Little Ways To Burn Fat Faster

18 No-Fail Exercise Tricks

Wouldn't it be nice to eat just about anything you want and never have to worry about gaining weight? To have a metabolism so revved up that every single cheese puff and gooey dessert went directly into your internal calorie incinerator - and not onto your thighs? While there's no on/off switch to put your metabolism into high gear, here's the next best thing: ten strategies based on the latest fitness research - all guaranteed to boost your fat-burning ability.

• BUILD MORE LEAN MUSCLE Running and cycling are good calorie burners and general health enhancers, but committing two days a week to a full-body strength-training program will have a greater long-term impact on your metabolism, says Douglas Brooks, an exercise physiologist in Mammoth Lakes, CA, and author of Your Personal Trainer. With cardiovascular activity, the increased calorie burn that comes from breathing harder and blood pumping faster is temporary. In contrast, the calorie-burning benefits of strength training last all day long - and then some. By working your muscles against resistance - whether a dumbbell, a weight machine, or a stretchy piece of tubing - you create lean muscle tissue, which requires more calories than fat tissue to maintain itself. For each extra pound of muscle you add to your body, you'll burn 30 to 40 more calories a day - even if all you do is rest.
  • ACTION PLAN Choose moves that work the major muscles - quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, back, chest, triceps, biceps - and do them twice a week for 20 to 30 minutes per session. (Discuss a safe, effective program using free weights or weight machines with a trainer at the gym first.) If you've never used free weights before, start with three-pound hand weights and gradually build up in two pound increments every four weeks. If three-pound weights seem too light, start with five.
• TAKE IT SLOW To build muscles, you have to make them work hard. Move weight slowly so you don't rely too much on momentum.
  • ACTION PLAN For all weight-lifting and resistance exercises, allow two to three seconds for each lifting movement and two to three seconds for each lowering movement. Don't be surprised if you can't do as many reps as before - slowing down is tough but effective. Research from the University of Florida in Gainesville shows that doing one slow set (between 8 and 12 repetitions) of any strength-training exercise until your muscles are tired is as effective as doing multiple fast sets of that exercise.
• SCHEDULE STRENGTHENERS BEFORE AEROBICS When mapping out your fitness schedule for the week, it's best to split up the days that you do strength training and cardiovascular exercise. If you must do both on the same day, hit the weights first. "You want to put whatever your priority is first," says Brooks.
  • ACTION PLAN Schedule in two 20 to 30 minute strengthening sessions each week. Then, commit to at least three 30-minute sessions of cardiovascular exercise (such as walking) on the off days, or following the resistance sessions.
• SWITCH SPEEDS TO INCINERATE FAT Interval training - alternating fast "sprint" and slower "recovery" phases - will maximize your calorie burn as well as your overall fitness. Intervals can be done on any cardiovascular exercise machine (some have preset programs) or with any type of cardiovascular workout (swimming, walking, running). Interval training burns more calories than working out at a consistent pace because your body must work harder to adjust to the new speeds, says Brooks. Bonus: The ever changing pace makes the time fly by.
  • ACTION PLAN After a five-minute warm-up, start your aerobic workout (running, walking, cycling, etc.) at a moderate pace for two to three minutes. You should break a sweat but still be able to talk. Then increase the speed to a tougher-than-normal level for two to three minutes (so that you're breathing hard and it's difficult to speak). Alternate between these speeds for the entire length of your 30 minute workout.
• BE FICKLE Don't do the same workout over and over each day. To maximize calorie burn, your body needs to be challenged in new ways. After about six weeks of working out on the same piece of equipment, your body will have adapted and become 25 percent more efficient at conserving energy. "You want to be inefficient," says Brooks, "so you'll burn more calories."
  • ACTION PLAN Even small changes make a difference: If you love to run on the treadmill, try taking your run outdoors now and then to give your legs the challenge of varied terrain and wind resistance. If you always ride a stationary bicycle, branch out and try jumping rope, swimming, or even a boxing class. Or mix it up: Do three ten-minute sessions on three different cardiovascular machines. At the very least, look for a different brand of your favorite machine at the gym - each brand has a unique motion.
• VARY YOUR WORKOUTS Trainers call this technique periodization: To keep your muscles challenged, you should make small weekly (or at least monthly) changes in the intensity, duration, and/or frequency of your workouts. (Aim for a 5 to 10 percent change. For instance, if you typically walk on a treadmill for 40 minutes, increase or decrease your time by two to four minutes; if you usually lift 30 pounds on the overhead press, go up or down in weight by one and a half to three pounds or so.) Because your workout is always changing, your muscles and cardiovascular system have to adapt constantly to these new demands.
  • ACTION PLAN Work it out on your calendar: medium-hard week, hard week, harder week, easier week, hard week, harder week, easier week. Then start all over again.
• EAT, ALREADY! We know it's tempting to switch to a semi-starvation diet for some fast weight loss. But the fact is, drastically cutting back on calories puts your body into conservation mode, which will slow your metabolism - not exactly the result you're going for when you're trying to slim down. "Calories are energy," says Kristine Clark, Ph.D., director of sports nutrition at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. "In order to turn your body into a more efficient calorie-burning machine, you have to give it enough energy." All things being equal, a woman who eats regularly and exercises moderately will actually burn more calories than someone who skips meals and exercises on an empty stomach.
  • ACTION PLAN It can be hard to get snacking right. Clark's tip: Eat 100 to 200 calories an hour or two before a strength-training or aerobic workout. You'll actually end up burning more calories because you'll feel - and be - more energetic. Good pre-workout snacks are those that combine carbohydrates and proteins; yogurt and fruit (150 to 200 calories), a hard-boiled and a piece of toast (200), a few crackers and cheese (100 to 150).
• PUMP UP THE PROTEIN Many women avoid high protein foods because they think all are also high in fat. But protein is crucial for growth and repair of muscles during strength training. You just need to choose the right kinds.
  • ACTION PLAN A physically active woman should consume about 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day, some 15 to 20 percent of which should come from protein (lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, tofu).
• POUR ON THE WATER Think of water as a nutrient - that's how essential it is. Not only does drinking lots of water help to curb your appetite, but it will actually help you have more energy to work out. "Most people are chronically under hydrated," says Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., author of Strong Women Stay Slim. "That's why 'I'm too tired to exercise' is such a common excuse. Dehydration causes fatigue and lethargy."
  • ACTION PLAN Make drinking eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day a priority. To prepare for sweat loss caused by exercise, drink four to eight ounces of water about 15 minutes beforehand. Keep a bottle nearby and drink throughout your session. Opt for cool fluids; they empty out of your stomach and into your body faster.
• GET BUSY You can't just go at it on the Stairmaster, then slack off for the rest of the day and expect to stay lean. Your metabolism will function best when you are constantly active, which is why it's important to build more activity into your everyday life.
  • ACTION PLAN It's common sense, but hardly common practice: Take the stairs instead of the elevator, look for a space in the back of the parking lot to force yourself to walk, step up your dog-walking sessions to a brisk pace, take a walk on your lunch hour. 

FIVE TRAPS TO AVOID

• OVERESTIMATING CALORIE BURN  Of course regular exercise and an active lifestyle can do a lot to whittle your waistline. But working out several times a week doesn't give you liberty to gorge on all sorts of foods you wouldn't normally eat. In order to lose weight and stay lean, you have to be expending more calories than the extra ones you are eating, says Clark. For instance, one 30 minute strength-training session burns only about 250-300 calories - about the amount in a sandwich.

• NOT VARYING CARBS About 55 percent of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates, but don't stop at bread, pasta, and cereal, says Clark. Vegetables, fruit, and low-fat dairy are great sources of carbs. You should aim to eat five servings a day of fruits and vegetables, and about six to eight servings of grains, bread, and pasta.

• ALL AEROBICS, NO WEIGHTS Many women concentrate on aerobics and avoid strength training because they think it will make them look bulky instead of lean. "Big mistake," says exercise physiologist Douglas Brooks. In a ground-breaking study, Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA, compared aerobic exercisers with those who did both aerobics and weights, and found that those who did a combined workout lost more than two times as much fat as the other group.

• POPPING MAGIC METABOLISM BOOSTERS There is no scientific evidence to show that supplements such as chromium picolinate or pyruvate speed up your metabolism, says Clark. While she doesn't discount that your belief in supplements might keep you motivated, it's cheaper and wiser to invest your money in a set of weights or a gym membership.

• RESISTING REST "Your muscles build during rest," says Brooks. You'll get the best results from strength training by training hard, so that your muscles are challenged, on two days and letting them rest on the off days (cardiovascular exercise is okay).

By Patricia J. O'Connor,
Redbook Magazine, March 1999