When it comes to choosing which exercises to perform in order to burn fat, the best are those that are a triple threat. Building lean muscle that will ratchet up the daily resting metabolism, sweating out the calories during the exercise and keeping the energy flame ablaze for hours after the workout is over is the name of the game. Here are some exercises that can be incorporated into any training session to get the heart pumping out of the chest and the flab melting away.

Multi-Joint, Big Muscle Group Movements
Squats, deadlifts, bench presses and chin-ups are a few examples of exercises that use multiple joints and large muscle groups. The more muscle used, especially when straining through resistance, the more energy is needed for contraction. In addition, these weightlifting movements stimulate increases in muscle growth. Big strength training movements are the absolute top exercises for burning fat. Including two or three of them in workouts three or four times per week will do more to sculpt unwanted pounds away than any other method except your nutrition.

Squat and Press
This compound exercise is a fantastic exercise to include. Squat and presses are perfect for working the entire body and will also work the core as it comes into play to stabilize your body through the entire movement.

Since you’ll be working all the main large muscle groups in the legs intensely, this will translate to an excellent post workout calorie burn, allowing you to burn up fat all day long.

Single Limb Movements
Single limb movements cost twice the energy as those with two arms or legs because every rep has to be performed twice. Your heart will be pounding like a lab rat after every set. These exercises will also build muscle, which is the often looked over best practice when fat loss, not weight loss, is the goal. Single arm dumbbell chest presses, single leg squats and lunges are just a few examples of effective fat burning single limb movements. Add three or four of these exercises to the multi-joint, big muscle group movements to get the workouts that will show fat the way out.

Sprints
Performing traditional “cardio” or steady state aerobic training is like using a spoon to break out of prison. It’s not very effective and getting caught if any progress is made is inevitable. Any weight loss with this method will not just be fat; it will include muscle mass as well. This decrease will drop the daily resting metabolism, which is the biggest influence on caloric expenditure, and require even more exercise or less food intake just to maintain the new weight.

While sprints may not increase muscle mass to a large degree, this type of training will resist loss. In addition, the caloric expenditure both during and after this exercise towers above slogging along on a machine or jogging around town. Sprints and other high intensity interval training methods can be performed for a little as less than ten minutes to be effective, with twenty to thirty minutes as the upper limit. Two or three sessions per week is ample as more will not permit enough time for the body to recover and may even hinder progress.

Exercising to lose fat is not an easy battle and must be combined with a proper diet and adequate sleep to be effective. When deciding which are the top exercises for burning fat, those that provide the best bang for the buck increase, or at least maintain muscle mass, and expend a ton of calories both during and after the workout.

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