There’s a secret to weight loss that many people don’t know about.
It’s not a pill, potion or exercise.
Nope.
It’s muscles.
The more muscle you have the more fat your body burns.
Muscle is a factor many women overlook when they are trying to lose weight or “tone up.”
Dieting and exercising hard can actually cause you to lose muscle, which means your metabolism is going in the opposite direction.
You want to be an efficient, fat-burning machine. Muscle is the fuel behind that.
Losing your muscle means being less efficient at fat-burning.
One of my main goals for both myself and clients when trying to lose body fat is to do so while maintaining as much muscle as possible.W
Below is a little formula I use to explain the right and wrong way to lose weight if you’re trying to becoming a metabolic machine and not a fat storage machine.
How to succeed at weight loss:
- Diet alone = fat loss + muscle loss (not preferred)
- Diet + cardio = fat loss and some muscle loss (better but still not great)
- Diet + cardio + strength training = fat loss and very little to potentially no muscle loss (ideal)
From this formula we can see the best way to lose body fat while minimizing muscle loss is to do both strength training and cardio along with a slight calorie deficit.
That being said, most of us don’t have a ton of time to workout, and being able to do multiple workouts a week of cardio and strength training may seem a little unrealistic.
The solution? Putting the two together!
Metabolic circuits combining strength training with cardio are one of my favorite ways to train, and many of my clients like it too.
These workouts allow you to lift weights and feel strong, but still get you sweating and breathing heavy – and burning a ton of calories!
Strength training circuits are the perfect way to get your cardio and strength training workouts in without spending a ton of time in the gym. They are super effective and fun too!
To give you an example of how what a Metabolic Circuit looks like, here’s a fun, challenging but quick workout I put together for one of my fitness challenges.
Fat-Blasting Circuit:
Click here to see a video demo of all the moves.
Do 10 reps of each move. Repeat the entire circuit five times.
- Front Squats
- Front Press
- Reverse Lunges
- Bicep Curls
- Stiff-leg Dead Lifts
- Push-ups
You can rest between circuits but try to rest as little as possible between exercises. This way your heart gets pumping and you’ll be breathing heavy and sweating like crazy!
Remember, this is not intended to be a strength-building routine so your weights should be challenging but not to the point you’re unable to complete all the reps without rest.
Metabolic Circuits can be done with dumbbells, barbells and even no weights at all! Pick a few upper and lower body moves and put them together in a circuit. Have fun with it! Keep it short but challenging. You can do these workouts 3-4 days a week.
I’d love for you to give this one a try and let me know what you think!
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