I often get asked about the type of exercise you should do to burn more fat, flatten your stomach and hips, and to look and feel better.
If you categorize any exercise, it will generally fall primarily into one of the main categories:
1. Cardio-vascular exercise
2. Strength training
2. Strength training
And I would add a third category for fat loss:
3. Nutrition
Lets now take a detailed look into all three categories to determine which one you need to focus on.
Cardio-vascular Exercise
Cardio-vascular exercise - or simply, cardio - is anything that elevates the heart rate for a continued period.
Popular examples include running, jogging, swimming, cycling, aerobics classes, Zumba, walking or dancing.
The good news is that cardio can burn a large amount of fat, among other positive health benefits including heart and lung health.
The problem, however, is that once the cardio stops, so does the majority of fat burning. For a beginner, this is fine, as a small amount of cardio will result in large returns.
However once you build a reasonable amount of cardio fitness, the benefits continue at a rate of diminishing returns. After a while - several months - you will need to do more and more cardio to continue getting benefits.
In today's time-poor society, this is not an ideal way to stay healthy in the long term.
Strength Training
Strength training can include anything that provides resistance. For example, weight machines, body weight, Pilates and calisthenics.
When you perform such exercise repeatedly, your body will build more muscle. Muscle tissue, even when it is inactive, requires calories to maintain its current form.
Basically this means that muscle requires more calories to survive. This results in a higher caloric burn (What fitness professionals call your basal metabolic rate), which in turn burns higher amounts of body fat.
This is my preferred form of exercise for fat loss for that reason - it burns more fat and permanently elevates your metabolism.
Nutrition
Nutrition is by far the most important of the three. There is a saying that goes, "You can NOT out-train a poor diet."
This means that no matter how many hours per week you train, if your diet is not clean and consisting of the right foods, you will NOT be able to create permanent and long-term change.
In summary, the most important form of exercise is that which is made up of resistance exercise.
However keep in mind, that no matter how hard you train, if your diet is made up of the wrong foods, you will not progress.
Check out http://www.PeteTansleyFitness.com for more information.
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