The editors at Prevention throw some common misconceptions about fat burning out the window. (Hint: feel free to put down the heavy weights).
1. Put down the heavy weights
You don’t have to grunt and groan with heavy dumbbells to see results. A recent study from McMaster University found that lifting light weights (about 30 percent of maximum effort, or about 24 times until fatigue) was just as effective at building muscles as heavier ones (up to 90 percent maximum load, or about 5 to 10 reps before fatigue), as long as the person was able to fully fatigue the target muscle group by the final rep.
Sculpt sexy shoulders
2. Go hard or go home
The more active you are, the more likely you are to push yourself during a workout. Researchers from New Zealand found that women who exercised regularly were more likely on their own to work at a heart rate near and above VT1 than their more sedentary counterparts.
3. Keep your feet on the ground
When it comes to the amount of fat you’ll burn during a workout, you’ll torch more of it going for a run than you would hopping on a bike, according to a British study from the University of Birmingham.
Turn your walk into a run
4. Make like a hare
Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race for weight loss. New research shows that women who lost 1½ pounds a week or more were successful at achieving long-term significant weight loss than those who lost ½ pound a week or less. The fast-weight losers were five times more likely to have lost at least 10 percent of their body weight at 18 months than those who took off the pounds more gradually.
5. Keep at it for a healthy belly
Exercise is key to keeping off dangerous belly fat. Subjects in a study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham who had lost an average of 24 pounds and kept up their fitness routine of either strength of cardio for 40 minutes twice a week, for 1 year, gained absolutely no visceral fat, even if they gained a little weight back. Those who had stopped exercise altogether weren’t so lucky: They averaged about a 33 percent increase in visceral fat.
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