newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MACK ARMSTRONG

COMMENTARY

Let's face it. Staying lean is a big part of the fitness game.

Granted, it's a little easier to 'stay lean' than 'get lean,' but the workout formats that I'm going to give you will do both: if you have a little flub, they'll help you say good by to it. If you're already at a good weight, they'll keep your metabolism stoked so that flub will not call your belly home.

First of all, I'm not like most people that will grab a magazine and head to the treadmill. I have better things to do with my time than waste it reading 'People' while I plod along barely breaking a sweat.

If you want to lose your 'chunk' in record time, sell your treadmill. Better yet, give it away. There's some marathon runner out there that could use it when it's raining or snowing. Seriously, there's only one reason.

A treadmill is useful and that is if you LOVE running and need a long distance fix for your mind and spirit OR if you're going to do HIIT on it. Don't expect to burn your belly fat on it.

By HIIT, of course I mean high intensity interval training.

When I go to the gym, I see more of 'magazine reading' type training than HIIT. My first two challenge workouts to burn more fat are simply to do HIIT on a piece of cardio equipment like the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike or rower. This, by the way is my LEAST favorite way to burn fat.

I think it's the least effective way and creates more boredom than other workouts that I'll share, but for some people, this is something that they want, so here you go:

Fat Burning Workout #1 Cardio Equipment

• 60% max 2 min warm - up,
• 30 sec 90-100% max followed by 30 sec 60% max
• Repeat 8-10 times
• 60% max 2 min cool down
• Total time = 12-14 min

Fat Burning Workout #2 Cardio Equipment

• 60% max 1 min warm up
• 20 sec 70% max, 20 sec 80% max, 20 sec 90-100% max,
• active rest 30 sec 60% max
• Repeat 8 -10 times
• 60% max 2 min cool down
• Total workout time = 15-18 min

Some people I know I like to do hill sprints as a great fat burning workout. Since I love push ups as much as pull ups, sometimes I'll throw 20 push ups in as my active recovery at the bottom of the hill, OR if I'm super jacked, I'll do burpees at the bottom of the hill before I sprint back up.

Fat Burning Workout #3 - Hill Sprints

• 60% max 1 min warm up (brisk walk up/down hill)
• sprint up a steep hill
• jog return to the bottom
• do a 20 sec ab move (or push ups or God forbid:
• burpees!) at the bottom of the hill
• alternate sprinting forward and backward up
• the hill (holy hamstrings, try backward hill sprints!)
• 60% max 2 min cool down (easy walk)

Then there are my favorite workouts that include body weight and strength for HIIT. When you give them a try, you'll see that even strength moves, when put together with little rest, will totally exhaust you in short order and they will keep your metabolism fired up for hours of calories burning after your workout.

Fat Burning Workout #4 - Bodyweight Challenge

• Warm up 3 min with full body dynamic stretches (that is, range of motion movements of all limbs)

• Set a timer for five sets of 1 min with a 5 second transition time.
• Burpee
• Pull ups
• Squats
• Push ups
• Box jumps
• Count your reps for each set and record (during the 5 second transition).
• Rest 2 minutes between sets.
• Repeat up to 3 times trying to match your reps from the first set.
• Cool down with 2-3 min of stretching.

Fat Burning Workout #5 - Continuous Timed Sets

• Warm up 3 min with full body dynamic stretches (that is range of motion movements of all limbs)
• Set your timer for 30 seconds with a 5 second transition for
• 25 total sets. Keep rotating through the following list of exercises for just over 12 minutes of fat burning fun.
• Skips
• Push ups
• Pull ups
• Squat
• Plank
• Cool down with 2-3 min of stretching

Now if you get to know me at all, you'll find out that my beloved jump rope goes everywhere with me. I once thought I lost it and my heart sank. Luckily the dude at the hotel gym where I left it put it in the safe for me. (It's THAT valuable!)

Here's another workout with two of my favs:

Fat Burning Workout #6 - Burpees and Jump Rope

• Warm up 3 min with full body dynamic stretches (that is, range of motion movements of all limbs)
• 1 min of Jump rope
• 10 sec rest
• 1 min of Burpees OR burpee pull ups (I force myself to get 10 reps, even if I went over by a few seconds)
• 10 sec rest
• Repeat this for 10 sets
• Cool down with 2-3 min of stretching.

Fat Burning Workout #7 - Take Away Challenge

• Warm up 3 min with full body dynamic stretches (that is, range of motion movements of all limbs)
• Set your timer...
• Start with 10 reps of pull ups or any tough movement like burpees, squats, box jumps, cable rows....Choose a tough weight if you're doing a weighted movement.
• Knock out your 10 reps.
• Rest as little as possible.
• Do 9 reps, rest as little as possible.
• Do 8 reps...7 reps...6 reps...
• Stop the clock. (Use the barf bucket as needed.)

• Cool down with 2-3 min of stretching.

There you have 7 awesome fat burning challenge workouts.

There's no need for your treadmill, although it does have some good laundry drying capabilities.

Use these workouts after your main workout or on your off day to build strength, endurance and torch a maximum amount of fat in a minimum amount of time.

Mack Armstrong is known as the Renegade Fat Loss Coach and writes a Fat Loss blog. And be sure to check out ChallengeWorkouts.com for more high energy fat burning workouts.

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