Most people who are looking to lose fat don’t normally think about weight training (building lean muscle mass) as much as they think about performing long duration aerobic activities like running, swimming, or cycling to produce fat loss. They generally assume that all weightlifting workouts are designed for those who are looking to get incredibly huge muscles like those of a competitive bodybuilder.

This is a common misconception and as it turns out, the activity of weight training may be your best and most effective tool for burning and eliminating significant amounts of fat. However, training and preferably in the form of HIIT “high intensity interval training” will burn more calories in the twenty four hours following a workout.

Aerobic exercise alone does not increase your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) as much as weight training.

The reason that weight training, specifically “free-weight circuits” are so effective at burning fat is because of the extreme amount of calories also burned during the exercises themselves. When lifting heavy weight “substantial enough to create change” and doing so in a workout that is performed both consistently and to speed, the body will be burning hundreds and hundreds of calories per hour and can often be as effective at burning calories as a strenuous prolonged run on the treadmill.

One of the reasons why circuits can be so effective at burning calories and in turn burning fat is because of the large muscle groups that can be worked simultaneously. This type of training also requires fewer rest periods which will cause a greater release of testosterone during a workout… helps grow muscle- far superior to steady state exercises.

Let’s take the squat for instance. The squat is probably the most powerful exercise you can do for your body for both building muscle and losing fat. When you perform a squat, you are activating almost every muscle group in your body. You are certainly targeting the lower body utilizing huge muscles such as your thighs, your lower back, and your gluteus. As these huge muscle groups are put into action, they use up large amounts of calories in order to perform the work.

Now, as fitness athletes put on muscle as they become advanced in their efforts, they begin to burn fat automatically even when they are not exercising. This is because muscle itself speeds up the metabolism and will burn fat just simply by its existence on your body. When you are building muscle, you are actually building “burning ovens” all over your entire body that will help to speed up your metabolism and burn fat on a regular basis. So don’t just look at the increased muscle you will develop, but instead think about the decrease in fat your body will experience.

Another plus in performing these types of functional workouts lies in the time required to complete a circuit… you don’t have to spend hours in a gym!

Performing long aerobic sessions causes the body to release cortisol, otherwise referred to as the “stress hormone” that can be associated with muscle tissue break down.

Finally, let’s look at the diet of an aesthetically pleasing physique to uncover one more reason why weight training can be your answer to burning fat.

Those who aspire to maintain and develop an aesthetically and balanced physique require significant amounts of protein in order to maintain their muscle mass and build new muscle as well. This is true whether or not you are trying to compete for the Olympia or are just trying to maintain or build a lean physique for a particular sport or role that you are involved in.

Weight training is not necessarily about building huge muscles all the time or even at all, but maximizing the muscle you do have so that it is the most effective it can be for your body type. No matter what your goals, you want to increase your intake of protein to make sure that new muscle can be built and that the muscles you do have recover properly after strenuous workouts.

Bodybuilders for example often have diets that are heavy in protein and low in carbohydrates, this can result in their body beginning to burn existing stores of fat for fuel as their diets often lack the carbohydrates needed to fuel their intense workouts. As the body burns fat for fuel, your muscles will look more defined and your body fat percentage will significantly decrease.

So if the usual diets and fat burning workouts have NOT been working for you, you might want to give M2 A/X a try and see just how well picking up a few weights can do to burn that fat off your body.

As the financial crisis continues to blow in our faces we can neglect to put up a fight or we can make it “easy to” by doing the things we all find “easy not to” and continue on the fight.

The most critical asset to neglect is our health. Exercise is the simplest “easiest to” and most cost effective measures for regulating mental and physical stress. It is our lifeblood. Yet it’s the one vital component most seem to take for granted during these trying times. To maintain a strong level head in the face of crisis is one of the most crucial elements of survival which forms as a result of a healthy lifestyle.

This guy is one of M2’s favorite motivational experts. He’s the same man that taught Anthony Robbins his craft. He’ll get you thinking a plane higher…

People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not.

The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn’t matter. If I had to sum it up, I would say what I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. Six years later, I’m a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the government, and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy things.

In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should, can be summed up in a single word: neglect.

It is not the lack of money – banks are full of money. It is not the lack of opportunity – America, and much of the free World, continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand years of recorded history. It is not the lack of books – libraries are full of books – and they are free! It is not the schools – the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors and advisors.

Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply neglect.

Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.

Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more… and on and on it goes.

So my suggestion is that when giving the choice of “easy to” and “easy not to” that you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, “easy”; but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn