rope using your wrists and jump as the rope hits your feet and as the rope swings back for another rotation. Once you have gotten the rhythm, do it faster so your heart rate shoots up for a better calorie and fat burn.
Jump ropes are also used as one of the exercises of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
HIIT is a cardiovascular exercise and is a set of short but intense burst of physical activities for a few seconds followed by a short interval of very quick rests followed right away by the next exercise in the series. It is known to build up muscles.
- Goblet Squats.
It is a form of squat where you hold in front of your body the weights like kettlebell or dumbbells, usually as heavy as about half of your total body weight. This helps keep your upper body upright and in proper form. A thigh exercise, it also works the shoulders. This exercise usually done in high-rep exercises. Do this 10 reps per minute for 10 minutes.
- Kettlebell Swing.
This exercise is known to be a great cardiovascular exercise plus resistance training and should be able to torch those fats. Kettlebell swings, especially the alternating ones, is a good exercise since the motion of passing the kettlebell from hand to hand while swinging is a good cardio workout. On top of that, it works not just your arms, obviously, but also your core as you strengthen it when you try and control the movement and the swing.
To take advantage of its full potential, you can do swings for 30 seconds with 15 second rest in between and do it for about 20 minutes.
- Farmers’ Walk
They say walking is the simplest way to get your heart rate up. It is something one does forever. Just imagine adding weights to this simple activity and you can already imagine those fats melting.
Walking provides a lot of health benefits without subjecting your body to high-impact injuries.
To do this, hold dumbbells in both hands and walk for a minute. That is one set. Rest for 30 seconds and do another set and you repeat this 10 times. You can play around a farmers’ walk as you can hold your weights overhead, chest level or hip level.
- Battle Rope Wave
One exercise that can rip through those fats are the rope exercises. It offers a low impact on the lower body but will burn through your back chest and core will have a good workout.
There are many variations to the rope exercises:
Power slams, which offer a total plyo-metric burn as it tires out your muscles fast. You slam those heavy ropes while jumping for added burn.
There are also other slam options like the single arm slams, where you alternate your arms from slamming the rope to the floor. Do this with control and alternate both arms in quick motion.
You can also do the regular slams, where you simply squat and with your back straight and with control, slam those ropes to the ground without flailing your body around.
Rope waves are the most basic but still offers maximum burn. You squat, back straight and raise the ropes up and down and see it make the wave motion. You may also do this alternately, one arm at a time
Weighted Jacks. Stand feet together holding the ropes on both hands with an underhand grip. Jump to wide legs hand with the rope ends stretched overhead. It is jumping jacks with the added weight of the heavy ropes. Now that’s cardio and strength training in one!
These are just some of the exercises that you can do so you can lose fat. You can’t simply say you want to lose fat in your arm. It does not work that way. Losing fat means burning fat and calories through an intense strength and cardio exercises and, more importantly, proper nutrition.
Once your muscles have been exposed after hiding from all those fats, then you can start targeting sculpting your muscles. This does not happen in one session. All these are a result of consistent hard work and it may take months of even years, but consistency and hard work will get you the results you want in no time
