You want to lose weight right? What have you been doing so far to get in shape? More than likely you have been doing all the aerobic exercise you can think of.

As a Fitness Expert I see it all the time. Every Monday the gym fills up with endless amounts of people on Treadmills, Ellipticals, Bikes and any other equipment that they can find. Most of these people want to lose weight, but what they dont realise is that they are missing a serious form of exercise that will get them burning calories when there not even in the gym.

Think of it this way, every time you go to the gym how long do you spend in there? About an hour or less?! So what about the other 23 hours in the day. Aerobic exercise is great for burning calories when you are in the gym but it does very little for you when youre not in the gym and as a consequence it may take you a longer period of time to lose the excess fat.

Resistance training is the key to revving up your metabolism so that you burn more calories whilst sitting at home.

So how does resistance training help you burn those extra calories? By toning up your muscles you increase the chances of burning extra calories. Muscle is an active tissue unlike fat and as we move throughout the day we use our muscles and thereby burn calories. The more muscle tissue you have the larger amount of calories you will burn

Hold on there though, Im not saying you should stop your aerobic training. The most effective way to lose excess fat is to use a combination of aerobic and resistance training. For example you could do 2 days of resistance training and 3 days of aerobic training. In between your aerobic training days you could do weights. One weights day could be for your lower body and the other for your upper. This way you will have more focus rather than walking round the gym aimlessly.

What resistance training exercises should you be doing to get the best results? Compound exercises are the most beneficial to you; these are exercises that work your muscles over 2 joint movements. Examples are, Squats, lunges, chest press, pull ups, etc.

To burn those extra calories through the day, when you are not in the gym you need to start lifting those dumbbells and barbells. Tone your muscles and rev your metabolism to help burn that excess fat.