Cardio Training

Burn more fat and calories and boost your metabolism for up to 48 hours after your workout by doing higher intensity strength workouts.

Strength training burns more calories and fat than cardio workouts because your body has to work harder to contract muscles during your workout.

Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) causes your body to burn more calories and fat after a tough workout. Your body has to work harder to get back to its pre-exercise state.

So, here are 12 training tips to help you burn more fat:

Note: You will never be lean and toned if you only do cardio exercise.


1. Train your body in all 3 planes of motion. Using strength exercises that require rotations, turning, twisting and side-to-side motions will fit the bill.

Machine-based training concentrates on the sagittal plane (up-down, forward-backward movements). Do miminal training (unless you are rehabbing or a beginner) on machines because they limit your natural movement patterns.

Training in all planes of motion will definitely add intensity and variety to your workouts.

2. Training on your feet will lead you to do more full body strength exercises that burn more calories and fat.

3. Build a strong, muscular body and core. Increased muscle mass and intense workouts helps to keep your metabolism humming around the clock.

Stabilize and strengthen the core while also strengthening your limbs (arms and legs). This can be done using exercises like bridges, planks, bird dogs, cobras, supermans and back extensions.

You would later progress to full speed core exercises on your feet like medicine ball chops, medicine ball slams, 2-arm and 1-arm medicine ball throws and medicine ball rotational throws.

4. Include many bodyweight and dumbbell exercises in your workouts. This will help you exercise at higher speeds and burn more fat.

You can get to the heavier weights once your joints and muscles are stabilized and balanced. If you can't do bodyweight squats correctly then you won't do heavyweight squats correctly.

5. Concentrate on compound (multi-joint) exercises like squats of all types, lunges of all types, bench press, rows, step ups, and deadlifts.

These exercises work major muscle groups and help you build more muscle mass and burn more fat.

6. Improve your muscular balance. This will help you build muscle all over your body.

For instance, your quadriceps shouldn't be significantly stronger than your hamstrings. Likewise, the frontside of your upper body should have muscular balance with the backside of your upper body.

7. Train your muscles with all contraction types (eccentric, isometric, concentric). All muscles function eccentrically (reduces force or deceleration), isometrically (stabilizes force) and concentrically (produces force).

Eccentric contractions are able to produce the most tension development followed by isometric contractions and lastly, concentric contractions. If eccentric contractions are able to produce the greatest tension development, then more time should be devoted during training for eccentric contractions to reduce the risk of injuries such as knee ACL tears.

Also, strong eccentric contractions are critical to produce maximal power since all force production (concentric) must be preceded by force reduction (eccentric).

Lowering the bar on bench press 4 seconds (eccentric) and lifting the bar in one second (concentric) would be an example of eccentric contraction training. You could do the same thing with exercises like hamstring curls, shoulder press, rows and squats.

8. Do strength training using supersets. Superset strength training burns fat better than traditional strength training. When you pair two non-competing exercises, it allows you to do more work because one or more muscle groups can rest while you work other or opposing muscle groups.

An example would be to do squats followed immediately by standing shoulder press.

9. Do strength training using tri-sets. You would do three exercises back-to-back without rest. An example would be to do squats, standing shoulder press and step ups. Obviously, this is tougher than supersets but it allows you to burn even more fat in less time.

10. Improve your flexibility and correct postural problems in the early stages of your training to avoid injuries when you get to more intense training. You can't workout if your injured.

11. Progress to more intense exercises like plyometrics (jump training) and speed training after you have stabilized and strengthened your core, joints and overall muscle structure.

12. Improve your rate-of-force production (how fast your muscles produce force) and dynamic balance. Plyometrics helps you improve rate-of-force production. This will help you burn more fat because you will be able to do more challenging exercises.

Train harder, smarter, safely and burn more fat.

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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