Do you dream of losing fat and inches off of your body? So that you can make that dream come true, and so that you can be more content with your health, you need to begin a workout routine that allows you to not only lose fat, but also gain muscle at the same time. Metabolism is increased as you gain muscle and will help you burn more calories. When you begin to lose fat, you will find that it is easier to gain muscle. Both of your goals will be achieved at the same time by correct exercise. Below you will find a guideline for an excellent plan that is made of only two simple steps, but it will produce tremendous results.

1. Shed Those Extra Pounds

Interval training is one of the quickest methods to burn fat off of your body. According to the American College of Sports and Medicine, a workout of short, high intensity workouts burn more calories than one with long, slower workouts. Interval training is training at a high intensity. Slow exercises are interrupted by very intense cardio workouts. This provides your system with a complete body workout and succeeds in maximization of the caloric and fat burning abilities.

Both the aerobic and anaerobic body systems will burn fat when you do these exercises. The fast aerobic exercises get the anaerobic system started and that uses the energy stored in the body's muscles. Oxygen is utilized to turn the body's carbohydrate store into energy when the slow workouts get the aerobic system activated. The alternating of systems burns the maximum amount of calories while also building muscle.

How do you go about beginning interval training? Always begin by warming up your muscles, which walking in place is a great way to accomplish this. Once you feel that they are warmed-up you will need to loosen the muscles, which will require that you stretch. After stretching is done then a two minute slow interval can start. Calisthenics such as sit-ups, squats, or crunches are excellent exercises for slow intervals. 100-110 is the goal heart rate per minute you want to achieve. You should slow your exercise if your heart rate is higher than this.

Your fast interval will start once your two minutes are over. This two-minute interval will consist of high impact exercises like running or skipping rope. Repeat these two-minute intervals alternating between fast and slow for 30 minutes to an hour for maximum results.

2. Increase Muscle Growth

Even though interval training does increase muscle gain, you can get better results in a shorter amount of time if you utilize a two-fold interval training and weightlifting routine. Alternating daily between interval training and weightlifting is the most effective way to accomplish this. You are still burning calories and building muscles, while it gives your weight lifting muscles a day to rest.

You'll need to complete all of your exercises slowly to get the maximum usage of each muscle on the days you complete your weightlifting routine. A variety of lifts, which exercise the inner and outer thighs, triceps and biceps, delts, gluts, pecs, etc., are very necessary.

Because the abs are more resilient than the other muscles, they can be worked on every day without giving them a rest day. Because of this, endeavor to include both crunches and sit-ups in workouts both days.

By utilizing this two-pronged attack, results are maximized since you are actually burning fat and increasing muscle simultaneously. Why wait to be trim to build muscle or muscular to burn those calories?