Aerobics Corner

Physical training can be a fat burning workout every time you train.

A lot of people are interested in losing that stubborn, unwanted fat… and are in search of a good fat burning workout.

Burning fat is one of the major reasons people participate in a physical training program… They want to burn fat to look better.

What I am going to propose is that in order to get the most fat burning qualities out of your workout you have to make a shift in training mentality.

Instead of looking at a fat burning workout as a way to look better… View burning fat as a way to perform better.

Just forget about looks for a second… and view your physical training as strictly a way to improve performance.

Losing unwanted and unneeded fat will definitely improve physical performance.

This shift in workout mentality will guide you to choose strength, conditioning and fitness exercises and methods that will develop into excellent fat burning workouts.

I am not going to give you a fat burning workout… I am going to teach you how to make every time you train a fat burning workout.

First of all, let me tell you what I don’t think is a fat burning workout…

You go to the gym, warm up, do sets or circuits of strength training, do 20 minutes of “cardio” in your “fat burning zone” and then cool down.

I also don’t think this is a fat burning workout…

You go to the gym, warm up, do 20 minutes of “cardio” in your “fat burning zone”, do sets or circuits of strength training and then cool down.

These two examples sound like the workout programs of 98% of the people reading this… Are you one of them?

If those two scenarios were the keys to burning fat… Why are you still looking for a good fat burning workout?

OK… so what is an effective fat burning workout?

For an effective fat burning workout you need to blur the lines between strength training and metabolic conditioning and add intensity.

Let me explain…

Most people don’t think of strength training as a fat burning workout… mostly because they are doing body building isolated movement exercises at a pace that does not get the cardiorespiratory rates up and keep them up.

This is normally the same group of people that think the best “cardio” comes from extended, constant rate aerobic exercise in the fabled “fat burning zone”.

But let me suggest this… If you combined lifting weights and cardiorespiratory exercise and performed them at an intensity and pace that got your cardiorespiratory rates up and kept them up you would have everything you need for an excellent fat burning workout.

What would this type of intense strength and conditioning fat burning workout accomplish…

1) Development of lean muscle that would burn more calories for maintenance in the future.

2) Improvement of cardiorespiratory endurance, allowing you to work out harder in the future and burn more calories.

3) Increase in metabolism so that you would continue to burn calories for hours after the workout.

4) Allow you to accomplish a strength, conditioning and fat burning workout in a fraction of the time of separating the workouts.

5) Teach your body to function as one complete unit and to use strength and cardiorespiratory endurance simultaneously.

If you are concerned with improving overall strength, conditioning and fitness performance… Then you need to drop that unwanted fat that is keeping you from reaching your potential.

Ironically, if you concentrate on performance improvement by adding intensity and variety to your workouts and blur the lines between strength training and conditioning training, you will see superior fat loss than programs claiming to target fat loss.

Start training for physical fitness improvement and every workout will become a fat burning workout.

Just think of what you can accomplish in sport, work and life activities when you develop a body that performs as good as it looks.

So, don’t train for appearance.

Train for performance… and the appearance you want is sure to follow.

Coach Lomax is a strength, conditioning and fitness coach dedicated to building better humans for sport, work and life. Learn more at Optimum Physical Training or take his FREE Tabata Calisthenics Workout Mini Course.

Social tagging: Cardio Zone > Mentality > Strength Training
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 8:51 am and is filed under Aerobics Articles.