I'll do my best to not overcomplicate what determines the fat burning efficiency of an exercise, and show you the exact process I use to assess exercises.
If your existing training program ISN'T giving you the kind of weight loss that you expect then this will definitely help.
Firstly, write down a list of each exercise you do, and next to it leave a little space for us to complete.
This could include anything from running, x-trainer or rower, to squat, lunge or sprints. Whatever exercise you use, just jot it down.
Next, this is how I would assess an exercise's effectiveness at burning fat;
1) How many muscle quadrants/areas you recruit whilst performing the exercise? (i.e. muscle groups like shoulders, legs, back etc)
2) What is the 'radiation' affect? (i.e. how MUCH of the body is affected/working)
3) How 'metabolic' does this make this exercise? (i.e. how much it raises your metabolic rate ABOVE your normal resting rate when not exercising)
Considering the above, one of the exercises I use in almost EVERY fat loss program is the BURPEE - the 'love-to-hate' king of stripping bodyfat from your body.
What's so good about it?
Let's consider 1) How many muscle quadrants you recruit?
Performing a Burpee is an all round full body exercise which uses almost every muscle in your body. You use your legs to squat down, your arms, chest, shoulders and back to support yourself as you kick your legs back, your core and abdominals to stabilise and tuck your legs back under, and then your large quadricep muscles to either fully extend the body or add in a little jump on the end.
Different variants of the Burpee which include a press up at the bottom works the above muscles even more.
Now, lets consider 2) What is the radiation effect?
The radiation effect is basically the term used to describe how much the affect of working that particular muscle group spreads around your body. Using almost every muscle group will of course mean that the radiation effect is a LOT bigger and spreads a lot further than using just one or two muscle groups in isolation.
To put this into context, consider the multiple muscles and joints used to perform a Burpee and compare that to an isolated sit up whereas you work mainly just the torso (abdominals, lower back and oblique muscles particularly if twisting), the greater radiation effect is o course going to be created from the Burpee as you're working pretty much head to toe. Contrastingly, the radiation effect of the isolated sit up is going to be confined to that of the torso and seldom spread up into the big upper back muscles, shoulders and legs - meaning it will be much lower.
Adding these two above together generally allows us to determine 3) How metabolic an exercise is.
Let's again use the comparison of the Burpee to the sit up. After completing 10 burpees using almost every muscle quadrant and creating a huge radiation effect - the net output is generally you being very tired as the body has been working so hard.
After then completing 10 sit ups with minimal muscle quadrant recruitment and torso confided radiation effect, the net output is usually that you are not so tired - just now you have sore abs due to training them whislt they are unconditioned.
Therefore, the Burpee is a lot more metabolic..
An additional bonus of raising your metabolism so high is that it takes a LOT longer for it to revert to it's resting rate (know as Basal Metabolic Rate) due to the amount of work, muscles and radiation effect your Burpee has created. This prolonged period following your workout is known as the EPOC affect of which I'll discuss in depth at a later date, but in brief is the period in which your body is trying to 'slow down' back to it's normal resting rate whilst expending calories in the mean time - obviously the LONGER you can keep the EPOC going the more calories and fat you will burn.
Using the sit up this time, a much lesser scale muscle recruitment and radiation effect has a very short EPOC effect, in fact once you're finished working the abs in this way your metabolism reverts very quickly back to normal meaning the prolonged period of fat burning is very short. Obviously this is the opposite to what you want as you want to be burning fat for as long as possible once you've finished training.
So to conclude, in order to really begin shifting fat quickly, assess your own exercise program and ask yourself these questions:
How many muscle quadrants am I using in each exercise?
What's the likely radiation affect of this exercise? (the more muscles and joints you use the greater it is)
How 'metabolic' will the above make my exercise? (how tired are you?)
Generally speaking though, if your using multi-joint exercises that work the whole body, they will always win hands down over isolated exercises for weight loss.
Comment below if you have any questions
Liam
Liam Sherriff is a Fitness Professional from the North of the UK who has a particular knack for rapid body transformations.
His one of a kind Challenge21 Home Training Program tailored exclusively to busy working professionals helps hundreds lose up to a stone in weight or at least one clothing size in less than 1 hour per week for 3 weeks without any slow boring cardio or countless hours spent in the gym.
Keep in touch with Liam every Wednesday with a weekly update from his blog www.liamsherriff.com
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