Are you sure you know how to maximize fat loss?

I recognize that fitting in a daily workout can be challenging for most of us. The daily battle of juggling work and family responsibilities leaves little time for you. And the time crunch can seem even worse when you need to perform more than one type of exercise during a work out session.

The question is - can you do just a couple of miles of easy jogging on the treadmill, or a walk outside and you're done? Can you lift some dumbbells for 20 minutes or so and call it good? Unfortunately, the answer is no - not if you want to get fit and lose those extra pounds.

There are 3 types of workouts you must do if you want to maximize fat loss and build muscle and endurance: strength training, high intensity interval training and long duration endurance exercise.

Why? First, almost all fat burning takes place in the muscle cells. So the more muscle you have, the more opportunities to burn fat.

Recent studies have shown that strengthening a particular type of muscle fiber may maximize your fat burning ability. You have 2 types of muscle fibers.
Type 2 fibers are powerful muscles that contract very quickly. Type 1 fibers contract more slowly but are more fatigue resistant.

Developing the Type 2 fibers (fast twitch) can result in a decrease in body fat levels and improvement in metabolic function because they are able to increase fatty acid oxidation.

Then we come to high intensity exercise. Many people think that low to moderate level exercise is best for fat burning. NOT true! High intensity exercise burns calories and fat at a much faster rate, resulting in greater overall fat loss.

That being said, you still need to do the endurance type training. That means longer duration, steady state exercise. Endurance exercise still burns calories and has the added benefit of making physiological changes in your body that will make you a more efficient fat burner!

Studies have also shown that people who do both aerobic and resistance training tend to eat less than those who do either one or the other. The thinking is that doing both causes a shift in hormones that control appetite.