The Best Exercise To Burn Fat

Now hear us out for a second.

We get so many questions on which of the UpBEat workouts will help to burn the most fat. Now while there will be benefits to all different types of exercise we think it really comes down to just THREE simple things.

1. CONSISTENCY – consistency is something we hear all the time but we think the focus should be more about what workouts do you LOVE! Why? Because the workouts you love doing, are the ones that you are going to WANT to keep doing and therefore will be consistent! If you don’t love your workout and are only doing it because you think it’s giving you a ‘good burn’ chances are you won’t be doing it in a few weeks from now and if you are you’ll be dreading it! That’s why we are all about movement for JOY because this is what will keep you consistent and give you results!

2. VARIATION – Different exercises will give you different benefits. There is no denying that! Strength training is amazing at reducing risk of osteoporosis and sarcopenia, both of which we’re already at odds with being female, not to mention giving you that amazing feeling of empowerment! HIIT for its ability to get an intense workout when you don’t have much time or Steady-State Cardio for its ability to strengthen the heart, lower cholesterol and stress! Some of these may not be things you LOVE for example lifting weight, but it is something that is necessary to maintain healthy bones – just like brushing your teeth isn’t the most enjoyable but also necessary to avoid tooth decay!

3. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT WEIGHT – we focus so much on weight when it comes to exercise that we forget about all of the other amazing non-scale victories that also accompany working out! We’re talking about things like increased energy, feeling stronger, better sleep and stress reduction. These aspects of exercise don’t get enough limelight in our opinion but all just as important!

4. PLANNED EXERCISE IS NOT ALWAYS KEY – did you know that planned exercise only contributes to 10% of your daily energy expenditure. NEAT, that is unplanned or incidental exercise can contribute more than 15%! So if you’re doing a 30 minute workout but then sitting down for the rest of the day you’e missing out on some serious burn! Using steps from both planned and incidental movement is a good guide to increase your overall movement! Increase your NEAT and you’ll be SWEET!!

We seem to over complicate and overdo it when it comes to exercise, often punishing our bodies to chase the exercise that is going to get us the ‘best’ results or burn the most fat, often leading to burn out. While HIIT is touted as one of the best for fat loss, too much can lead to increased stress placed on the body which long-term is not good for our health. Worse still, if you hate doing any form of exercise you’re not going to be looking forward to it each day! This is how we see the whole picture and just why there is no one best exercise for fat loss but again comes down to the balance between them all.