Every athlete knows that running is great for burning fat, but not everyone knows that running does more than just burn fat. Yes, because running actually burns more calories then most all exercises. However, burning fat takes you to actually burn more fat than you eat, and running helps you do it by requiring you to exert a number of different muscles throughout the body at once. These are called aerobic muscles, which are used primarily to push air away from the lungs and up into the air sacs.
So, exactly how does running burn weight? Well, it is pretty simple actually. You see running requires a number of different muscles to work. Those include things like the calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors and the back. As you can see these muscles work in conjunction with each other in order to run. When you consider this, you can easily see why so many people try to lose weight by running only their abs or only their lower body.
While it is true that running does burn some fat, you would be mistaken if you believed that it burned all of the fat you would come to learn of. While cardio plays an important role in the body, it is not the entire story. In fact, most of the fat you lose is actually muscle and body fat.
When you consider that you are using your muscles to burn fat, you may be surprised to know that there are two primary types of workout. The first type of workout you probably know about as it is commonly referred to is speed running. It utilizes a quick series of short sprints on an incline. This type of exercise will build a lot of your stamina and strength, which is exactly what we need to help us burn excess fat. Since it is done on an incline the body is utilizing every muscle in the body for the sprints instead of simply using the large muscles found in the legs. This is one of the fastest ways to burn fat.
The next form of running involves a series of four and eight miler on flat terrain. This style is much more arduous in terms of cardiovascular demand but it does allow the athlete to feel the effects of the workout much more directly. There is not the same positive changes you would feel from speed running so you must look at both the quantity and quality of workouts in order to lose fat with this style of training.
The major muscles used during this style of training are the quads, hamstrings, calves and buttocks. The reason for this is that these are the muscles that you feel as you are running. These muscles help to stabilize your ankles and knees and enable you to maintain your footing when on the running surface. Also your quads, which are the deep-muscle lumps found in your thighs, help support your torso by stabilizing your hips and transferring the weight of your body from the lower legs to the upper body. Therefore these muscles are directly responsible for burning calories, since they are active during the most of the time you are running.
The third method of improving your running performance is to increase your body composition. This means increasing your caloric intake while reducing the amount of fat that you consume. This can be achieved by eating more complex carbohydrates like whole grains and vegetables and decreasing your simple carbs like pastries, cakes and white bread. Also avoid eating large amounts of sugar. You should try to eat several small meals during the day instead of three large ones.
The final method involves doing cardiovascular workouts that will get the heart rate up and help you burn calories. Running is great because you can keep your heart rate up for a longer period of time. It is also safe because it can improve your running endurance and it will help you lose fat. Some examples of these cardiovascular workouts include running on the stairs, swimming, cycling and even dancing. If you are a runner, you probably already know how to do all of these exercises, but if not you can learn them and practice them at home until you feel comfortable with them.
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