There are many extreme fat-burning exercises that can help you melt away the pounds quickly. Not for the faint of heart, these exercises use high-intensity to stimulate the body to burn more fat. Although challenging, the results are undeniable and they come fast if you really pour your heart into every session. Add a few extreme fat-burning exercises to your routine to accelerate your weight loss results.
High-Intensity Interval Training
Not only does this burn calories while you do it, it also burns fat for hours afterward, according to "The Abs Diet." To do this you pick a cardio machine such as the treadmill, exercise bike or elliptical machine. Perform medium-intensity cardio exercise at a challenging pace for 20 to 30 minutes. The high intensity comes every two or three minutes, when you do all-out sprints for 15 to 30 seconds. This form of cardio is so intense that it will leave your muscles sore, so be sure to take in some protein and carbohydrates afterward. Do this exercise no more than three times per week to avoid putting excess stress on joints and tendons.
Breathing Squats
Breathing squats are a variation of the barbell squat exercise. You use a weight that you would normally do for 10 repetitions, only you do 20 reps. With a barbell secured on your upper back you squat down, bending the knees, as if sitting on a chair. Once your thighs are parallel to the ground, you press through your heels, keeping your back arched, until reaching the standing position. At the 10th rep, you will be breathing very hard, hence the name, but keep going. This exercise puts a huge demand on your lungs and heart to sustain this movement for 20 grueling repetitions.
Step-Ups
You use an aerobic step, at a height that you can manage with dumbbells in hand or a barbell on your back. Lead with the right leg, stepping up onto the platform with both feet and then step down. Alternate legs until you have reached 15 to 30 repetitions with each leg. For more difficulty, add more weight or increase the step height. For a more challenging variation, try holding a barbell above your head, arms fully extended. Strength expert Elliot Hulse of LeanHybridMuscle.com recommends this because it causes blood shunting, as your body races to supply oxygen to both your lower and upper extremities. According to Hulse, this causes a profound increase in fat burning.
Isolation Double Drop-Sets
From the book "Xtreme Lean" by Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman, double drop-sets on isolation exercises burn fat because the buildup of lactic acid in muscles causes the body to release the potent fat burner growth hormone. To do these, pick an isolation exercise such as leg extensions, leg curls, standing calf raises, dumbbell flyes, triceps kickbacks or concentration curls. Start with a weight that is challenging for seven or eight repetitions, then immediately reduce the weight slightly and do five more. That is the first drop and for the second you reduce the weight by 50 percent of the five-rep set. Now grind out 15 repetitions or as many as you can and feel the sweet agony of the fat melting burn.
References
- "The Abs Diet"; David Zinczenko; 2004
- "Xtreme Lean"; Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman; 2005
- Lean Hybrid Muscle: Lean Hybrid Muscle Training Newsletter; Elliot Hulse
- "Combat the Fat"; Jeff Anderson; 2008
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