Lean Muscle Fat Loss Mini Circuit Workouts

When it comes to fat loss, most people think cardio and dieting. Strength training is just an afterthought. Although hopefully you have been following my posts here and know better. But if you are skeptical.....

Strength training, can burn just as much, if not more, fat than cardio.

Why is it that people focus on cardio as they're primary fat burner?

For one thing cardio does shrink you down. But it does just that: it shrinks down both your fat and muscle. You end skinny and soft. But for a more athletic looking, lean and trim body we want to retain or gain lean muscle while burning fat.

Why?

A larger engine burns more fuel. Larger muscles burn more calories and more fat.

While cardio burns calories and fat when you're doing it, strength training has what is known as high EPOC or "Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption." This is a fancy term for saying how long your metabolism is elevated after exercise.

Studies show that a well-designed strength training program can elevate your EPOC or metabolism for up to 38 hours after your workout. In other words, you continue to burn calories long after strength training. Whereas once you stop cardio, the calorie burning stops as well.

Strength training coupled with diet and cardio burns fat far more than cardio and diet alone.

3 Points To Your Strength Training Workout

Superset between upper and lower body movements through "mini-circuits"

Focus on free weights, compound and multiple compound lifts, and use isolation movements only to bring up lagging parts

Train each body part 3 times a week, but lower the overall volume by spreading the sets and exercises throughout the week

Mini Circuits

This is where you alternate between an upper and lower body exercise.

Using mini-circuits gives you the powerful fat loss effect of circuit training but with the simplicity of using just 2 exercises.

A typical mini circuit uses a lower body exercise, such as the squat, coupled with pushups.

And as you should know we use compound movements (such as the power lifts) and multiple compound movements (such as the Olympic lifts), burn more calories.

The very fact that you have to use more muscles to stabilize the weight means that you stress and develop more muscle and burn more calories and fat as a result.

Below is a strength training/fat loss program that (coupled with diet and high intensity interval training) will get you leaner, more muscular and you'll be more energetic. Do this mini circuit workout 3 times a week.

Strength Training Fat Loss Mini Circuit Workouts

1A - Kettlebell Clean & Press

1B - Swings: 1 set, 20 reps, 60 seconds rest

2A - Hang Cleans

2B - Front Squats: 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 90 seconds rest

To perform this exercise, clean a barbell to your shoulders, perform a front squat, drop the bar to hang clean position and repeat till you achieve 8-10 reps

3A - Front Squats: 4 sets, 10-12 reps, no rest
3B - Pullups: 4 sets, as many reps as possible, 60-90 seconds rest

4A - Deadlifts: 3 sets, 10-12 reps, no rest
4B - Pushups: 3 sets, as many reps as possible, 60-90 seconds rest

These mini circuit training workouts are tough, but if you build a bigger engine, then you'll burn more fuel. Gain lean muscle burn more fat.