Fat Burning Workouts for Women Over 40

By Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN

Attention Ladies Looking for Fat Burning Workouts for Women Over 40!

If you want to lose fat from tummy, butt, and thighs then sit tight and make sure you read this important article.

First, let's put the crunches on the back burner.

Doing endless amounts of crunches and sit-ups is not going to do anything for shedding fat from your waistline and are probably least effective fat burning workouts for women over 40. Sure they will strengthen the rectus abdominis muscles (6-pack muscles, which is really an 8-pack) but they will do little, if anything, to bring those abdominals to the forefront of the layers of fat around your midsection.

Understand that what separates your muscles from your skin (and thus there visibility) is a layer of subcutaneous fat. In some women, this layer of fat is more pronounced than in others. Ultimately, to see any definition in your waist (or any other part of the body for that matter) you must ultimately strive to reduce your body fat.

In women, body fat percentages in the 17-20% range will be conducive to seeing greater tone and definition.

Second...

Fat burning workouts for women over 40 MUST incorporate full-body exercises.

By training movements, not just muscles, you will engage more musculature. When more muscle is involved in a given movement, you will burn more calories since more working muscles = more demanding work = more oxygen needed = more calories burned!

As such, incorporating full-body (or compound) movements is the most effective way to activate more muscle and thus burn more calories. Performing these types of fat burning workouts will also provide greater activation and stimulation of your muscles. Remember, the goal of any fat burning workout routine is to burn as many calories as possible during your workout (forget about the 'fat zone' and 'cardio zone').

Examples of full-body functional exercises include:

o Squats with Shoulder Press

o Lunge Walks with Medicine Ball Choas

o Step-ups with Lateral Raises

o Push-ups with Knee Roll-ins (on stability ball)

o Wall sits with Ball Squeeze and Lateral Raises

Here are some more examples of exercises you can do at home or in the gym. I am using a kettle bell. You can use 2 dumbbells or 1 dumbbell. Use whatever you have and that is all you need.

We are going to do 3 tri-sets. Each tri-set is going to be composed of a full-body movement, an abdominal movement, and a cardio-based movement. We are going to do 3 sets of each superset and each exercise is going to be done for 30 seconds.

1st Tri-set

o Dumbbell swings or kettle bell swings - holding the kettle bell with both hands, squat and use your hips to thrust the weight between your legs. This is a great full-body movement that gets the legs going strong.
o Planking - by now you must know how to plank. Keep the core strong and go for 30 seconds.
o Jumping Jacks - Go for all 30 seconds at a good intensity. The reason we go from an abdominal movement to a cardio-based movement is because the research shows that if you stimulate a certain muscle group before doing cardio, it will accelerate fat loss in that area.

As soon as you are finished the jumping jacks, go right back into the kettle bell swings, planking, and the jumping jacks. Go for 3 sets without rest. Once you finish the first tri-set you can rest for a minute or two and then move onto the second tri-set.

2nd Tri-set

o Squat presses - Hold the kettle bell or weights at your chest and perform a squat. When you push up out of the squat, press the weight above your head. This is a full-body movement which gets a lot of muscles moving so that you can burn maximum calories.
o Tread Climber - Get yourself into a push-up position and drive one knee into the chest at a time. Keep the hips solid. Do not let your hips drop down. Go hard for 30 seconds!
o High Knees - Run on the spot with high knees and get the arms moving. This is a very similar movement to what we just did on the floor.

Repeat the tri-set 3 times without any rest. Take a minute or two rest when the tri-set is complete and move onto the last tri-set.

3rd Tri-set

o Reverse Lunge with Shoulder Press - With the weight in one arm, raise it above your head. Take a step back with the leg on the opposite side of the body and push back up. Do this for 15 seconds on each side - 30 seconds on each side if you are a machine!
o Crunches - Just bring the shoulder blades off of the floor. You can do this on a stability ball if you have one.
o Burpees - Perform a push-up then jump the feet in and hop straight up into the air - Go strong for 30 seconds. It will get challenging, but you can do it!
Repeat the tri-set 3 times without any rest.

Third...

Fat burning workouts for women over 40 should involve interval and circuit training

Now, using these movements, perform them in a circuit like fashion. By limiting the amount of rest you give yourself between exercises and sets you will not allow your body to fully recover and thus burn more calories throughout your workout.

When doing your cardio workouts, opt for interval training more so than long duration - low intensity training. By repeatedly performing bouts of high intensity with bouts of lower intensity (eg. intervals), such as a sprint - jog combination, you allow your body to work at higher intensities for longer durations of time. End result - you burn more calories!

BURN MORE CALORIES = LOWER BODY FAT = TRIMMER WAISTLINE!

Once you've lowered your body fat and lost some weight around your waist, then you can start focusing more on building your abs.

If you want the most efficient and cost effective fat burning workouts for women for women over 40 (like Christine below), then check out my Fitter U Fitness fat loss program today!