I am often asked what is the best exercise to lose weight or to reduce the waist size or inner thighs.
It is pretty well known amongst the general public these days that you can’t ‘spot reduce’. By spot reduction, I mean exercise your thighs and the fat on your thighs reduces for instance. There is some evidence however that is starting to indicate that hormonal levels play a role in where you store fat in the body. But that’s another post altogether.
With all things considered equal, resistance training (weight training) is the most effective way to reduce body fat levels. By lifting weights with an 8 to 12 repetition range of 5 different exercises one after the other (circuit format) with a rest period of around 60-90 seconds for 1 to 3 sets has been shown to be very effective.
The reason this is effective is because it helps to increase anabolic hormones in the body which helps to build lean tissue in the body which increases metabolic rate and reduce fat levels.
However, if someone’s body is already over stressed mentally and emotionally this type of routine will further stress the body and increase catabolic hormones which are tissue destroying and will lower metabolic rate and increase the chances of increased body fat.
Tune in next time to find out why you should change your resistance programme regularly, what you can do if you are overstressed and why cardio vascular exercise is much inferior to resistance training for weight loss.