Check your body fat percentage every week to see if your exercise and nutrition program is working. A trainer will usually check your body fat percentage as part of a free fitness assessment. Or, you could check it yourself with one of the self-test body fat tools.
You want to lose inches off your body. That is a sign that you are building muscle and burning fat. Remember, fat loss is more important than weight loss. Build muscle and speed up your metabolism.
Be consistent with your fitness program and you will get and stay lean and toned!
Here are some tips to get your body lean and toned:
1. If you want fat loss, weight loss and a lean and toned body then you MUST eat for fat loss! Everyone needs a meal plan. You need to have some sort of idea of what you are going to eat for the day.
If you don’t have a meal plan, you might eat anything at any time. If you have a plan, you are more likely to follow it or at least eat similar foods. And, record what you eat in a food journal to hold yourself accountable. Do this until you know what, how much and when to eat.
2. Burn more fat by working large muscle groups, not by working out longer. Maximize your time in the gym and get the results you want. The quality of your workouts are more important than the quantity of your workouts.
Shorten your weight training workouts to 50 minutes or less (3 days a week) and ramp up the intensity. Doing this will give you more fat burn and calorie burn during and after your workout.
Compound strength exercises (with weights or bodyweight) like squats, deadlift, lunges, standing bentover rows, squat-to curl-to press and bench press are great examples. Full-body core exercises like planks and side planks work well also. Spend less time posing on “mirror exercises” like bicep curls, calf raises and tricep extensions.
3. Do short, intense interval cardio workouts (about 20 minutes, 2-3 days a week). Sprint intervals or similar cardio exercises activate and shape the bulkier, shapely fast-twitch muscle fibers. This type of cardio will also burn fat and calories like crazy and give you superior heart health.
4. Walk 30 minutes every day, especially on your non-workout days. Walking helps you to keep an active lifestyle.
Now get that body fat percentage checked!
Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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