Anyone looking to get in shape, lose inches, and feel better about his or her body should use the duel process of losing fat and gaining muscle. Your metabolism will increase and you will be able to burn more calories by gaining more muscle. It is easier to exercise to gain muscle by losing fat. You will find yourself achieving both objectives at the same time if you exercise correctly. You can get the best results by following this two-step plan.

1. Burn Fat - If you are looking to burn fat the quickest way possible, interval training is the way to go. Short, high intensity workouts were found to burn more calories than long, slower workers in a study done by the American College of Sports Medicine. Interval training concentrates on high intensity workouts. This mixes intervals of slow exercises with small bursts of cardio. This maximizes your calorie and fat burning abilities while giving you a full body workout.

When you choose interval training, your body burns fat as a result of the combination of aerobic and anaerobic systems. The anaerobic system uses energy stored in the muscles and is activated by fast aerobic exercises. Oxygen converts the body's stored carbohydrates into energy in the aerobic system, which is activated by slower workouts. The switching of systems builds muscle as well as burning the most calories possible .

How can interval training be started? Do some stretches to loosen the muscles after walking in place to warm them up. You can start the first slow two-minute interval once you are stretched. Calisthenics, like sit-ups, squats, or crunches are some great exercises for your slow intervals. You want your heart rate to beat in the range of 100 to 110 beats per minute. You should slow your exercise even more if your heart rate is faster than that range.

The fast interval can begin after the two minutes end. A high impact exercise like running or jumping rope is incorporated into the interval, which will last two minutes.

To get maximum results, repeat these two minutes fast and slow intervals for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour.

2. Gain More Muscle - Although interval training will help gain some muscle, to get the best results in the smallest amount of time, you can use a two-fold interval training and weightlifting routine. This can be successfully accomplished by alternating a day of interval training with a day of weightlifting. You are still burning calories and building other muscles while giving your weight lifting muscles a day to rest.

When you do your weightlifting, you need to be sure that your exercises are carried out slowly. This will allow your muscles to see the most benefits. Furthermore, make sure you are doing several different lifts so that you can work different muscles including the inner and outer thighs, triceps and biceps, delts, gluts, pecs, etc.

Unlike most muscles in your body, you can actually work out your ab muscles on a daily basis since they recuperate much faster. There should be both crunches and sit-ups included in both days' workouts.

You can get the best results because you are burning fat and building muscle at the same time using this two-step strategy. You'll be able to get it all done at once, as it is not necessary to wait until you are skinny to build muscle, and it is not necessary to wait to be muscular to burn calories!