Quick Workouts for Fat Loss

An effective workout for fat loss should include resistance or strength training and movements that elevate the heart rate to a high level. Ideally, part of your fat loss workout will include training in your anaerobic system. One way to subjectively figure out if you are training in your anaerobic system is how hard you are breathing during the workout. If you get out of breath during a movement and/or can't talk during an exercise, then you can be pretty sure you are using your anaerobic system.

Research has shown that when you exercise using your anaerobic system, your metabolism will stay elevated for several hours after the workout has ended, sometimes up to 24 hours. This elevated matabolism will cause more fat loss.

When you include resistance or strength training in your fat loss workout, you actually build lean muscle tissue in your body. The more lean muscle tissue you have, the higher your metabolism will be which will again accelerate your fat loss efforts. So any good fat loss workout should include exercises using your anaerobic system, exercises that will build lean muscle, or both.

Most people nowadays are busy. They don't want to have to go to a gym and spend an hour or 2 exercising in order to lose fat. Fortunately, you can design a quick wokout for fat loss and complete your exercise routine in as little as 10 minutes.

What's the best way to design a quick workout? As a general rule of thumb, the more intense a workout is, the shorter it can be (and the better fat loss results you'll get). Other components of a very effective quick workout are to take very little rest breaks and to perform exercises that not only get your heart rate up, but will build lean muscle tissue at the same time.

Here is a great example of an effective fat loss workout that meets all these criteria. It's convenient to perform because its quick, doesn't require any equipment and can be performed anywhere, even at home.

The workout consists of 4 exercises: squat thrusts, squats, push ups, and jumping lunges. What you'll do is perform 60 seconds of each exercise, 45 seconds of each exercise, 30 seconds of each exercise and 15 seconds of each exercise, which totals 10 minutes.

So the routine will look like this - 60 seconds of squat thrusts, 60 seconds of squats, 60 seconds of push ups, 60 seconds of jumping lunges. Then you'll do 45 seconds of squat thrusts, 45 seconds of squats, 45 seconds of push ups, and 45 seconds of jumping lunges. Next you'll perform 30 seconds of squat thrusts, 30 seconds of squats, 30 seconds of push ups and 30 seconds of jumping lunges. And you'll finish with 15 seconds of squat thrusts, 15 seconds of squats, 15 seconds of push ups and 15 seconds of jumping lunges.

Here's how to perform each movement:

• Squat Thrust - Stand with feet together. Squat down and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. In an explosive movement, jump feet backwards into a push-up position, jump feet back between hands and jump up.

• Squat - Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart. Bend the knees and hips, lower the torso between the legs, and then reverse direction to stand up straight again. The torso remains relatively upright throughout the movement.

• Push Ups - Place your hands on the floor just beyond shoulder width apart. Keep your back straight and your knees straight and parallel to the floor. Slowly lower your body so as to touch your chin to the floor and then return to the start position by explosively pressing yourself upward.
• Jumping Lunges - Start in the lunge position – one foot forward and one foot back. Bend your knees and then jump up high and switch leg positions, landing into a full lunge position. Use explosive, but controlled movements.

Please watch the video for complete details on how to do these exercises and how to perform the workout. This is just one simple example on how to get in a quick workout for fat loss.