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Four Workout Tricks You Can Use Right Now To Burn More Fat 

By Eugene Thong CSCS 

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Most of the workout questions we get have to do with specific details of individual workouts.  But one question that pops up time and time is, “What can I do to burn more calories in my workout?” 

 

Well, understand this: If you’re maximizing your efforts in the weight room and eating right, then burning more calories through extraneous exercise is almost useless.  It’s certainly a poor use of your time, and as Mike detailed in his article, our official stand on “long, boring cardio” is – it should not be done.  But there’s no reason we can’t share four of our favorite tricks to up the ante (and the calorie burn) on the exercise you should already be doing…

 

1. Use your rhythm and work out later.

 

Are you a night owl or an early bird?  Do you get an energy lag during mid-morning, or a do you experience a pre-rush hour slump?  Our bodies operate on a cyclical energy flux called Circadian rhythm.  It determines many of your physiological processes, not the least of which is your natural energy cycle.  By following your Circadian rhythm and planning your workouts when you have the most concentration and energy, you’ll be able to get more out of your workouts.

 

Studies show that athletic performance tends to peak when our core temperatures peak.  This occurs in most folks in the late afternoon/early evening. 

 

2. Take it slow and lower with control. 

 

Whether you’re new to exercise or an old hand at lifting weights, the natural tendency is to rush through, fast and furious.  But if your main goal is fat loss, then this makes about as much sense as trying to call your Aunt Wilma in Tuscaloosa with a pair of tin cans and a string. 

 

By lifting weights slower, not only do you utilize more control of the weight, minimizing chance of injury, you increase the amount of work your muscles have to do.  This in turn increases overall calorie burn and fat loss. 

 

A study published in the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that resistance training that caused increased muscle damage (micro tears in the fibers, not injury) such as eccentric contractions resulted in an increased resting metabolic rate up to 48 hours post exercise.

 

Take it slower and work those muscles hard – and it’ll fire up your fat burning furnace, even at rest.

 

3. Flip-flop it.

 

One of the most effective fat-burning workouts is the whole-body circuit, where you work continuously by going from one exercise to the next without taking a break.  But we at MCNewsletters take things a step further.  To really fire on all cylinders, perform an alternating upper and lower body circuit – the PHA circuit. 

 

The PHA circuit we detail in Black Book of Secrets further increases the calorie burn through its program design.  By alternating upper and lower body movements in a specific order, you’re able to work harder on each exercise, and working harder means you burn more calories both during and after the workout.

 

And that, my friends, is the point.

 

4. Patronize your local Starbucks.

 

What commonly available substance is a potent fat burner and contributes to athletic performance so much that it was formerly banned by the UCI, World Anti-Doping Agency, and International Olympic Committee?

 

The answer – caffeine.  Yup,  too many double espressos, and there goes your gold medal.

 

Since you’re only in competition with yourself, let’s use every trick you have at your disposal.  Caffeine is a thermogenic substance, meaning it speeds metabolism.  In addition, it frees up and mobilizes fatty acids for energy use, doubly increasing fat burning.

 

As if the thermogenic properties of caffeine weren’t enough, consider the performance boosts – researchers in Canada found that ingesting caffeine prior to a workout improved endurance, exertion, and recovery and decreased fatigability by up to 30% in each category

 

Translation: Ingesting some caffeine before your workout will supercharge your work efforts. 
 

You can take caffeine in your delivery vehicle of choice, but we recommend caffeine tablets as they are the easiest delivery method and easiest to calibrate in terms of dosage.  Although the Australian researchers used a dosage of 5mg per kg of body weight (or 330 mg per participant), this dosage will likely be too high to start.  We recommend starting with a smaller dosage of 100 mg (or about the amount found in one cup of strong coffee) to start with to minimize gastrointestinal upset.

 

Here’s the caveat: Your body does build up a tolerance to caffeine’s effects.  In fact, if you’re a heavy coffee drinker, you’re probably tolerant already.  So save your caffeination for right before your workouts, and stop pounding down the pot first thing in the morning.

 

Are you running around in circles?  Feel like you just can't go it your own?  Subscribe to our newsletter and benefit from the weekly training tips, nutritional advice, and motivation tricks, all at the exceptional price of FREE!  We've collected the best of the best from our years of research and application with clients and compiled them in a neat little volume we call The Black Book of Secrets.  It's your secret weapon for fat loss.

 

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