A general fitness program that burns more fat produces a healthy, slender body. Concentrating efforts toward fat burning is easier than building muscles.
Many concentrate on building muscle to burn fat because muscle will keep the metabolism high and burn calories all day long. A person with a high lean body mass will burn more calories all day long and will be able to eat more food without gaining weight. Muscle mass is hard to increase without consistent resistance training along with diet modifications.
Most people need to eat higher levels of protein around the clock in order to change muscle mass. On the other hand, decreasing fat mass without decreasing muscle mass is tricky. Most fad diets that restrict calories below basal metabolism cause a decrease in muscle mass during weight loss. However, there is a way to maintain and even build muscle mass while decreasing body fat without the use of heavy weights. A program containing both low level aerobics and light weight resistance in high repetitions works best.
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Burn More Fat With Low Level Aerobics
Low level aerobics is when the heart rate remains around 50% of target heart rate. This type of exercise has a low level of risk for those who have not exercised for a long period of time and works best to decrease fat mass. To determine ideal heart rate for this level of aerobics take 220 minus current age and then multiply by .50. This is the heart rate to start the exercise program.
To check heart rate, take the pulse at the wrist for 6 seconds and multiply times ten. After four or five weeks increase target heart rate as exercise becomes too easy. Target heart rate can be as high as 65% and still remain in the low level range.
The key is to keep the exercise easy enough to do 45 minutes to an hour without feeling tired. Walking or jumping on a mini-trampoline is a good form of exercise for low level exercise. These types of exercise will build bone mass and increase energy over time. The greatest benefit is the loss of fat mass. Studies show that this type of exercise is especially good at decreasing toxic belly fat. Aim for three to five times a week as tolerated.
Adding Muscle Mass while Targeting and Decreasing Fat Mass
The key to decreasing fat and maintaining or adding muscle has always been to add resistance training to the fitness plan. Resistance training in all forms will help to achieve this goal over the long haul. For quick and easy results use light weights and perform 20-25 repetitions for each exercise using only the following four exercises in a cycle.
The best four exercises are chest press, close grip pulls, squats and straight leg dead lifts. These four exercises will cover every muscle in the body if done correctly. Do each exercise once and then repeat the cycle from three to five times. This resistance program should be repeated every other day three times a week for best results.
Research shows that this program will reduce body fat the fastest over all other resistance programs. In addition, muscle mass will be maintained or even increased for some who have never done resistance training.
