Fat Burning Workout Secret

How to Burn Fat with this Fat Burning Exercise Approach

Strength training builds the muscle and using the interval method helps soften the tough work of building muscle mass. These two approaches work together marvelously.

Interval training alternates gentle, low-intensity exertion with quick bursts of high-intensity movement. Think of it as alternating a modest walking pace with short sprints, back and forth, back and forth. Or a workout of squat kicks where you repeatedly alternate 20 seconds low squat, low kick; 20 seconds medium squat, medium kick; and then 20 seconds deep squat, high kick. This is interval training. And those last 20 seconds is the strength training. Remember that building muscle strength creates the fat burning you're looking for. Simple, really.

The science behind interval training for fat burning weight loss is also pretty simple. Kinesiology researchers at McMaster University in Canada have found that as few as two to three minutes of intense exercise per workout is enough to increase the size and number of mitochondria in your muscle tissue. Mitochondria are the fat burning mechanism in your body; they use oxygen to burn calories and fat when our muscles move. The more mitochondria in your muscles, the more calories and fat they collectively burn.

The good news here for those who don't like to exercise is that interval training can cut workout time by 25%, with equal or greater fat burning results. Ordinary aerobic workouts do not stimulate the production of mitochondria and thus don't give you the optimal fat burning results. You can workout, in fact, for 45 minutes at an even, moderate pace and gain virtually no fat burning.

Another great boon of interval training is that intervals boost your metabolism higher than moderate exercise and keep it up longer after your workout, burning as many as 120 additional calories (and burning fat) even after you've exercised.

Interval training can work with any type of cardio exercise: walking, running, swimming, jumping on your mini-trampoline, and virtually any cardio machine at the gym. Squats are great strength training exercises because they build the largest muscles in your body – your thighs – and you will get the best overall fat burning benefit if you include squats in your weekly exercise routine.