Using the Push and Pull Training Strategy to Burn Fat Fast

After walking into any major chain gym you'll most likely find everyone crammed on a treadmill or some other piece of cardio equipment. Most of these people think that cardio is the way to go when it comes to burning fat but recent research has found resistance weight training as a much more effective means to fat loss than conventional cardio training.

Resistance weight training should always be done before you do any cardio training because you want to have as much strength as possible while doing the lifts and you also don't want to tire yourself out after doing 30 plus minutes on an elliptical.

Lifting weights doesn't have to be really complex and the best results will come when you keep things simple and use a push-pull training program. Push-pull training has been used for years in athletic strength and conditioning programs and only recently has made its way into mainstream weight loss tactics. Using a push-pull training program will crank up your metabolism and will also allow you to be able to split workout routines for maximum organization and time management.

Push-pull training is an effective means of fat loss programming because it forces the blood in your body to go from one area immediately to another, burning much more calories than normal. It also gives you a lot more time to recover from the exercise as you go on to another body part. Rest periods are still kept short but instead of standing around for a few minutes between sets you are constantly moving which is fantastic for burning fat.

So instead of combining traditional bodybuilding exercises such as bench press and push-ups we are working different systems in the body. This is great for beginners as well as advanced athletes because you will keep the strength in your lower body as your upper body fatigues allowing you to perform more sets and repetitions than normal. This also allows the body part you just worked to rest for more time than the standards rest periods in between sets.

To do this you're going to couplet upper body exercises with lower body exercises and alternating push-pull exercises. For example, you're going to combine an upper body push such as push-ups with a lower body pull such as dead lifts. Perform around 10-12 repetitions for one exercise, then go immediately into the next one and then rest for only 30-60 seconds. Then go ahead and repeat so you get 3-4 sets total. Always keep changing the exercises too because it will keep things fresh and wave off boredom and plateaus.

Here are a more push-pull exercise combinations for you to try: inverted rows and jump squats, face pull and dumbbell lunges, pull-ups and front squats, barbell bentover rows and Bulgarian split squats, cable rows and squats, chin-ups and reverse lunges, wide-grip pulldowns and leg presses, push-ups and deadlifts, neutral-grip chest press and wide-grip deadlifts, barbell/dumbbells bench press and Romanian deadlift, barbell overhead presses and leg curls, and dumbbell/barbell push press and back extensions.