For many of us now, the days are growing shorter, the nights are drawing in, and there’s a distinct chill in the air which signifies that summer is now well and truly done with for this year, soon to be replaced by the cold harshness of winter. Just because the weather is turning however, don’t let this be an excuse to binge eat, to slack off with the exercise and to simply let yourself go by gaining weight and losing muscle mass and fitness in general.

We all know all too well just how difficult it can be to lose fat, and unfortunately in a cruel and all too familiarly ironic twist, just how easy it actually is to gain weight. We can diet for weeks upon weeks to lose a measly pound or two and with one poor meal choice for one single day, that measly pound will be right back and you’ll be right back to square one.

In order to lose weight you need to ensure that you eat fresh, healthy, and nutritious foods, and that you get plenty of physical activity and exercise on a daily basis. As far as which forms of exercise you should choose however, well that’s really down to personal preference and a few other deciding factors that could be out of your control.

When you think of exercise for fat loss you probably think of jogging around the block or hopping on the treadmill at the gym for hours at a time and performing other similar cardio based workouts. Whilst it can’t be denied that cardio is indeed an extremely efficient method of burning fat, there are other forms of exercise that work just as well. Here’s a look at three examples of the best forms of fat burning exercise.

Cardio

Running is a great form of cardio

We’ll start off with the most common and well-known form of exercise when it comes to fat loss and calorie burning, and that’s cardio. Cardiovascular exercise gets its name because it has been proven to strengthen the heart, which was known as Kardia in ancient Greek.

People think of jogging or running when it comes to cardio but in reality cardio can be applied to pretty much any form of physical exercise that gets your heart rate up.

Common examples of some of the more popular forms of cardio exercise can include: jogging, walking, running, swimming, cycling, and using various pieces of cardio equipment in the gym, including aerobic climbers, treadmills, elliptical machines, and exercise bikes. A great way of getting cardio in without even realising is to get involved in physically active games or sports. Try football, badminton, squash, tennis, or athletics for example.

Although cardio exercise is incredibly effective when it comes to burning fat, many people tend to steer well clear of it because in order for you to burn enough calories for it to have been worthwhile, you will need to exercise for at least an hour, which can be incredibly boring, especially if you’re stuck on a treadmill or stationary bike staring at the same view for over an hour. You can of course get friends involved, play games and sports, or listen to music to help stay motivated and to help pass the time.

HIIT

HIIT on treadmill

HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training, is a method of training that has a mixed opinion that is pretty much split right down the middle. Some people swear by it when it comes to fat loss, whilst others say that low intensity cardio is the way forward. No matter what your opinion, you cannot deny the fact that HIIT does certainly have a number of benefits and advantages.

HIIT basically requires users to alternate between periods of low intensity exercise, and high intensity exercise. An example would be a person walking on the treadmill for 90 seconds, before cranking the speed up and sprinting for 30 – 60 seconds, before slowing down and repeating the process all over again. The great thing about HIIT is that it is over quickly and has the potential to burn upwards of 700 calories in less than 30 minutes!

Despite the fact that some people are against HIIT, if you do your research you will find plenty of credible sources that indicate that HIIT is a great method of training when it comes to fat loss.

Weight training

Working Out in the Gym… hit those weights!

Last on the list is weight training, which many people don’t actually think of when it comes to burning fat. When people think of weight training, they think of muscle building and nothing more.

Whilst weight training will obviously build muscle, it will also help to burn fat as well, in a number of different ways. For starters, it still burns calories as your body is working so hard whilst training.

Calories burnt means fat burnt. As well as that, the more muscle you gain, the more efficient your metabolism will be because muscle requires for calories to maintain than fat, which means that the body has to burn more calories to maintain the muscle.

So there you have it, three extremely effective methods of burning fat that are all very popular and very effective in their own right. When it comes to exercise, there is no one exercise you should do in order to lose weight and get fit as variety is the spice of life, so mix things up and see what works for you.