Sweat it Out: How to Increase Fat Loss during Your Workout

If you have been exercising for any length of time, you know how good regular movement is for your body. It can keep you feeling limber, give you more energy, improve your mood and lower your risk of many chronic health conditions. However, if you want to ensure that your workouts are specifically targeting extra fat that you have, try these four smart workout tips.

Try Strength Training

Muscle burns more calories than other tissues do. Therefore, it is in your best interest to focus plenty of your workout time on strength training each week. You can try using light weights with high reps, or you can choose to use very heavy weights to max yourself out in under eight reps. Both types of strength training can help you get lean without bulking up dramatically.

Try High Intensity Interval Training

High intensity interval training, or HIIT workouts, have been gaining in popularity over the past few years. Not only are they a fun new way to spice up your workout, but also they have been shown to be better at burning calories and fat off your body in a shorter amount of time than you would see with regular cardio. Try working out at your highest intensity for two minutes before leveling off for the third minute. Do this over and over throughout your workout time.

Try More Cardio Exercise Overall

Despite the benefits of HIIT workouts, it is still important for you to get in your regular cardio workouts as well. After every cardio workout, you continue to burn fat calories at an increased rate for several hours. You will notice that your metabolism is boosted. Therefore, it is important to raise your heart rate regularly several times every week. Even in cold weather, you can continue your outdoor cardio workouts when you wear warm running leggings and long sleeve performance shirts.

Exercise Hungry

Although this may initially make you feel quite uncomfortable, you can ensure that your body is using fat stores for energy if you exercise on an empty stomach. This is especially effective in the morning when you are sure that your body has burned through all of its food from the prior night. Go for a run or do your cardio workout first thing in the morning before having a protein-packed breakfast to get you ready for the rest of the day.

While anyone knows that weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you take in, it is not always that easy to focus on fat loss, especially if you want to keep up your muscle mass. However, by focusing on smart strength training, using HIIT workouts frequently, amping up your cardio workouts, and knowing when to eat around your workout time, you can ensure that your body is working its hardest to burn through your unwanted fat stores. Slowly start integrating these changes into your regular workouts, and watch your body become lean and strong.