What’s the Best Way to Burn Body Fat?

There are many claims backed with research to support the various methods used to reduce body fat through fitness training. The facts are that burning body fat depends on a balance of proper nutrition, resistance training, cardio-vascular training, high intensity interval training and rest. In addition, each person’s body will respond different to the various types of fat burning methods used by fitness professionals. This means that a person who is excessively over weight may benefit better from a low intensity cardio-vascular workout such as 45 minutes of sustained jogging, swimming, rowing, or boxing than 20 minutes of high intensity training. Likewise, a person who’s preconditioned and looking to drop their body fat percentage may benefit more from a 20 minute high intensity weight bearing workout with minimal rest than he or she would from a 45 minute low intensity cardio-vascular workout.

Whichever fat burning method is implemented within your fitness training plan the concept is to elevate the heart rate so the body will begin burning calories and convert fat in energy that will be depleted through exercise. Reviews published in the Journal of Obesity (2010) and The Ochsner Journal (2009) both indicated that unconditioned and preconditioned individuals seeking to burn body fat through fitness training will be required to progressively elevate their heart rate during exercise routines in order to tap into stored fat reserves.

With the help of a fitness professional you can determine which body fat burning method is right for you based on your current ability level and health status. It’s my opinion that your training plan should be dominated with the types of workouts that produce the best results while still including other types of workouts in your plan to ensure your body is conditioned entirely. To leave you with an example, I have included my personal training plan structure used to prepare for an upcoming endurance event that is based on my performance goals and body fat objectives.

Monday- Full body high intensity workout

Tuesday- 45 minutes of cardio at 50-75% sustained effort

Wednesday- Strength training (legs)

Thursday- Full body high intensity workout

Friday- Rest

Saturday- Full body high intensity workout

Sunday- 45 minutes of cardio at 50-75% sustained effort

You can see that my training plan is dominated by three full body high intensity workouts but includes two cardio-vascular workouts and one strength workout. Your action step is to determine which fat burning method is suitable for you currently and build your training plan around it. If you would like help determining which fat burning method is right for you, please contact me and I will be glad to offer some suggestions. You can also visit my blog at www.GinoGarcia.com and watch the training heart rate video I made that explains how to obtain your target heart rate zones.

In health and strength!