Best Exercise to Lose Weight
Best Fitness Training for Weight Control
Generally speaking, aerobic
training offers more immediate weight loss benefits than anaerobic
exercise, although strength (resistance)
training also plays a valuable role in normalizing weight levels. On balance,
the best weight loss exercise program combines both cardio-aerobic
and strength-training.
How We Burn Body Fat and Lose Weight
To begin with, (about the first two minutes
of exercise), the body cannot get enough oxygen to supply the heart and
muscles which need to work faster than normal. So the muscles are forced
to rely upon non-oxygen sources of energy (anaerobic) located inside the
muscle itself. If you exercise continuously for longer than about 2 minutes,
your muscles
are powered by more glycogen (stored blood-glucose) which comes via
the bloodstream from the liver. After about 20 minutes of continuous exercise,
the body's stores of glycogen become exhausted, and the body starts using
stored body fat for fuel to power the muscles. This process of fat metabolism
occurs in the presence of oxygen. This is how sustained aerobic exercise
helps to burn fat and thus causes weight loss.
Aerobic Exercise Helps to Reduce Weight
As stated, aerobic activity is probably the
best type of exercise for weight loss. Any continuous aerobic
exercise, sustained for longer than 20 minutes at the correct heart-rate,
will burn body fat and help you to lose weight.
Strength-Training Exercise Helps Weight
Loss, Too
But aerobic training and instant calorie-expenditure
is only part of the picture. Effective weight loss over the long-term
requires you to raise your resting
metabolic rate (how fast you burn calories while at rest) so that
you can continue to burn extra calories when your workout is over. Although
aerobic exercise raises metabolism, strength-training is also very important
for this. So the best weight loss exercise program alternates aerobic
training with resistance training.
How Exercise and Metabolic Rate Affect Weight
Control
Muscle tissue is more metabolically active
than fat tissue: meaning, it requires more calories to sustain it. So,
in simple terms, the more muscle you have, the higher your basic metabolic
rate and the more calories you burn while at rest. That's why strength-training
or weight-training exercise
(the type that builds
muscle) is so useful for weight loss, especially in the long term
as we get older.
Back to Calorie-Burning
Exercise
Back to Top
|
