Exercises to Build Muscle and Burn Fat

In a recent hub, I discussed the fact that the best way to lose fat was to build muscle. Muscle is the single biggest contributing factor to having an elevated metabolism. I discussed that when you muscle began to deteriorate in your 30's is when you most likely began to notice small amounts of weight gain. Those two things are inextricably related. The more muscle that you have the more calories that you will burn on a daily basis. This in turn will lead to faster fat loss.

So the question is then what kind of exercises should you be doing to achieve your fat loss goals? The rest of this hub will cover some of the exercises that you should begin to incorporate into your workouts if they are not already a part of them.

The squat is one of the most effective exercises at building muscle. Your legs have a lot of room to grow when it comes to adding muscle. The squat in any of its variatons should be part of your workout program. You can perform back squats, front squats, overhead squats, dumbbell squats and even quarter squats. I also think single leg body weight squats are a great exercise as well. It takes a good amount of strength to perform more than a few at a time. Just make sure that you are doing squats.

Most people never do dead lifts. However, they should be. No exercise spurs the body on to muscle growth like the dead lift. When you do it correctly and will care it is a safe exercise. Not only is it a great exercise for adding muscle but it is a functional exercise as well. We pick up heavy things from the floor in normal life. Learning proper technique in your dead lifts may aid you in every day life.

The exercises that will go in this group are are any form of bench presses. You can do flat barbell bench presses, flat dumbbell bench presses, incline barbell bench presses, incline dumbbell bench presses and push ups. You also need to be doing vertical pushing exercises as well. This would involve standing barbell military presses, standing barbell push press and push presses. You can also do body weight handstand push ups as well since this is a great strength exercise.

Lunges are great and they work your legs in a little different fashion than squats. Lunges will give your hamstrings a greater workout. Perform barbell lunges and dumbbell lunges. I would also include barbell and dumbbell step ups on to a bench or perform split squats with your rear leg elevated on a bench.

Pulling exercises will work mostly on your upper back. In this group I would include pull ups as my number one exercise. I would also include barbell bent over rows, single arm dumbbell rows and inverted body weight rows. If you belong to a gym and have access to a lat down pull down machine or a low pulley row machine then by all means use them in your workouts.

The above exercises are all you need to build muscle. You do not need to waste time on tricep push downs or bicep curls or lateral raises. Those muscles will get plenty of work without the need to work them directly.

I would put all of these exercises in a fat burning workout. I just got back inside from my garage (my version of a home gym) from performing the following circuit. You can use it as an example of the type of exercise routine that you can put together.

I did eight different exercises for 30 seconds each with 30 seconds rest in between each exercise. I performed three rounds of this circuit. The whole thing should take about 24 minutes. I must admit however, that I had to cheat a bit. I took me 27 minutes. I had to stick a one minute rest in between each superset. Here are the exercises that I performed and the order in which I performed them.

Squat

Push Ups

Pull Ups

Dead Lifts

Hanging Leg Raises

Dumbbell Military Presses

Body Weight Inverted Rows (I use the TRX for this)

Kettlebell Swings

I am still a little wobbly after performing it but it was a great workout. Make one of your own.