The aim of a fat loss programme is to burn off excess body fat and promote the growth or maintenance of lean body tissue. Training should combine resistance exercise and cardiovascular exercise in order to burn body fat as fuel and encourage a leaner physique. The more lean tissue your body is made up of, the more calories you will burn during exercise. This training programme is based on a frequency of 3 sessions per week. Attempt to have at least one day of rest in between each exercise session. Please seek the advice of a fitness professional regarding the correct form and technique of all the following exercises. Ensure a thorough warm-up is performed before you start the programme and a thorough cool down is performed after the programme. The intensity to which you work during this programme should be based on your current level of fitness. Resistance exercises should be moderately intense and should not elicit complete muscular fatigue upon completion of the specified sets and repetitions.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Interval training is a great way to burn body fat and involves repetitive bouts of high intensity exercise for short periods of time.
Using a rowing machine or a stationary bike, try sprinting for 30 seconds followed by 60 seconds of rest. Repeat this 5-6 times. Perform this once a week.
For the remaining training days, perform any cardiovascular exercise for a total of 45 minutes.
Your cardiovascular exercise may be a single exercise or combination of exercises and can include running, swimming, cycling, rowing, cross-training or any other rhythmic cardiovascular exercise. Work should be performed at around 60-80% maximum heart rate.
Resistance Exercise
You should also perform resistance exercise three times each week.
Below is a sample resistance training workout you can use.
- Chest Press: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
- Lat Pull-down: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
- Squats: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
- Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
- Lunges: 2 sets of 10-15 reps
- Abdominal Crunches: 2 sets of10-15 reps
We highly recommend seeking the advice of a medical expert before commencing any exercise routine. This training programme should be viewed as a guide only and should be adapted to meet your individual requirements and current level of fitness.
