I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell find running on a treadmill very boring and tedious, spending hours a week staring at a blank wall or some digital numbers. If this is you then you have come to the right place, but even if you do enjoy it, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn and benefit from this post to.
If you, like most people split up your workouts between weights and cardio, this session could take some time. But if could make your sessions more fun and just as, if not more beneficial in less time I’m sure you would jump at the chance, right? Before I tell you how, let’s dive into my favourite first, science and learning.
Muscle is metabolically active tissue, meaning muscles are the physical locations where fat burn takes place (i.e. used as energy). When you have more muscle more energy is required, this leads to more calories being burned over a 24-hour period, even whilst you are sleeping! The number of calories burned per lb of muscle is debatable, between 30-50 calories. Let’s go to the low end of the scale and say 30 calories are burned per lb of muscle to be safe. This means that if you were to add 5 lbs of lean muscle tissue to your body, this would result in losing 1 lb of fat every month without any changes in your diet. Meaning maintaining muscle with strength training is so important when it comes to losing weight.
Now for the fun part on how to achieve this in less time than you are spending in the gym now. Changing your workouts into high intensity weight session is how you achieve all of this, in other words cardio with weights. Such as Giant sets, Circuit training and Complexes.
Giant sets – Four resistance exercises back to back nonstop then resting after the fourth exercise. Focusing on one muscle group.
Circuit training – A circuit of multiple strength training exercises using various pieces of equipment back to back with little rest. Working on multiple muscle groups.
Complex training – A series of strength training exercises that are each performed for multiple reps using the same piece of equipment. Working on multiple muscle groups.
What these training styles have in common is there is non-or minimal rest, This leads to increased heart rate and metabolic effect (metabolism) Which is what cardio does. This type of training kills two birds with one stone, you maintain or increase muscle mass with the strength side of training and you burn fat and increase your metabolic effect (fat burn) with the continual side of training. Training this way will nearly halve your workout or at least save the 20-30 minutes you spend on cross trainer at the end of your gym session.
So, there you have it increased fat burn and muscle mass in less time without staring at a wall or digital numbers what more could you ask for?
How about a free workout to try as well?
Let’s keep it easy with minimal equipment and set up time to get your workout in even quicker.
Complex Circuit Full Body Workout:
Equipment needed: one barbell no weight changes needed.
1. Alternating Reverse Lunges
2. Overhead Push Press
3. Wide Grip Bent Over Row
4. Wide Grip Romanian Deadlift
Perform these exercises back to back with no rest, aiming between 6-15 repetitions for 4-5 sets. Once all four exercises have been completed you should rest between 90 seconds and 3 minutes before performing again.
Focus on technique over weight, good technique and less weight trumps heavy weight and bad technique any day.
Thanks for reading 😊