Weight Loss Workout

Looking for a quality workout you can do from home, but don't have much free time to devote to training?  Here's the right way to spend your free time doing a weight loss workout.  Hint - it doesn't involve cardio!

By: Ed Scow, NSCA-CPT: Certified Fitness & Nutrition Expert to the True Superheroes - Busy Moms & Dads and author of Fat Loss To Go

A couple weeks ago I was running a client through a weight loss workout and we were about half way through the workout when he said to me "This workout feels like a cardio workout".

I yelled out, "Exactly!"

Whenever I mention the term weight loss workout, or ask someone what immediately comes to mind when I say those words, cardio is always the first thing to come up.

For some reason, we’ve got it in our heads that if we want to lose fat, that we have to do a lot of cardio and that means that you have to either run, bike, walk (worthless), or hit one of the cardio machines in your basement or at the health club.

But why?

Why does a workout have to include that type of exercise?

What is so special about that type of exercise that you have to do it that way?

In reality, cardio, as it’s usually performed, is a pretty poor example of a weight loss workout, especially when time is of the essence.

A really good weight loss workout should focus on something called EPOC. That’s just a fancy term for saying that you work your body intensely during your weight loss workout, and your body has to work very hard for hours upon hours after your workout is over to get itself back to "normal".

With traditional cardio, this doesn’t take very long. In fact, within the hour your body is back to normal. However when you focus on full body weight loss workouts and full body weight loss exercises, rather than endless amounts of cardio, you will lose weight because your body is working overtime trying to get back to this "normal" state.

If you want to lose weight, and you don’t have much time to devote to a weight loss workout, then you’re going to be far better off sticking to resistance training, and more specifically full body exercises and full body weight loss workouts.

Stay away from the "isolation" movements like biceps curls, triceps kickbacks, chest flies, leg extensions, etc. and stick to big movements like push-ups, squats, lunges and rows.

Take this quick weight loss workout for example. It should only take you 10 minutes, which means it’s pretty much excuse-proof.

Perform this weight loss workout as a circuit, meaning you should move from one weight loss exercise to the next without resting. Rest 15-30 seconds and repeat the circuit as many times as you can in 10 minutes.

1A) Bodyweight Squat – 15 reps

1B) Push-up – 12 reps

1C) Bodyweight Lunge – 12 reps per leg

1D) Mountain Climber – 30 seconds

1E) Stability Ball Jack Knife – 8 reps

That 10-minute workout works every muscle in your body and will leave you huffing and puffing, plus it will leave your metabolism elevated for hours after you’re finished.

That’s what a good weight loss workout should look like and it will give you far better results than cardio. 

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Weight Loss Cardio Myth  | Weight Loss Diet Foods  | Weight Loss  | 3 Weight Loss Diet Foods  | Weight Loss For Moms  | Long Lasting Weight Loss Secret  | Weight Loss Plateau  | How To Stick To Your Weight Loss Diet  | Is It OK To Cheat When On A Weight Loss Diet?  | Is Cardio Overrated?  | 1 Diet Tip To Lose Weight Fast  | Will Fruit Make You Gain Weight?