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Would you like to “jump start” your metabolism and lose your
‘mommy belly’ once and for all? If so, the following seven tips
are exactly what you need to improve your workouts and ignite
your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips, but beware,
the result may be a number of admiring second glances and the
need to pull your ‘skinny jeans’ out of the closet.

1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of
free-weight, bodyweight or cable exercises.

Compared to machines, free-weight, bodyweight and cable
movements often require more skill, create muscular balance,
and have a greater metabolic cost. For example, it is more
difficult to balance the weights, and to coordinate muscles
when performing free-weight exercises. Although this may sound
like a disadvantage, it is actually a benefit. By balancing
and stabilizing free-weights or cables you are working more
muscles through a greater range of motion resulting in more
muscles developed and more calories burned.

2. Use exercises that work more than one muscle at a time.

When focusing on fat loss, you can’t worry about “shaping”
exercises, instead you should use exercises that’ll get you
the biggest bang for your buck and work as many muscles as
possible. Isolation exercises can be used at the end of a
workout to work on a specific target area, but they just serve
to supplement your core movements.

Virtually every savvy fitness professional is privy to the
fact that compound exercises recruit the most muscle groups
for any given body part.

If you seek lean, toned muscles and the increase in metabolism
that comes with them, you must choose exercises that work as
many different muscles as possible. One of the main reasons
why squats are superior to leg extensions for improving your
body is that they also work your butt, hamstrings and inner
thighs in addition to toning your quadriceps while leg
extensions focus on just the front of your thigh and don’t
really offer any other benefit. That same rationale hold true
for arm exercises too. That’s why dumbell presses and dips
will are more valuable for your arms than triceps kickbacks
and pushdowns.

A good rule of thumb is to use movements that will allow you
to use the most weight. These will have a systemic effect
on your body that’ll help maintain or increase your lean
muscle, and in turn ignite your metabolism.

3. Pair exercises.

Pair your exercises together so that you alternate between
upper-body exercises and lower-body exercises or between
exercises that target opposing muscle groups (e.g. chest
and back).

This type of approach will keep your workouts short and
efficient by eliminating much of the downtime that comes
between sets of a single exercise since you are working on
one movement while resting from another. This approach can
also yield huge benefits in your mission to burn fat. Since
you’ll constantly be moving and keeping your heart rate
elevated, you’ll be burning far more calories than you
would during a typical workout.

4. Keep your reps between 8 and 12.

Through research, it has been determined that the best range
for building lean muscle is roughly between 8-12 reps. Since
the main focus of your resistance training efforts is to gain
lean body mass and stimulate your metabolism, this rep range
fills the bill perfectly. “High reps for tone and fat loss”
is one of the biggest (and most unproductive) training myths!
Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilates’ community have
convinced us that when we perform bodyweight exercises or
light resistance training for high reps, our muscles magically
take on a beautiful shape without growing or bulging. On the
other hand, if you challenge yourself with moderately heavy
weights, your body will take on a bulky, unflattering
appearance. If you believe this, you probably still believe
in the Tooth Fairy!

5. Rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets.

When you keep the rest periods under one minute, it’s easier
to stay focused on the task at hand and keeps your heart rate
elevated. In addition, it forces your muscles to recover more
quickly between sets, along with keeping your nervous system
revved up.

If your first movement in an upper/lower body pair is squats,
you might want to rest 60 seconds before attempting your
second movement. However, if your first exercise is a fairly
“easy” exercise, like lat pull downs, you might only wish to
wait 30 seconds before doing the second part of the pair.

6. Perform total body workouts.

You must drop the notion that muscle groups work independently
of one another. Muscles work together and should be trained
that way. Besides, not only does this approach mean less time
in the gym, but by working the whole body three times per week,
you’ll be maximizing the fat burning effect of your program.

7. Cardio is not the cure-all for fat loss.

Cardiovascular exercise aids in the creation of a caloric
deficit, but the caloric expenditure during cardio is
temporary. Strength training addresses the core of the problem
by permanently increasing the rate at which the body burns
calories by adding muscle. The best programs will include both
strength training and cardiovascular training, but the core
or the programs effectiveness is resistance training.

Take these strategies and incorporate them into your workout
routine. Not only will you save a lot of time, but you’ll
also soon see a leaner and more toned body. Not to mention a
few more turned heads and the re-emergence of your skinny jeans.

Holly Rigsby is CPT, MAT America’s #1 Fat Loss Expert for Busy
Moms and author. Holly has worked with over 300 Mom’s to help
them lose the stubborn baby fat, get their pre-baby body back
and reclaim their yummy-ness. Don’t miss her Free Report:
Top 5 Busy Mom Metabolism Boosters. Go here:
http://i-want-my-body-back.com