keeping your fitness resolution this year

The experts always tell you that if you want to lose weight, you move more and eat less. Most people then join a gym with the idea that this gets them to move more. Unfortunately, just going to a gym and picking movements at random is not the right way to move more. Here is how to move more so that when you eat less, the pounds will come off.

Heart Rate Up

Just lifting weights is not moving more. You could lift children, groceries, baskets of laundry, and furniture all day long, but it will not help. You may build or retain muscle, but the fat just stays. Why? Because you are not getting your heart rate up. Fat can only be converted to fuel when you get your heart rate up. Getting your heart rate up means that you are doing cardiovascular aerobic exercise.

Examples of machines you can use at the gym to get your heart rate up include:

• Treadmills set at at least three miles per hour. If you can walk faster, jog, or run on a treadmill, do it.
• Ellipticals, which move all four of your limbs in spite of the speed you use. All four limbs moving causes your heart to work harder, and the elliptical machines are low-impact for sore joints, which is a bonus.
• Stationary bikes where you bike at a consistent speed for at least thirty minutes to an hour every day.
• Stationary recline bikes, which help support your back and prevent back pain while you exercise.
• Jump ropes (although most people cannot jump rope for at least twenty minutes, the required time to get your heart rate up for just jumping).
• Steppers, or step climbers (you are crouching, pushing up, and working against gravity, which forces your heart to work harder).

If you want to add some weight training at the end of your "cardio" workout, that is fine. However, the focus of every gym workout should be cardio/aerobic exercise to get your heart rate up. If the gym offers dance aerobic classes, these are acceptable, too.

Any Exercise That Requires You to Move Quickly

Moving quickly means that you begin to breathe faster. Breathing faster means that more oxygen is entering your body. More oxygen to process means your heart pumps harder and faster. A harder working heart burns more fat to keep up with the energy demands of the fast-paced movements you are doing. Burning more fat and eating less means you can kiss your spare tire goodbye. That is how you do it.

For more information, you can talk with a company like Elite Fitness and Training today.