Study after study has proven that low-impact exercise, like walking, actually burn more fat calories that high intensity workouts. This means that even people who need to avoid putting stress on their joints can lose weight and burn fat. An extra perk of walking is that pretty much everyone can do it for free.
You can begin by walking for ten to twenty minutes. Walk at a comfortable pace and try and up that pace a little bit every day. Be careful not to over exert yourself. If you can't carry on a conversation, you are walking too quickly for your fitness level. Until your fitness level improves, just slow down a little bit. If you need to add a boost to your walking workout, add light hand weights. This simple addition will help you gain muscle and burn fat and calories.
Dance Away Fat
Dancing is rapidly becoming a popular exercise choice to burn fat and whittles down waistlines. Plus, dancing can be so much fun that you will completely forget you're exercising.
A 150 pound person will burn between 103 and 189 calories ballroom dancing and over 200 calories ballet or aerobic dancing in only thirty minutes.
So dance burns calories--how does it do at burning fat? Dance combines fast and slow steps, which forces your body to switch back and forth between aerobic and anaerobic systems that burn fat. When you do fast-steps, you jump start the anaerobic system which uses up the energy stored in your muscles. The slow steps make the aerobic system kick in and convert stored carbohydrates into energy. This burns fat and calories, and also builds muscles which will help burn fat too.
Jogging for Less Jiggle
Another fabulous fat burning activity is jogging. In just 30 minutes of jogging, a 150-pound person will burn 238 calories. You can make jogging into an even better fat burner by incorporating the aerobic/anaerobic switching we just talked about. The first step is to walk at a medium speed for two minutes. After that, switch to a jog for two more minutes. Alternate between walking and jogging for a total of 30 minutes. You'll burn fat most effectively if you alternate between slow and fast motions which switch the aerobic and anaerobic systems on and off.
Muscling in on Fat
As you read before, additional muscle helps you burn more fat. Muscles accelerate your metabolism, which means you'll burn more calories. Weightlifting is the all around best way to build muscle.
When you first start, use a very low weight barbell. For most people, 5 pounds is a good starting weight. Test the weight by attempting ten lifts with the barbell. If ten repetitions are a cinch, move up to a heavier weight. If ten repetitions are too difficult, you should use a lighter weight. You can switch out a fat burning exercise with a weightlifting regimen on alternate days.
Choose the exercise that works with your lifestyle and you'll soon start shedding pounds.
