The Importance of Exercise In addition to eating the proper anti-estrogenic foods to remove stubborn fat, it goes without saying that a crucial part of any program is exercise. Diet alone is not enough. Regular exercise is not only beneficial for fat loss, but also for your overall health. Exercise lowers body fat, blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. You need to set some goals and plan to exercise on a continuous basis.



If you attempt to lose weight without exercise, you should expect only temporary success and expect to succumb to the rebound effect. This simply means that sooner or later you will eventually gain back the fat, which will be harder to remove the next time around.

Instead of using the diet-only approach, emphasize the diet and exercise combination and focus on increasing your daily activity level overall (for more information on exercising more rather than just eating less, see my article, "Movement Sufficiency, Not Calorie Deficiency"). Here are a few quick and practical suggestions: Walk to the store instead of driving, go for a bike ride, walk upstairs in office buildings rather than using the elevator, and park your car at the end of the parking lot instead of looking for the front row spot. Take short walks during daily breaks or after you get home. Mow your lawn with a push mower; vacuum your carpets every other day; tidy up your backyard, basement, or garage; iron your clothes; wash your windows; and play with your kids. These activities are usually not looked at as "exercise" or "workouts," but all such activity adds up at the end of the day, and it can work wonders as it accumulates over the long haul.

Naturally, of course, you should also have a more structured and formal exercise program to achieve maximum reductions in body fat. Even mowing your lawn has health benefits and burns some calories, but for really making inroads into reducing those stubborn fat stores, more intense and focused exercise is a must.

A great type of routine for stubborn fat loss goals is a circuit training program. This style of training not only raises your metabolism, improves your cardiovascular ability, and increases strength, it is also time efficient. Put together a routine that uses large body parts such as legs, chest, back and shoulders into groups and perform all of the exercises nonstop. You can also mix cardio interval training into your circuit workouts or in addition to your circuit workouts to increase the fat burning effect.

A Simple Circuit Program

Here is an example of an effective and time efficient circuit program that can easily be performed at home with nothing but dumbbells and a Swiss ball.

A1 - Swiss ball Squats (ball up against the wall)

A2 - Dumbbell Cleans

A3 - Dumbbell Flys on a Swiss Ball

A4 - Lunge

A5 - Dumbbell 3 Matrix (side laterals, bent laterals, front laterals)

A6 - Dumbbell Row

Perform each exercise with perfect form for 6'8 reps and then get on your cardio equipment and go hard for 1'2 minutes. Rest about 90 seconds before repeating the circuit 2'3 more times, as your schedule and fitness level dictate.

You can easily take one or two ideas from this series, put them to work, and immediately begin to see improvements in stubborn fat reduction. However, the real secret, if there is one, is putting all the pieces together into a comprehensive, healthy lifestyle overall.

The lifestyle suggestions below may seem basic and general, but when combined with what you've learned in this article series, they will have a profound impact on your outcome.

1.Don't diet-Eat reasonably but do not starve or deprive yourself; avoid yo-yo dieting.

2.Avoid empty calories and processed refined foods like sodas and sweets.

3.Eat many smaller meals-Eat light at every meal to keep your blood sugar steady and your metabolism stoked.

4.Eat healthy fat-Eat omega-3 fatty acids such as those found in salmon to promote proper hormone function and balance.

5.Eat a lot of vegetables, focusing on the cruciferous variety.

6.Drink lots of water-What can I say other than, "without it, you will die!" Drink half an ounce for every pound you weigh.

7.Get sufficient quality and quantity of sleep.

8.Keep stress to minimum.

9.Avoid excessive and chronic use of stimulants.

10.Exercise-Just a little increase in daily activities will go a long way toward improving your health; add circuits and intervals to knock off the most stubborn fat.

11.Have a little fun-Find an exercise program you enjoy and stick to it.

A special thanks to my good freind Ori Hofmekler

Copyright (c) 2007 Personal Fitness Development