Most people don’t realize that it isn’t diet or exercise that is going to help them but a combination of both.

In order for your body to burn fat you must be taking in less calories then what you expend.

Yes, for some, diet modification will help in the beginning, but in the long run it is going to require regular exercise to continue to burn the fat and to actually build muscle tone. Not body builder muscle tone just normal healthy muscle tone.

So eating healthily is a vital component to weight loss. The other component is exercise.

What are the best ways to burn fat and tone up?

Cardios’ Role in Fat Loss

We can start by telling you that the less cardio you do in your workout routine the fewer calories that you are going to burn per workout. As I have already stated that weight loss, or the amount of fat you burn, depends largely on calories.

You need to be burning more calories then you take in. So here is an example for you.

A 30 minute cardio routine burns about 150 – 300 calories.

Talk to a nutritionist or trainer and they are going to tell you that we know that in order to burn one pound of fat we need to burn 3500 calories.

The USDA has guidelines that suit all people.

They recommend that all people should get 60 – 90 minutes a day of accumulated moderate to intense physical activity most days out of the week. Note that is accumulated, so if you can’t get it all in at once then break it up through the day.

Here are a couple of the best cardio workouts:

1. Running doesn’t require expensive equipment and can be done anywhere. Burns serious calories especially if done on sprints or up hills. The average person weighing 145lbs. can burn up to 300 calories at 5.2mph in 30 minutes.

2. Boxing for cardio strength is considered the best cardio workout. This workout requires the heart rate range to be 50-70% of a person’s maximum heart rate.

3. Swimming is the also one of the best workouts. Involves nearly all major muscles and therefore is the best whole body workout. Aquatic exercise can help and has become very popular as an exercise program.

Weights and Fat Burn and Tone

Yes, you need to include the use of weights in your routine to really see your body tone up.

There are principles, 3 of them to be exact, that need to be adhered to in order for you to build muscle and tone up. Following these three synergistic principles will help you make continuous gains any time you want.

These three principles are:

smart weight lifting

quality nutrition (there is the diet again)

quality rest

Keeping these in balance will optimize your muscle building and toning. So how do we fit the cardio and the weights together?

You should do your cardio after your weight lifting. Yes, you need to warm up for 5-7 minutes prior to your weight lifting, but your main cardio workout should be done after you lift weights.

This will help you burn two to three times more fat during your cardio routine because your metabolic rate will already have sky rocketed.

This next suggestion is one that causes great controversy.

Your weight lifting routine, when it comes to toning and fat burn, should be a light weight lifting routine.

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This is because you need to have the energy to do the cardio as well. So a good 20 minutes of weights and then your cardio will super charge your metabolism and heart rate. Make sure you snack prior to your workout, primarily on fruits.

A combination of cardio and weight lifting is the key to burning fat and toning up. As well as having a balanced healthy diet.

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Category: Body Fat