First, it is important to understand that to burn a single, solitary pound of fat requires you expend 3,500 calories of energy. Initially I thought that the best way to do this was through running and other cardio exercises like the Stairmaster. So I ran countless miles and spent countless hours on the Stairmaster. I also lifted weights using all the fancy machines at the gym. This worked moderately well. Over the course of a couple of years I lost about 40 pounds.
But, something happened along the way. I decided that I wanted to be in the best shape of my life as good as when I was in high school and running a hundred miles a week. The way I was working out just wasn't cutting it anymore. I had plateaued, stalled like everyone else around me. I felt like I was stuck in hamster on a wheel syndrome.
Then I discovered some interesting things about working out. Did you know that lifting weights will actually allow you to burn more calories than running? Sure, in a half hour of running you are going to burn more calories than in a half hour of lifting weights. However, the more muscle you have the more fat you will burn throughout the day because muscle weighs more than fat and the body has to work harder.
But, here's the really interesting things by using free weights and doing compound or multi joint exercises that work the entire body you can force your body into a state of metabolic shock that causes you to burn calories at a higher rate for days after the work out.
Now I am doing exercises like the clean and jerk, dumb bell snatches, dead lifts, squats, lunges, renegade rows and others. In just a few weeks I am noticing a real difference and you will to if you start doing these exercises.
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