Have you been working out like crazy but not seeing results? Dude, you are not alone!!

In this post, I’m going to share with you the best workouts to do to reach your goals…and some may surprise you!

Fat Loss Exercises for Women #1: Low-Intensity Workouts

Doing low-intensity workouts. High-intensity workouts like running, plyometrics, or intense weight training can actually increase cortisol levels. You can walk, do yoga, or my fave, PiYo.

Basically, the goal is to move often at a low intensity.

These days, so many women workout like crazy on the treadmill or bike and then sit the rest of the day.

I want you to flip the formula upside down. Do shorter workouts less often and move more throughout the day.

Think about how your great grand parents lived their lives…they moved a heck of a lot more throughout the day, right? They didn’t have conveniences like dishwashers or washing machines. They made bread by hand. They moved more in general than we do today!

Aim for a minimum of 2 hours per week of low-intensity aerobic movement throughout the week, but try to get closer to 5 hours.

What should you do? Here are some ideas to move at a slower pace:

• Hiking
• Biking
• Yoga
• Ice skating
• Rollerblading
• Swimming
• Brisk walk
• Gardening
• Dancing
• Mowing the grass
• Take the stairs instead of an elevator
• Park further and walk
• Walk your dog
• Take an after dinner walk
• Walk before you get home from work or on your lunch break
• Get a standing desk
• Shopping (yup, I give you permission lol)

Can you think of any others?

How I make this work in my life:

I wake up and do some yoga every morning. Usually about 20 minutes. TJ and I ride bikes to school…it adds up to 5 min each way, so 20 minutes total each day. After I drop him off, I walk for about 30 min. If it’s winter season, I’ll take work breaks and walk during the day too.

I can definitely get better at this, and honestly, I have a harder time living in Florida since it’s so freaking hot 6 months of the year. I had an easier time being active outside when we lived in the French countryside. Time to move back?

Fat Loss Exercises for Women #2: Short bursts of intense exercise like HIIT or Tabata.

Tabata is a style of workout can help you burn fat and boost cardio gains in a super short amount of time.

With Tabata, you’re going ALL OUT intense for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat for a total of 8 rounds.

Tabata is one of the most effective workouts you can do! A study was conducted on cyclists performing Tabata and found a 4-minute minute workout was more effective than an hour of steady state cardio. INSANE!

Since you’re going at a HIGH intensity during those four minutes, your metabolism will be elevated after your workout, meaning you burn fat up to 24 hours after your workout!!

Lead researcher Michele Olson, Ph.D. at the Auburn University Montgomery Kinesiology Laboratory says that “This particular style of interval training has profound effects even on short-term post-exercise metabolism. It would take 5 times the amount of typical cardio exercise to shed the same number of calories you can in a 4-minute Tabata.”

Just a reminder that you can’t out-exercise a bad diet!!!!!! If you’re not sure what to EAT, have no fear lol! You can download my free meal plan that’s filled with yummy foods to help you shed pounds fast. Some ladies have lost 10 pounds in just a week of following it–insane, right?!

HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. Basically, you go all out for a short burst, then recover.

You can do HIIT anywhere, just like Tabata. 20 Seconds of sprinting, 1 min rest. 30 seconds mountain climbers, 1 min rest.

HIIT workouts are short and I don’t do more than 20 minutes.

My fave HIIT workout at home is Turbo Fire! At the gym, I just do HIIT on the elliptical or spin bike. I don’t run unless I’m being chased.

Want to do a live Tabata workout with me and my son? Let’s go!!!!

Fat Loss Exercises for Women #3: Weightlifting!

If you want to see real changes happen in your body, you’ve gotta lift heavy weights!! 

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, only 21 percent of women lift weights two or more times a week. If you skip strength training in favor of cardio, you’re missing out on the ULTIMATE fat burner!

An article in Women’s Health Magazine states that lifting just twice a week can reduce overall body fat by 3% in just 10 weeks—even if you don’t cut any calories!! That can translate to 3 inches lost off of your weight and hips!!

Is strength training better than cardio activity, like riding a bike or running? YES. Cardio is great for burning calories, but when you’re done running, you’re essentially done burning calories. When you lift weights, your body will continue to burn calories for up to 72 hours after you’re done working out! This is called the ‘after-burn effect’, and it’s awesome =)

How can weight training help with weight loss? When you lift, you have more MUSCLE which increases your metabolism–meaning–you burn more calories while you sleep and you can eat more food!!

It’s SUPER important to note, however, that you should NOT rely on the scale when lifting weights—because muscle is denser than fat—so you could weigh exactly the same amount, but fit into a smaller pair of jeans. So if you’re strength training to lose weight, track your progress by how your clothes fit or body measurements.

If you are NEW to strength training, I HIGHLY suggest starting off with a program that shows you what to do. You don’t want to show up to a gym and try to figure it out on your own—you need to see what proper form looks like, and you need a simple plan to follow. If you need a strength training and weight loss plan, get on the list for this new program that’s coming out—it’s amazing!

If you want to do some super fast fat burning home workouts with me, you can do that here: https://www.fitwithrachel.com/fast-home-workouts/

And oh my gooooooodness TJ is so tiny in some of the videos!!! #timeflies

I tend to prescribe my fitness pretty closely to The Primal Blueprint fitness model, which looks like this:

Source: Marksdailyapple.com

I prefer this model because it’s primarily low impact. If I do too many crazy workouts, I tend to get injured (I have 10 years of insane volleyball to thank for that). So low impact is where it’s at for me!

Here is a sample week of workouts for me: 

Monday: Yoga, walking

Tuesday: Strength training, biking

Wednesday: Yoga, walking

Thursday: HIIT workout, walking

Friday: PiYo, walking

Saturday: Walk, bike, rollerblade

Sunday: Strength training, walk or bike

Question of the day— What kind of workouts are you doing? Are you a cardio bunny? Will you try out this schedule?

Snapchat: Rachelngom

Email: clientcare@fitwithrachel.com