Top Exercises for Females to Fire Up Fat Loss
Table of Contents
Top Exercises for Females to Fire Up Fat Loss
by:Robbie Durand
Most women like to choose the treadmill or the elliptical machine for their choice of fat burning, but these are not the best tools. Choosing these exercises is like trying to cut down a tree with a dull blade, taking the time to sharpen your ax is going to get more work done faster. If you want to burn the most calories during your training sessions, you have to choose exercises that use the most muscle groups. A previous study demonstrated that calories burned as measured by oxygen consumption (i.e. an indirect measurement of measuring calories burned) was higher during and after exercises performed with larger than smaller muscle mass. Exercises that require lots of muscles being utilized always burn the most fat!! One of the biggest misconceptions in the fitness world is the use of spot reduction exercises. Remember the thigh master? The commercial promised thin and sexy legs by using a device which isolated the inner thighs. It made millions of dollars, but it did nothing for women’s legs. If they would a showed a commercial doing squats with squat pouring off her forehead, that would have seemed hard, and millions of viewers would have turned off the television. If you notice that all the women in the latest commercial for fat loss exercises, the women are always smiling, well that’s usually not the case for the hardest exercises.
Here is an example of how using exercises that involve lots of muscles groups will fire up your metabolism. For example, one study assessed the acute metabolic responses to resistance exercise protocols comprising free-weight, body-weight, and battling rope exercises.
-For free-weight training protocols, subjects performed three sets of up to 10 repetitions with 75% of their one repetition maximum.
-For the bodyweight push-up and push-up on a BOSU ball protocols, subjects performed three sets of 20 repetitions.
-For the burpee and push-up with lateral crawl protocols, subjects performed three sets of 10 repetitions.
-For the plank and battling rope circuit protocols, subjects performed three sets of 30-second bouts.
A standard 2-minute rest interval was used in between all sets for each exercise.
At the end of the study, oxygen consumption (i.e. measure of metabolism) was significantly greatest during the battling rope and burpee protocols. For the free-weight exercises, highest average values were seen in the squat, deadlift, and lunge. No differences were observed between push-ups performed on the floor vs. on a BOSU ball. However, adding a lateral crawl to the push-up significantly increased mean oxygen consumption. The lowest mean value was seen during the plank exercise. These data indicate exercises which utilize large amounts of muscle groups such as battling ropes, and a body-weight burpee exercise elicits relatively higher acute metabolic demands than traditional resistance exercises performed with moderately heavy loading.
Row Beats Cycling for Stripping the Fat Off
Rowing is one of the best, if not the best, cardiovascular activities you can do for burning body fat. Most rowing machines are neglected in the gym in favor of treadmills, elliptical machines, and step mills. Compared to all the other cardio machines available, a rower provides the best overall cardiovascular workout due to the amount of musculature involved in the motion. According to the latest research published in the Scand J Med Sci Sports, rowing is one of the best ways to burn fat in the gym.
Researchers compared patterns of substrate utilization (i.e. fat burning) during two non-weight bearing exercise modalities, namely cycling and rowing. Thirteen young, moderately trained males performed a continuous incremental (3-min stages) exercise test to exhaustion on separate occasions on an electronically braked cycle ergometer and an air-braked rowing ergometer, respectively. On two further occasions, participants performed a 20-min steady-state exercise bout at ∼50%VO2peak on the respective modalities. At the end of the study, despite similar oxygen consumption, rates of fat oxidation were ∼45% higher during rowing compared with cycling across a range of power output increments. Fat oxidation is greater during rowing compared with cycling exercise across a range of exercise intensities matched for energy expenditure and is likely as a consequence of larger muscle mass recruited during rowing. Rowing involves a series of movements that utilize a greater range of motion compared to other exercises, with pushing and pulling movements by both your upper and lower body. These movements are more complete, alternating between complete extension and contraction of your arms and legs.
Keep Those Legs Moving for Fat Loss
If you have been reading this article, you will notice that the exercises that require the largest amount of muscles utilized during exercise will cause the greatest increase in calories burned. An excellent study was recently published titled, “Oxygen Consumption and Substrate Utilization During and After Resistance Exercises Performed with Different Muscle Mass.” The study found greater increases in energy expenditure and fat utilization during post-exercise recovery were higher after multiple sets of resistance exercises performed with larger muscle mass than smaller muscle mass. The study had ten volunteers performed multiple sets of the horizontal leg press and chest fly. The subjects performed five sets of 10 repetitions with 15 repetition-maximum, the subject’s rested 1-minute between intervals) in a counterbalanced design. Total oxygen consumption(i.e. measure of metabolism) during and after exercise was measured.
At the end of the study, overall energy expenditure was significantly higher in exercise performed with larger than smaller muscle mass. Additionally, fat oxidation after exercise was slightly more pronounced after leg press than chest flye.
Key Points: For burning the most calories during exercise, women should choose exercises that involve large amount of muscle mass such as rowing, burpee’s, squats, battling ropes, ect.
Farinatti P, Castinheiras Neto AG, Amorim PR. Oxygen Consumption and Substrate Utilization During and After Resistance Exercises Performed with Different Muscle Mass. Int J Exerc Sci. 2016 Jan 15;9(1):77-88.
Ratamess NA, Rosenberg JG, Klei S, Dougherty BM, Kang J, Smith CR, Ross RE, Faigenbaum AD. Comparison of the acute metabolic responses to traditional resistance, body-weight, and battling rope exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Jan;29(1):47-57
Egan B, Ashley DT, Kennedy E, O’Connor PL, O’Gorman DJ. Higher rate of fat oxidation during rowing compared with cycling ergometer exercise across a range of exercise intensities. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2015;.
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