To determine the best exercise for weight loss and toning, you must understand body composition. Your body weight is composed of fat and lean tissue, and the goal is to remove one and improve the other. Weight loss is a byproduct of the process. Removal of fat tissue requires appropriate aerobic exercise, while improving lean muscle tissue calls for resistance exercise and an appreciation of the maxim, "Weight is no issue if it's lean tissue."
Gender Difference
While men can see the advantages of developing lean muscle through resistance exercises, women are more reluctant to use weights because they are afraid of gaining huge amounts of muscle and no longer looking feminine. This mistaken belief leads women to concentrate on aerobic exercise, which limits the potential for weight loss and toning. To maximize results, a focus on body composition is fundamental, and that requires both aerobic and resistance exercises.
Aerobic Exercise
The key to fat burning is consistency; you will not produce results with a one-off or a series of one-off performances. Fat burning exercises are slow and long in duration. Your body will use a higher percentage of fat calories with lower intensity aerobic exercises including walking, jogging, running, cycling and swimming. Maximum fat burning aerobic exercise lies between 60 and 80 percent of the maximal heart rate, which is expressed in 220 minus your age.
Resistance Exercise
Improving body tone requires you to focus on resistance exercises that develop lean muscle tissue. For a balanced body shape, you need to ensure all major muscle groups are worked. If you are building muscle in addition to toning and this is not the desired look, decrease the amount of weight you are using and increase the number of repetitions.
Combination
Weight loss can lead to a reduction of lean muscle. This contributes to the age-related decline of an individual's resting metabolism, resulting in a reduced need for calories and increasing susceptibility to weight gain. Combining aerobic and resistance exercises can address possible effects of weight-loss on lean muscle tissue.
Best Options
When performing your optimum exercise, make a selection based on working a larger number of muscle groups. A rowing machine over a recumbent cycle is preferable. Or participate in aerobic classes that alternate between aerobic and resistance exercises -- a circuit training class is a good example. The benefit of these options comes from the combination.
Warning
It is important that whatever exercise program you try, you seek the advice of a suitably qualified exercise professional before beginning.
References
- Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Quantifying Differences in the "Fat Burning" Zone and the Aerobic Zone: Implications for Training
- American Journal of Sports Medicine: ACSM Releases New Position Stand on Resistance Training Progression
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Can Resistance or Aerobic Exercise Training Attenuate the Decrease in Muscle Mass Induced by Weight-Loss in Overweight Older Adults?
Member Comments