Maintaining your health is a habit. But habits can’t be formed unless they’re sustainable, so if you want to start focusing on getting the shredded body you’ve always wanted, start by making small changes that can become a part of your everyday routine. Here, we give you some simple, sustainable changes you can make to torch fat and get on the road to the ripped physique you’ve always dreamd of but always thought was too far out of your reach. Make these easy tweaks to your lifestyle and training and say goodbye to your dad bod. Transform yourself into a fat-destroying machine today.Â
Exercise Physiologist & Sports Conditioning Coach, Byron Paidoussi sculpts athletes, as well as average Joes, into superheroes. Certified Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor & Nutrition Counselor, Whitney Cole is a triple threat in the fight against fat. Together they own and operate FITNESS and FUEL LA in Beverly Hills, California, where they inspire clients to exceed their fitness potential by developing no-fail, holistic total-body conditioning and performance nutrition plans.Â
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Eat a Substantial Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets your metabolism going to keep you fully charged. Get a combination of protein, and complex carbs to completely prepare you for what’s ahead. Try this easy and Impressive omelet with a ½ cup brown rice, or these tasty protein pancakes.
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Lift Before Cardio
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Basal metabolic rate increases dramatically for an extended period post resistance training. By doing your cardiovascular exercise after your lifting, you will increase your caloric burn by as much as 25%. Also, doing cardio prior to lifting, depletes your glycogen stores before you even start weight training, minimizing any desired muscular strength and power gains.
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Do Squats and Deadlifts
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Squats and deadlifts are two key exercise that work the entire body. They burn a ton of calories and add lean muscle mass (more muscle = more fat burning).Â
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Do HIIT Instead of Steady State Cardio
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Research shows that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a far more effective way to lose body fat than steady state exercise. As an added bonus, you won’t cannibalize muscle tissue and you’ll spend less time bored on the treadmill.
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Lift Heavy
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If you truly want to torch fat, lift heavy. By lifting heavy weight you will add additional lean mass to your body. And for every pound of lean muscle you add you will burn an extra 50 calories per day.Â
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Circuit Train
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Stop wasting time resting at the gym. Do workouts in circuits and supersets. While a muscle group is recovering from a set, work another muscle group. This will keep your heart rate elevated for the entire workout and help you burn more calories overall.
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Don’t Socialize When Training
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Don’t waste time chatting at the gym. Do your workout and leave the socializing for your down time. Even having a conversation during your “rest” will leave you in the gym longer, lower your heart rate and reduce the caloric burn of the workout, all of which slow fat loss.
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Eat Every 3 Hours
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Think of your metabolism as a fire, if you don’t keep adding fuel to it, it burns slower and eventually dies out. Likewise, the fire can only handle so much fuel at one time, and is easily overwhelmed by a huge log. Instead, adding reasonable portions of fuel at regular intervals encourages the fire to burn faster and hotter. The same is true with out metabolism: keep supplying it with healthy food and it speeds up; deny it food and it goes into starvation mode, creating fat stores for later usage.
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Drink Green Tea
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Add green tea to your daily routine. The caffeine will rev up your metabolism. Plus, it has antioxidants, which will eliminate free radicals and also contains polyphenols that aid in the metabolic breakdown of fat.
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Wear a Heart Rate Monitor
Most people never actually push themselves hard enough during workouts. By wearing a heart rate monitor, you can ensure that you are hitting your targets and pushing yourself hard enough. You will also get a measure of total calories burned at the end of your workout that you can try to improve on each time you train.
