7 Fat Loss Strategies For Busy
Moms
By Holly Rigsby, CPT
Fit
Yummy Mummy Lifestyle Program
Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and
lose your 'mommy belly' once and for all? If so, the following
seven tips are exactly what you need to improve your workouts
and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips, but
beware, the result may be a number of admiring second glances
and the need to pull your 'skinny jeans' out of the closet.
1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of free-weight,
bodyweight or cable exercises.
Compared to machines, free-weight, bodyweight and cable movements
often require more skill, create muscular balance, and have a
greater metabolic cost. For example, it is more difficult to balance
the weights, and to coordinate muscles when performing free-weight
exercises. Although this may sound like a disadvantage, it is
actually a benefit. By balancing and stabilizing free-weights
or cables you are working more muscles through a greater range
of motion resulting in more muscles developed and more calories
burned.
2. Use exercises that work more than one muscle at a time.
When focusing on fat loss, you can't worry about "shaping"
exercises, instead you should use exercises that'll get you the
biggest bang for your buck and work as many muscles as possible.
Isolation exercises can be used at the end of a workout to work
on a specific target area, but they just serve to supplement your
core movements.
Virtually every savvy fitness professional is privy to the fact
that compound exercises recruit the most muscle groups for any
given body part.
If you seek lean, toned muscles and the increase in metabolism
that comes with them, you must choose exercises that work as many
different muscles as possible. One of the main reasons why squats
are superior to leg extensions for improving your body is that
they also work your butt, hamstrings and inner thighs in addition
to toning your quadriceps while leg extensions focus on just the
front of your thigh and don't really offer any other benefit.
That same rationale hold true for arm exercises too. That's why
dumbell presses and dips will are more valuable for your arms
than triceps kickbacks and pushdowns.
A good rule of thumb is to use movements that will allow you
to use the most weight. These will have a systemic effect on your
body that'll help maintain or increase your lean muscle, and in
turn ignite your metabolism.
3. Pair exercises.
Pair your exercises together so that you alternate between upper-body
exercises and lower-body exercises or between exercises that target
opposing muscle groups (e.g. chest and back).
This type of approach will keep your workouts short and efficient
by eliminating much of the downtime that comes between sets of
a single exercise since you are working on one movement while
resting from another. This approach can also yield huge benefits
in your mission to burn fat. Since you'll constantly be moving
and keeping your heart rate elevated, you'll be burning far more
calories than you would during a typical workout.
4. Keep your reps between 8 and 12.
Through research, it has been determined that the best range
for building lean muscle is roughly between 8-12 reps. Since the
main focus of your resistance training efforts is to gain lean
body mass and stimulate your metabolism, this rep range fills
the bill perfectly. "High reps for tone and fat loss"
is one of the biggest (and most unproductive) training myths!
Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilates' community have convinced
us that when we perform bodyweight exercises or light resistance
training for high reps, our muscles magically take on a beautiful
shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you challenge
yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body will take on
a bulky, unflattering appearance. If you believe this, you probably
still believe in the Tooth Fairy!
5. Rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets.
When you keep the rest periods under one minute, it's easier
to stay focused on the task at hand and keeps your heart rate
elevated. In addition, it forces your muscles to recover more
quickly between sets, along with keeping your nervous system revved
up.
If your first movement in an upper/lower body pair is squats,
you might want to rest 60 seconds before attempting your second
movement. However, if your first exercise is a fairly "easy"
exercise, like lat pull downs, you might only wish to wait 30
seconds before doing the second part of the pair.
6. Perform total body workouts.
You must drop the notion that muscle groups work independently
of one another. Muscles work together and should be trained that
way. Besides, not only does this approach mean less time in the
gym, but by working the whole body three times per week, you'll
be maximizing the fat burning effect of your program.
7. Cardio is not the cure-all for fat loss.
Cardiovascular exercise aids in the creation of a caloric deficit,
but the caloric expenditure during cardio is temporary. Strength
training addresses the core of the problem by permanently increasing
the rate at which the body burns calories by adding muscle. The
best programs will include both strength training and cardiovascular
training, but the core or the programs effectiveness is resistance
training.
Take these strategies and incorporate them into your workout
routine. Not only will you save a lot of time, but you'll also
soon see a leaner and more toned body. Not to mention a few more
turned heads and the re-emergence of your skinny jeans.
About the Author :
Holly Rigsby, CPT, MAT America's #1 Fat Loss Expert for Busy
Moms and the author of FitYummyMummy.
Holly has worked with over 300 Mom's to help them lose the stubborn
baby fat, get their pre-baby body back and reclaim their yummy-ness.
Don't miss her Free Report: Top
5 Busy Mom Metabolism Boosters.
Visit Fit
Yummy Mummy Now!
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