What is meant by effective exercise? Did you know it has been shown that Aerobics can make you fat. Are you one of the thousands of people who spend a number of hours each week in a traditional gym?

Do you spend your time working hard doing some form of aerobic exercise? Sadly, all that hard work and effort is most likely preventing you from getting into the shape you really want; and it will also cause you to increase the speed at which you are ageing!

I was horrified when I discovered this, however it did help me to understand why, and despite all the hours of pounding the treadmill I did, I never managed to achieve my ideal shape. I know that many of you will have very similar experiences, and this is why.

Moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise is shown to cause more muscle loss than fat loss. Just in case you thought that this was a typo; moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise (such as running outside, using a treadmill or attending aerobics classes etc.) is shown to cause you to lose more muscle tissue than fat.

effective exercise is how to get slim and stay slim

It’s vital to ensure you maintain your muscle tissue, if not this causes your metabolism to slow down because its functionality is reduced. If this happens it won’t be able to cope with burning off your food for energy and you’ll gain fat instead!

This explains exactly why I could never slim down or achieve my weight loss goals when I spent hours in the gym every week for years on end!  That was until I learnt about the scientific answer Intensity.

What is effective exercise?

Switching to a form of exercise which creates intensity is the key to gain muscle tissue in order to effectively burn fat off the body. As with all things scientific, there is a formula to create intensity. Intensity = weight X speed. You create intensity by working as hard and fast as you can for a short period of time; no more than 20 minutes.

You may also only need to exercise 3 times a week; so that’s just 1 hour a week in total. This is shown to maximise your results as it allows your body and muscle fibres the necessary recovery time after each workout.

This intensive form of exercise creates a combination of aerobic (heart healthy) and anaerobic (strength & muscle tissue promoting) effects to produce fast and effective results. You’ll also tone up and look leaner as gaining any muscle tissue will actually pull you in!

The best exercise to create intensity are weight bearing exercises e.g. lifting weights, as this will both stimulate your muscle fibres and also help release a naturally occurring fat-burning hormone called Growth Hormone into your system. This is exercising smarter and is sometimes called Peak Exercise or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

Alexandra Jones of  Healthy Girl UK  is a well respected  Weight Loss & Wellbeing Coach who works helping her clients achieve lasting weight loss with weight loss advice that really works and healthy natural nutrition tips.

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