It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that calories in versus calories out are essential for losing weight and burning fat. Put another way; you must expend more calories through exercise than you consume through eating and drinking. It appears straightforward. Until you consider that the average man requires around 7700 calories to lose 1kg of fat, it can appear to be an uphill battle. But not if you’re wise. Understand general nutritional rules and practice the best exercises for losing weight, and you’ll discover that losing some fat doesn’t take long at all. Elliot Upton, the elite personal trainer at Ultimate Performance Fitness, says you don’t even need to worry about calories. “In reality, the vast majority of calorie counters are grossly inaccurate; the variations that can occur are enormous,” he says. “They employ antiquated formulas that only consider people’s age and weight.” This is greatly exaggerated because there can be significant differences among people of the same age and weight, mainly in hormonal issues, gut issues, genetics, body fat percentage, and muscle mass.” If your only goal is to lose weight, make smarter food choices rather than counting every calorie. Replace white potatoes with sweet potatoes, white bread with whole grain, and white pasta with brown. And if you combine these dietary changes with a consistent exercise routine, you’ll lose weight quickly. With that in mind, we asked Upton to compile a list of his PT-approved weight-loss exercises. Get some Savlon because these are going to burn.
THE BEST WEIGHT LOSS EXERCISES: SHORT TERM
Weight lifting exercises are among the best for weight loss because they have the potential to build the most muscle while also having a more significant EPOC effect. For the uninitiated, that’s ‘Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.’ This calorie afterburn means the exercises put so much strain on your system that you’ll continue to burn calories after you’ve put the weights down. “A standard 60-minute resistance training session can burn up to 432 calories per hour for a 70kg male, according to the Compendium of Physical Activities,” Upton says. “That said, it’s tough to recommend a calorie count for these exercises because a total load lifted and time under muscle tension varies so much from person to person.”
Squatting Man
Want to make sure you’re burning the most calories possible? According to Upton, “the heavier the load lifted and the more muscle recruited, the greater the potential calorie burn.” Incorporate the following into your workouts for quick results.
SQUATS
Sorry to the leg-day slackers out there. Nothing beats the squat when it comes to burning fat. “The squat works almost every muscle in the body,” Upton says. “It works for large muscle groups and has a wide range of motion through all joints, which puts a lot of strain on the cardiovascular system.” There’s no real place to rest, which means the body is always working, even when standing with the bar.” Squat slowly, concentrating on decelerating (rather than dropping) until you reach the bottom position. At this point, you can no longer lower your hips without your heels lifting off the floor and your lower back rounding – don’t go any further, or you’ll hurt your back. Calories burned: 200 calories per 15-minute set.
DEADLIFTS
The deadlift is the ultimate full-body power move and one of the “big three” movements (along with squats and bench press). “Deadlifts are great for targeting the entire body and burning the most calories,” Upton says. “Your legs are working hard, your back and abs are needed to stabilize, and your arms are working hard to hold the bar.” Most people have difficulty keeping their chest up and thus perform deadlifts with a rounded back. For beginners, the trap bar deadlift variation can be beneficial because it is much easier to maintain proper posture and avoid back rounding. Estimated calories burned per 30-minute session: 266 (for an 89kg man, depending on barbell weight load)
PULL-UPS
Nothing beats a proper pull-up for upper body workouts. You might think esteroides online are just for your arms and back, but with good form, almost every muscle is roped in, increasing your calorie burn exponentially. “When doing pull-ups, most people look like scared cats, with their backs rounded and their legs flailing and kicking around,” Upton says. “A proper pull-up requires a full range of motion and a slight retraction of the shoulder blades at the bottom while keeping the arms straight.” Not an easy task, but if you can master these, you will drastically improve your physique in record time.” Consider a string attached to your sternum that pulls your chest towards the ceiling. Your back should be arched due to this, and your legs are hanging straight down. This allows you to shorten the lats ultimately. It also prevents the chest from collapsing and the shoulders from rotating internally. Calories burned: 60 calories per 15-minute set.
LUNGES FOR WALKING
Leg day skeptics may not appreciate this one, but because your quads are the body’s largest muscles – and thus its biggest calorie burners – it may be time to put your best foot forward. “Lunges work the body’s largest muscle groups, the glutes, and quads,” explains Upton. “Because lunges are a unilateral movement, you’ll do ten reps per leg, increasing the demand on your cardiovascular system and calorie burn.” Keep your knee in line with your front toe as you lower yourself. Maintain balance by keeping your weight on your heels as you straighten up. 275 calories are estimated to be burned per 30-minute workout (for a 68kg man)
THE BEST WEIGHT LOSS EXERCISES: LONG TERM
“When it comes to long-term weight loss, the exercises above will undoubtedly help, as long as you’re gradually overloading each exercise over time,” says Upton. In other words, you must constantly challenge your body by performing more reps, sets, weight, tempo, or time under tension. Along with resistance training, the following are great long-term fat burners that are simple to incorporate into your daily routine if you don’t have the time or energy to hit the gym for a heavy weight session.
HIIT
High-intensity interval training is a brutal scorcher that alternates between short bursts of high-intensity activity, such as sprinting, and low-intensity recovery periods, such as walking. “HIIT is a great bang-for-your-buck cardio training method,” says Upton. “It’s quick and efficient but can consume a lot of energy.” Thirty minutes of HIIT burns more calories than 30 minutes of gentle jogging. “There are numerous advantages to this type of cardio, including increased work capacity, lactate threshold, metabolic rate, and insulin sensitivity.” Calories burned per minute are estimated to be 9-13.
RUNNING
Running confidently through city streets like Rocky is one of the best feelings in the world. While steady-pace jogging does not burn as many calories as HIIT, running for weight loss has the added benefit of laying a solid foundation for fitness. “A 5km run or jog can be a great way to increase your energy expenditure,” Upton says. “However, if body transformation is your goal, use it sparingly because too much may cause joint issues and muscle breakdown over time.” Estimated calories burned per 30 minutes: 290
WALKING
The difference in energy expenditure between someone active all day and someone who is sedentary can amount to thousands of calories. This can mean the difference between being in an energy deficit and losing fat or an energy surplus and gaining fat. So get out your Fitbit and set a goal of 10,000 steps per day. “When it comes to fat loss, NEAT is massively overlooked and, at times, completely forgotten, despite being a powerful fat loss tool,” Upton says. “NEAT stands for ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis,’ and it is the total number of calories burned from non-exercise related activity, such as walking.” “You can make it more efficient by either walking faster or incorporating it into your day – for example, walking the dog more frequently, taking work calls and meetings on foot, or listening to a podcast.” 314 calories burned walking at 3.5mph for one hour