Weight Loss & Exercise
Best Exercises for Weight Loss: Lose Weight with Dynamo Fitness
Losing weight can be a challenging task. However, incorporating the right exercises with the right gym equipment into your routine can help you lose weight significantly. In this blog, we will discuss:
- Diet vs Exercise for weight loss.
- How Obesity is becoming an issue in the modern-day world.
- Why working on Heart’s fat is important.
- The best exercises for weight loss in 2023.
- How different types of exercises can help you burn calories, build muscle, and increase your metabolic rate.
- The best machines to perform those exercises.
So, if you’re trying to lose weight through cardio, strength training, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), or a combination of different types of workouts, we will provide you with valuable information to help you achieve your weight loss goals. Let’s dive in and explore the best exercises for weight loss in 2023!
The Core of the Matter: Diet and Weight Training Exercise
There’s a big debate going on around the fitness world about whether diet or exercise is more important for weight loss. It’s a false choice. The reality is – it takes both. This isn’t necessarily about becoming “ripped” or looking like William Boniac and most people don’t want that.
Read how Iron can help you in weight loss.
Today, people are buying their own gym equipment to improve their health and appearance. They don’t have the time to commit to gym memberships and prefer to get into shape in their own homes, working out when it best suits them.
Privacy counts and people who may need more serious work don’t have to suffer various indignities in public.
Obesity has Become a Big Issue in Modern Life
Obesity is one of today’s most serious health issues. It’s not that we’re all “couch potatoes,” whose workout means reaching for the remote. The truth is, we need to exercise and fight the “Battle of the Bulge” to counter the realities of our daily lives.
Modern life and work mean we sit now more than ever. What used to be our normal rate of activity, simply doesn’t happen. Manual work has mostly been replaced by keyboards – and we sit.
Getting from one place to another means driving or taking transportation in some form – and we sit. Entertainment comes from the screen (TVs or computers) – and we sit. Our heart rates stay low and the overall muscle tone we used to gain even by walking through life doesn’t happen.
“We’re stressed. We eat foods filled with fats and sugars that shouldn’t be there and you’re reading this because it’s time to get to work and drop the pounds.”
Why You Should Work on Burning Heart’s fats?
People tend to focus on machines to target their biceps, give them an expansive chest, or those 6-pack abs. The first muscle that needs to lose its fat – is your heart.
For some reason, the word “cardio” elicits moans and groans, like kids walking into class for a math test. The fact is, your heart is the core of your core, and increasing your heart rate and endurance is the key to shedding the pounds.
Do you know about the difference between fat loss and weight loss? Read to know how they are different and how you can fight with any of them.
A proper cardio routine is more than just making your heart work a little more. There’s a science to it. According to the Mayo Clinic, people need to establish their maximum heart rate (an upper limit for what their heart can take).
It varies from one individual to another, but in general, you should subtract your age from 220. That will yield your maximum heart rate (if you’re 42, your maximum rate would be 175 beats per minute during your hardest workout). That’s the upper limit and the line you don’t want to cross.
A moderate workout will increase your heart rate to 50-70% of this limit with weight loss starting at the lower end of the zone between 55-70% of your maximum heart rate. A vigorous routine will drive that up to 70% to 85% of the limit. That’s not where you’re starting. It’s where you’ll end up.
Best Exercises for Weight Loss & Calorie Burn
Cardio Exercises
When it comes to weight loss, cardio exercise is a crucial component. Cardio, short for cardiovascular exercise, is any type of weight loss exercise that gets your heart rate up for an extended period of time. Cardio includes activities like running, cycling, swimming, aerobic exercise, rowing, and brisk walking, to name a few.
The reason why cardio exercises for weight loss is effective is that it burns fat and a significant amount of calories. When you engage in cardio exercise, your body is working harder to pump blood through your body, which in turn burns calories.
Don’t forget to check out our blog on “The Most Effective Fat Loss Method”.
The fact is that the harder you work during cardio, the more calories and body fat you’ll burn. So, the more calories your body burns, the more weight you’ll lose.
So, full-body cardio exercise to lose weight is great for body weight loss. Whether it’s a 30-minute jog on the treadmill or a cycling class, regular cardio will help you burn calories and boost your metabolism. Consequently, it will help you lose weight and build strength.
Remember to consult with a certified personal trainer to create a personalized cardio workout plan that fits your needs and goals.
Strength Training Exercises
Many people assume that cardio have the best exercises for weight loss, but strength training plays a vital role in achieving weight loss goals. This can include activities like weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, squats, jumping rope, and even resistance band training.
Exercises for weight loss which include strength training are not just to build muscle, but also increase your metabolism. How? Because muscle mass burns more calories than fat mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn, even when resting.
Strength training also helps with weight loss by increasing your lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass is the muscle in your body that is not covered by fat.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a type of cardio workout that alternates between periods of high-intensity exercise and periods of rest or low-intensity exercise. You would never want to not opt for this full-body workout if you want to lose weight.
HIIT is so effective for weight loss as it burns many calories in a short amount of time. A typical HIIT workout can burn up to 15 calories per minute, which is much more than traditional steady-state cardio.
Another reason HIIT is great for weight loss is that it continues to burn calories, even after the workout is over. This is known as the “afterburn effect” or “EPOC” (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption).
These exercises help to increase muscle mass, fat loss, and boost metabolism. During high-intensity exercise, your body produces growth hormone, which helps to build muscle. And as mentioned earlier, muscle mass burns more calories than fat mass.
HIIT exercises are versatile and can be done with a variety of different exercises. You can do HIIT on a treadmill, bike, or even with bodyweight exercises.
Machines for Strength Training & Cardio – Lose Weight and Calories
Treadmills
Treadmills (Treadmill Buying Guide) offer a solid way to get their hearts pumping and increase their endurance. Modern machines offer a wide variety of settings to provide a range of challenges during a single workout.
Variable settings let the users experience everything from an easy walk to a sprint or a cross-country run. Incline and speed can be programmed to change levels of difficulty multiple times throughout each session. Increased exertion drives the heart faster and is relieved when followed by a slower run over “level ground.”
Your heart and legs will rest some while keeping an elevated workout going. Treadmills offer one great benefit that often gets overlooked, they are indoors. Rain, heat, cold, and wind won’t impact your workout.
Cross-Trainers
Cross-trainers, (ellipticals) offer a wide range of benefits (See the difference between a cross-trainer and Elliptical Trainer). They increase the overall body workout by incorporating upper and lower body workouts into one routine. They’re a great way to boost your heart rate into the weight-loss zone while building your base level of fitness. That’s why they work so well.
Cross-trainers provide for adjustments in small increments. Speed and intensity (resistance) can be changed in multiple combinations to create a truly progressive program for fitness.
You get the workout you need and avoid overexertion. Cross-trainers offer a low-impact option for fitness. Treadmills aren’t like running on roads, but they can impact knees and ankles and for some, that’s a show stopper.
Combining an upper and lower body workout into one machine saves time (one of the biggest roadblocks is having time to exercise) and people can work their bodies while watching a TV or a movie.
Entertainment makes time pass quickly without reducing the benefits.
Cost is a big factor these days. Getting a cross trainer into your home can be less expensive than gym memberships, particularly if more than one member of the family is using it.
Family members program their own routines into a cross trainer, progress at their own rates, and the price tag drops. Like treadmills and other machines, a cross trainer in the home offers privacy.
It’s a bigger issue than people think, and embarrassment has kept many people from the work they are otherwise willing to do. That’s no small thing!
Rowing Machine – Exercise Routine to Burn More Calories
Another great option for a home workout is the time-honored rowing machine. They’ve been around for a long time and like cross trainers, offer a whole-body workout while getting your heart into the fat-burning zone.
Rowing machines work just about all major muscle groups in the human body while increasing your heart rate, increasing oxygen intake, and building your core.
An hour on a rowing machine burns around 600 calories, so it’s a high-efficiency workout and again – offers a low-impact cardio workout.
Things to Consider When Considering Rowing Machine
There are some things to look for when considering a rowing machine (Rowing Machine Buying Guide). It might seem obvious but have a good look at the seat and sit in it! Comfort is a huge factor and you’re going to be spending some time there regularly.
Rowing machines are programmable with multiple levels of resistance in both the oars and the seat. Be sure you’re getting a machine that will grow with your strength. You‘ll be getting leaner and stronger and you’ll need a machine that continues to challenge your body.
There’s one question few people ask. How tall are you? You’re looking for stable, smoothly operating glide rails that provide you with a full extension throughout your routine.
Rowing machines offer another big benefit. There are perfectly good rowing machines that won’t leave you bankrupt. Modern machines offer multiple program settings and are easy to use and enjoy.
Feeding the Furnace
The media is filled with magic superfoods and diet plans that burn more calories than you take.
One of the biggest issues with all diets is our ability to stick with them. People who are embarking on a weight loss campaign are making a serious commitment and for most of us, a lifestyle change.
Diets that send people off to count grains of rice will probably not be a solution you can live with. Finding a diet that will get the pounds off in combination with exercise can be a challenge.
There are a few key facts to keep in mind when selecting a diet plan for healthy weight. Short-term radical actions might be called for, but people choosing them should consider a secondary diet plan that will serve them long-term with sustained healthy eating habits.
In the end, this will be about burning more calories than you take in while providing the body with what it needs.
In general, the average human burns about 2,300 calories per day. Supporting our body functions, heart pumping, lung breathing, etc… does that for us. Increasing our activity level and getting our heart rates into the fat-burning zone regularly is the key.
For all the marketing that targets us, there are a few basic rules to follow. Most dieticians recommend a diet with less meat while our vegetable intake grows. They focus on reducing fattier red meats and reliance upon leaner fare like chicken, turkey, and seafood.
Our bodies do need fats to work properly but the saturates clog our arteries and retain more carcinogens than unsaturated fats.
If you’re exercising and building muscle mass, you need protein. That’s what builds muscle. In virtually all sound diet plans, sugars and carbohydrates are the enemies of weight loss. It’s sad but true, German chocolate cake won’t be on the menu.
There really isn’t an either/or choice here. Exercising for weight loss means striking a balance in living that allows time to work your heart, build your core and burn the fat and a diet that supports weight loss while giving your body what it needs.
As in just about everything else in life, moderation, planning, and sticking with it – will get you into last year’s pants.
[1] https://www.flexonline.com/ifbb/2018-arnold-classic-finals-report
[2] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887