Burn Calories Even When Not Working Out!

How many calories did your last workout burn? How many did you burn after your workout? If I had to guess you probably don't know the answer to the second question.

However, the second question is the one that matters when your goal is to lose body fat.

It's not a matter of how many calories you burn in your workout, it's a matter of how many calories you burn in the hours after your workout. Know as the Afterburn Effect, which is how long your body stays at an elevated rate, burning calories after the completion of exercise.

Say you took an hour jog and burned 500 calories while working out, your body only stays at an elevated rate, burning fat for a few hours after the completion of your workout. 

But, what if there was a way to keep your body burning calories at an elevated rate for 48 hours after your last workout? Sound too good to be true?

In 1994 a landmark study done by Tremblay et al looked at the effects of steady-state exercise (jogging) compared to interval training. The steady-state group exercised for 20 weeks and burned about 28,000 calories during exercise. The interval group exercised for 15 weeks and only burned about 13,000 calories during exercise. However, the interval group lost 9x more body fat in 5 less weeks, while only burning half the amount of calories during exercise as the steady-state group. 

What happened here is after the completion of exercise the interval training groups body's continued to burn fat at a higher rate than the steady-state groups did.

So how do you get the Afterburn Effect working to your advantage? 

First start by switching from the treadmill and elliptical to hitting the weight room floor. By the way, have you ever looked at the bodies of the people on the cardio equipment compared to the one's lifting weights? Everyday it's the same people on the cardio equipment plugging along, but never changing. The one's lifting weights have the lean, toned and sculpted bodies that everyone on the cardio equipment is trying to achieve.

Ok, now that you're off the treadmill and standing by the dumbbell rack what do you do?

Grab a set of dumbbells and start performing a few circuits of exercises. Like squats, rows and overhead presses moving from one exercise to the next without resting until you've done each exercise once, then rest for a minute and repeat 3 more times. 

After doing a couple of circuits like this you will notice your body working harder than you ever did 0n the treadmill and after a few weeks you will be seeing changes in your body that you've never seen before!

Are you ready to put the Afterburn Effect in place for you and finally start seeing results? Get started today by calling 724-934-2000 or visit our website at www.definedfitnesswexford.com and sign up for our 30 Day Personal Training Experience for only $69.