Alright first and foremost realize that without proper nutrition you’re not going to be losing any fat. Nutrition is king when it comes to losing fat. So if you don’t have that covered then don’t even worry about the stuff here because it’s much more important. Now with that being said a good work out program can help tremendously in your fat loss goals and with body composition. However like everything else not all work out programs are created the same. Sure pretty much anything you do over not doing anything will help but there are things that work much more effectively than others. For example sure taking up jogging will at first help with losing some weight but is no where near ideal when it comes to fat loss and overall body composition.
There are certain principles that you should follow for maximum fat loss and great body composition. These workouts here will not only help you lose fat but also put on muscle. So that way when the fat comes off you won’t be a weak stick but rather look like a healthy individual. These are not work outs that I would do every single day but rather space out through the week. Three times a week going at it hard and heavy will be plenty for the average person. As always test and then see what works for you some may only need to do two per week while others should do more. Don’t do what you want either because you’re being lazy or too zealous but rather do what your body best responds to. Alright now for the workouts.
High Rep Squats
One of the most taxing and beneficial movements that the human body can do is squat. Squatting has been used from everything including increase muscle mass, to losing fat, to improving athletic performance and it does all three in spades. What makes the difference is how you program it. For example working up to a one or three rep max isn’t going to maximize fat burning and neither is doing moderate reps say of 4 sets of 12 reps. To get the fat burning effects of squatting up there we need to go high reps. Now depending on your work capacity this is either something you may want to do alone or something that you may want to include at the end of a typical work out as a “finisher”. If you’re using it as a finisher then you’ll want to lower the overall reps.
Alright now again the overall reps are going to depend on your work capacity and the weight used depend on your strength level. I would suggest starting with just the bar and then working from there. For straight fat loss (and not much else) I’d do this three times a week. What you are going to do is go out but the bar on your back and squat it for 50 reps without putting it down. There are two things that are special about high rep squats the first being how much they suck and the second being the wonderful things they do for the human body. The goal is to work up to having your body weight on the bar and squatting it for 50 reps. If you’re doing this after a workout as a finisher you may just want to use 20 rep sets.
Barbell Complexes
These are my favorite for fat loss (and a variety of other things). They’re quick, brutal, and effective just how a workout should be. Like the high rep squats these can be used as a work out of their own or they can be put at the end of a traditional workout as a finisher. It’s up to you and what you’re overall goals are. Obviously the volume is going to change depending on whether you are using them as a finisher or as a work out of their own. They can be very effective either way. For those that don’t know a barbell complex is where you grab a barbell do a series of movements with that barbell back to back and then once all of the reps have been completed for each movement you put the barbell back down.
So for example say you have a complex of romanian deadlifts followed by overhead presses followed by back squats for 6 reps each. You’d grab the bar do the 6 romanian deadlifts once you have done all 6 then you’d move on to the overhead presses and once you finished all 6 of those then you’d move on to the back squats and perform all 6 then set the bar back on the ground. Alright so for barbell complexes I recommend that you select six exercises that are compound movements and flow together (e.g. don’t do rows to back squats to romanian deadlifts, do romanian deadlifts to rows to back squats). For a workout on their own I’d recommend 5 sets of 8 reps for each exercise. Yeah I know that looks easy but it’s not (and if it’s is obviously the weight is too light). For use as a finisher I’d recommend 3 sets of 8 reps but using a much lighter weight then you would if you were doing the complexes on their own.
Sprints
Now we come to another great exercise and the only one on the list that doesn’t require a gym or weights. Sprints are far superior to all other forms of running for fat loss and body composition. You’ve probably heard someone say that walking a mile burns as much calories as jogging or running a mile (generally as a rationalization for being lazy) but while there is truth to that statement it’s overall bunk and here’s why. While walking or sprint a mile burns the same number of calories initially it’s the calories burnt after the exercise that changes. Sprints burn energy hours after the sprint while the effects of the walking fall off sooner rather than later. I don’t want to get to far into this as entire books could and have been written about this. Point is sprinting is far superior for your goals of fat loss and instead of crushing your testosterone and hormones boosts them.
Now you can do all sorts of sprints especially if you have access to a track. You can everything from the 100 meter to the 400 and get good results. However for those of us who work in a gym or at home we may have to make some adjustments. There are a couple of protocols that I have found to be effective. One is simply doing 6-10 sprints across my back yard which is about 40 meters or a little more, simply find a field and sprint. Another thing you can do is Tabata sprints. Tabata is extremely effective for fat loss, what it is is where you do an exercise (such as sprinting) for 20 seconds of intense work followed by 10 seconds of rest and then repeat that for 8 total rounds totaling 4 minutes total. I know that it doesn’t sound like much (after all it’s only 4 minutes) but this will burn tons of fat and is intense. Give it a try before judging it. 20 seconds of sprinting followed by 10 of walking for 4 minutes (or 8 rounds is that’s easier to remember). Regardless find a way to include sprinting in your training.
Summary
Alright so now you have 3 great fat burning workouts to help with your fat loss goals. These will all help with better body composition and the building of muscle in addition to getting rid of any excess fat. You can use all of these as fat burning finishers for your regular workouts or you can do them as work outs of their own for an intense fat loss period of training. It’s up to you. You could also do one a week. For example sprint training on Monday, barbell complexes on Wednesday, and then high rep squatting on Friday. Experiment with these and try them out seeing what works. If you already have a good work out program then include your favorite at the end as a finisher and see how much difference it makes after 4-6 weeks. Then experiment with others. These are tools now get out and use them.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
