Hobart Personal Trainer | Hobart Fat Loss | Hobart Personal Training

Forget cardio. Well at least forget cardio in it’s usual form. Unless your goal is to get better at riding a stationary bike, or running on a treadmill then you had better ditch the idea that this will help you burn fat.

To get the maximum amount of fat burning happening you want to recruit a lot more muscles, build fatigue and be working hard enough to question why you are doing it at all. By using high intensity intervals the goal is to get your heart rate up around or over 90% of your maximum. A typical session should last at most 30 minutes. You want to get in, go hard and go home. No messing around.
Instead of just going for a run next time you have a cardio day scheduled, try the following workout.
All you need is a few dumbells or kettlebells, a treadmill (running outside would be better) and the desire to work hard.

For Time :  Maximum number of rounds in 30 minutes

Run 250 metres
10 One-arm dumbbell/kettlebell swings (each arm)  Hard – 10kg, Easy – 6kg
Run 250 metres
50 Mountain Climbers (25 each side)
Run 250 metres
10 One-arm Alternating dumbbell/kettlebell clean (each arm) Hard -20kg, Easy – 10kg
Run 250 metres
50 Bodyweight Squats

Rest as much as you need to but as little as possible.

This fat burning workout will get you using all your big muscles which will get your heart rate sky high, burning so many more calories than a normal cardio session.

It is important to fully recover between session like this. With this in mind I would recommend that you did no more than two of these sessions per week.

Also, make sure that you have your food and nutrition in order. You can learn more here.

Post your results below.

Whether you are training at home or in the gym,  putting in the time, you want to make sure you are getting the biggest bank for your buck, so to speak. There are some things which are done time and time again for no other reason than ‘that’s the way we do it’. If there are things you are doing for no other reason than this, it might be time to change. Take yourself armed with the following information to your next training session to supercharge your workouts.

1. Time your rest periods.
Sounds simple huh? I know I have already written about it here, but I have to say it again. 60 seconds should be 60 seconds. If you are meant to have 90 second rest then have 90, not 180 or more. You will be surprised how much more you can get done, or how much quicker you can get it done if you are on the clock.

2. Stand Up
If you can do an exercise standing on your own two feet, then lets do exactly that. If you want to be sitting down doing that exercise you’d better have a damn good reason for it. Chances are you sit down enough already. That’s the way life is these days.

3. Multi Joint (Compound) Exercises only
Let me put it this way. If you are training to get fitter, lose some body fat or get stronger then you have no business doing tricep kickbacks and concentration curls. If you want a quick experiment in increasing metabolism, try the following. Do a clean and press for 3 sets of 15 reps with a minute rest between sets. Next do 3 sets of 15 reps with your favourite isolation exercise. Which one really got your body going?

4. Warm Up, Resistance, Intervals
99% of the time you will want to be doing your resistance training after a proper warm up and before any ‘cardio’ (see next point) or interval work. Why? If you want to get boost your metabolism and change your body shape you want to be doing your resistance training at the start of your work out when you are fresh. If you have just spent half your workout and most of your energy on the treadmill then the effort you can give your weights is going to be be compromised.

5. Reconsider your ‘Cardio’ training
Now this one fits into the category ‘Change the world one step at a time’. Remember however; that the world was once thought to be flat. Just as we once thought that ‘Cardio’ training was great for fat loss. If you really want to use some form of electronic cardio equipment (think elliptical trainer, treadmill, stationary cycle, stepper, rower etc) then at least do some High Intensity Intervals. Say goodbye to steady workouts and you will be saying goodbye to some extra stomach fat as well.

Got a sixth tip to share? Leave a comment below.

I had a client today that wanted to lose some belly fat. Pretty much something that happens everyday!!

To his suprise the workout I gave him had no crunches, situps, or other ‘ab’ exercises. After countless hours of doing these exercises in an effort to get some stomach fat loss, he had developed a strong functioning core. All I needed to do was help him to shed the layer of body fat that was hiding these great abs!

After covering some nutrition basics, he walked away with the following workout:

3 circuits of:

Barbell Squat x 12-15
Chin Ups x Maximum -2
Step Ups x 12-15
Push Ups x 12-15

Rest 2 minutes between circuits

3 circuits of:

Static Lunge x 12-15
Seated Row x 12-15
SB Leg Curl (1 leg) x 12-15
Dips x Maximum -2

Rest 2 minutes between circuits

Fat Burning Cardio Intervals:

2 minute warm up
5 x 30 seconds hard – 90 seconds easy
3 minute cool down.

Have a go at this workout, 2-3 times per week, for the next month and you will be seeing those long lost abs once again!