Lose Fat

2006-03-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

Lift Weights To Lose Fat

("By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT)

Most people believe that if your goal is fat loss, you should start with aerobic workouts and lose the body fat first before adding weight training. That is a big mistake and here's why: Obviously, weight training is the chief element in developing strength and muscle mass. What few people realize is that weight training can also increase fat loss dramatically, so by skipping the strength training in favor of aerobic-only training, you are not increasing your fat loss, you are slowing it down!"

Weight training is anaerobic and therefore burns primarily carbohydrates (sugar) during the workout. Cardiovascular exercises such as jogging, cycling, step classes, or stair climbing are aerobic and therefore burn primarily fat during the workout. So it seems logical to focus on aerobic training for fat loss. What you're missing if you skip the weight training is the benefits that accrue after the workouts.

Something interesting happens "beneath the surface" when you lift weights. Intense, progressive weight training increases your lean body mass - aerobic training does not. Excessive aerobics combined with low calorie dieting or aerobic training without weight lifting can even cause muscle loss. If you lose lean body mass, your metabolism slows down, and this makes it easier to gain fat and harder to lose it. If you increase your lean body mass, you increase your basal metabolic rate, and fat loss becomes easier. Best of all, you increase metabolism and fat burning even when you're not working out...

Weight training provides an additional short term increase in metabolic rate after the workout, called "excess post exercise oxygen consumption" or EPOC for short. It's a myth that "all exercise" keeps you burning calories for hours after the workout. Only high intensity exercise increases post workout energy expenditure substantially and weight training has the greatest effect of all. (High intensity cardio also has a high EPOC, but that's the subject of another article). This explains why bodybuilders, who train with weights religiously and have extremely high muscle to fat ratios, can stay lean year round without doing much aerobic work.

Losing body fat as quickly and efficiently as possible requires a three-pronged approach: (1) balanced nutrition from natural foods, (2) aerobic training, and (3) weight training. All three ingredients are essential. If you neglect any one of these components, it will compromise your results because you lose the "synergy" created from this combination.

In "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" Author Steven Covey wrote, "Synergy means that 1 + 1 may equal 8, 16, or even 1600. Synergy is everywhere in nature. If you plant two plants close together the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together they will hold much more than the total of the weight held by each separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

When you include weights, cardio and balanced nutrition in your fat loss regimen, the effects of the three parts brought together are not linear, they are exponential. Each part complements the others and multiplies your results. You develop an efficient metabolism and a lean, muscular body that could not be achieved with one or even two of the components in isolation.

The best you can hope for from diet and aerobics alone is to become a "skinny fat person." You may lose weight from diet and aerobics, but much of it will be muscle, your fat to muscle ratio will plummet and you will take on a "soft" appearance. It's not uncommon for a woman 5 feet 4 inches tall to weigh 125 pounds and yet have 25-30% body fat. According to the Metropolitan Life height and weight tables, 125 pounds is ideal for a medium-framed 5 4" female, but 25-30% body fat is extremely poor for anyone! Without the weight training, you will never optimize your muscle to fat ratio and you will always struggle to keep fat off permanently.

If you have extremely limited time, and your main priority is to lose fat, then you can keep your weight training brief - maybe 30 minutes 3 days per week - and spend the rest of your time concentrating on cardio. But never neglect the weights completely - always do both, and if possible, devote an equal amount of attention to each.

Last, but not least, don't forget that weight training, not cardiovascular training, is "shapes" and sculpts your muscles. Simply put, lifting weights makes you look better! If you want a lean, hard, fat-free body, then get out of the aerobics studio, get off that bike or treadmill, and pick up some barbells and dumbbells! Lifting weights isn't just for "muscle-heads" anymore.

"This article was provided courtesy of Tom Venuto and Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, freelance writer and author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models.

For more information on how Tom's fat-burning system can help you lose fat quickly and easily... even if you've tried everything and the flab doesn't seem to budge... then click here NOW and find out how to get rid of that excess weight for good.

Lose Fat

2006-03-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

Lose Fat

What to watch out for before you buy a product to lose fat

What is a lose fat product and what is it suppose to do to your body? This is a question that anyone that wants to lose fat should ask before buying any product that claims to lose fat. In a real sense, a good product designed to lose fat is suppose to help you get rid of your body fat permanently. When I say permanently, I mean permanently.

There are a lot of pills on the market today claiming to help you melt the fat away. There are thousands of diet or lose fat program and so many people are claiming to be experts. So which lose fat pills really work? Which supplement can you trust to help you melt all the fat away without any side effect. Unfortunately, there's a lot of fat burner around and lots of desperate people are easily duped and ripped off.

If you are making the same costly mistake like most other people, you might lose some weight temporarily, but you will actually get fatter in the long run. You have to work with your metabolism, not against it, you do not want to damage your metabolism. The diet methods most people use don’t work, 95% of people who lose weight, gain it all back. Losing weight is not something one can do overnight.

A carefully planned weight loss program requires common sense and certain guidelines. The leading experts now recommend that people who want to lose fat start increasing their physical activity. Just being more active in general (such as climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, moving around instead of sitting still, sitting up instead of lying down as well as showing some excitement and enthusiasm instead of boredom), are part of the things that you can do to effectively burn calories and reduce body fat.

So how will you know a good product to lose fat when you see one?

The following factors can be seen in a good product

A good product will help you lose fat permanenetly: 95% of those who go on conventional diets gain all the weight back and sometimes they end up fatter than when they started.

A good product will help you lose fat without wrecking your metabolism: Some people start a diet and end up slowing down their metabolism.

A good good will help you lose fat without drugs: Drugs work, but the results are temporary and have side effects. If you want to lose fat, use a natural fat burner.

A good product will not depend only on supplements: Some basic supplements are helpful for "nutritional insurance," some are great for convenience and some supplements may even help speed up the fat loss process - a little - but not nearly as much as the advertising leads you to believe. Even supplements that have been scientifically proven effective are only responsible for a small fraction of the results you achieve. When people tell you that supplements might help take you from 99% of your potential to 100% of your potential, then you might want to listen. But if anyone tries to convince you that supplements are essential and that you can't succeed without them, beware; they are probably just trying to sell you something.

A good product will help you lose fat naturally: What you eat matters. There are some food that you can eat and burn fat naturally.

Safe weight loss is about maintaining health whilst losing weight, it is not about losing weight rapidly; this has never worked and never will. One of the best books I have come across is a book written by Tom Venuto called "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" a complete fat burning system based on the secret techniques of the world's best bodybuiders and fitness models which you can get by clicking here

Trying to lose fat can be frustrating and stressful, but it can be easy if you do it the right way. so be sure to check that book out.

Lose Fat

Lose Fat

2006-03-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my lose fat blog. Here you will learn what to look out for before you buy any product to lose fat and the best method to use to lose fat. I will be posting to this blog including the link to my other blog. Fat Burner