I am often asked what the best exercises for fat loss are, what exercises burn most calories, or my favourite, what abdominal exercises are best to lose the belly fat?
Whilst I would say that nutrition and lifestyle are huge factors I would say that your gym sessions play a critical role too. And today it’s your gym sessions that I want to talk about.
For those reading this that train with us at Results Fitness Camp you will know that nearly all of our workouts start (after the warm up) with some form of leg exercises, whether it be some form of squats or swings. The reason we start with these exercises is that training legs – Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, is one of the most effective methods for fat loss. Here’s why
1 – Leg Training Burns More Calories
Training your legs using big compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, swings, lunges, step ups, and sprints give your legs the attention they deserve. Not only that, your glutes are the biggest muscle in your body and your quads and hammies have their fair share of lean muscle too. The more muscle there is, the more calories are required for that muscle to move. The heavier the weight you lift, the more calories are required to move that weight.
When I am asked – what abdominal exercise is best for a flat stomach, my answer is usually none. Heavy squats and swings will flatten your stomach quicker than any other exercise.
2 – Legs – More Calories Burned at Rest
EPOC – is an acronym in exercise science that stands for ‘Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.’ This refers to the calories and fat burning that occur after a workout. After a workout, your body must recover and return back to its normal state.
Your body repairs broken muscle fibres, re-stocks glycogen levels which have been depleted, removes lactic acid from muscles, and brings down the heart rate and body temperature. All of these processes require calories and the majority of these come from fat calories. The degree of your EPOC is directly related to the intensity of your workout.
A heavy leg session, will crank up the intensity of your workout and disrupt all of the measures listed above allowing for more energy (calories) to be burned during and after the workout has finished
Now ladies, don’t panic. I am not saying you need to turn into some kind of quadzilla. You just need to add a little extra lean muscle tissue to boost your metabolism and ensure you look smoking hot in your new Lulu Lemons.
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