Shed and Shred: The Best Exercises to Lose Weight and Gain Muscle

Depending on your starting point of personal fitness and what sort of outcome you’d like to work towards, the best exercises for your personal needs will vary. However, there are some general guidelines and types of exercises that will help everyone to both burn fat and to build healthy body mass or muscle. Body builders and those who are interested in adding substantial bulk will still want to investigate methods that enhance different areas of physical fitness. Below, we’ll offer some specific exercises, as well as general areas of focus for those who are interested in improving their fitness, shedding body fat, and crafting lean body mass.

Aerobic Activity, Finding Your Pace, and Health Benefits
Whether you are trying to lose a hundred pounds or five, aerobic exercise is beneficial in a number of ways. First, it helps to maintain the strength and fitness of your cardiovascular and respiratory system, two vital bodily systems that will come into play in all types of workouts. These types of exercise build slow twitch muscle fibers—the type needed for the long, slow push of endurance, which will stand you in good stead in any endeavor. Another benefit is that it burns calories in a steady manner, which makes it both beneficial and easy to maintain.

Swim, Walk, or Jog?
If you’re a beginner with a substantial challenge before you, consider swimming as a zero-impact, yet intensely beneficial, form of aerobic activity. Not only will it tone your muscles, but even a doggy paddle stroke is effective. You can burn up to 700 calories per hour of steady swimming, but even half that offers a huge improvement. Some people, unfortunately, miss out on the many benefits of swimming because they never learned how to swim. A Houston swimming lessons specialist says learning to swim is an extremely healthy and potentially life-saving skill, so consider taking swimming lessons to add an aquatic element to your fitness routine. Walking will also be beneficial, laying the groundwork for further development as you progress in your fitness plan. Jogging is more stressful on the joints of hips, knees, ankles and the delicate structures of the feet. That means that when you are ready to try it, make sure you’re doing it correctly to avoid injury.

Resistance and Balance
With the use of tension bands, you can tone your core muscles, improve your balance and burn fat at the same time. While they utilize two different principals, these are two tools that are easily purchased and used anywhere—home or gym. Tension bands offer resistance that is customized based on how short your band length is. This offers many of the benefits of traditional weights, as well as helping to improve your range of motion and balance. When you tone your core muscles—those muscle groups around your mid-section, primarily—you also improve your posture and by association, your stamina will improve. Many individuals enjoy using resistance bands in conjunction with a Pilates workout to maximize flexibility and cardiovascular stamina

Unintentional Rigor
Kettlebells are iron forms with attached grips. Their unevenly distributed weight causes your core muscles to work harder to maintain balance and necessary tension, which provides an intensive workout in a short period of time. Because all your muscle groups can be worked using these in conjunction with a simple set of motions, kettlebells are incredibly popular. Use both the bands and kettlebells to attain a high-intensity workout that will burn calories and tone muscles. While the bells can be used as they are, there are many established workout programs that you may find beneficial.

Once you’ve created a routine with aerobic and core fitness as key tenets, if you wish to incorporate further strength or cross-training, consider developing a routine in the weight room with a personal trainer. They have the expertise to guide you in a safe and effective manner toward your goals. As well, they will help you learn the correct form for lifting heavier weights, or help you to craft a more effective routine with swimming, your resistance bands, and the kettlebells. No matter what your goals, it all starts with a simple choice to improve your health and quality of life.

 

*Our content is not intended to provide medical advice or diagnosis of individual problems or circumstances, nor should it be implied that we are a substitute for professional medical advice. Users / readers are always advised to consult their Healthcare Professional prior to starting any new remedy, therapy or treatment. Your Wellness Group accepts no liability in the event you, a user of n-gage and a reader of this article, suffers a loss as a result of reliance upon or inappropriate application of the information.

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