Expert Tips For Burning Fat and Building Muscle
5 Experts Told Us Exactly What to Do to Burn Fat and Build Muscle, and We're Starting Tomorrow
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Compound exercises will definitely help you burn more fat and build muscle, but you should also challenge yourself with progressive overload. "Progressive overload is a gradual increase in the amount one lifts during resistance training," ACSM-certified personal trainer Jim White, RDN, owner of Jim White Fitness and Nutrition Studios told POPSUGAR.
Not only will you have to gradually increase the weights to see a change in your body composition, you'll also need to focus on the eccentric portion of the exercises you do. "Eccentric movement or exercise is really when the muscle is lengthening," Heather Milton, MS, CSCS, an exercise physiologist and clinical specialist at NYU Langone's Sports Performance Centre told POPSUGAR. For example, if you're doing a bicep curl, the eccentric part of the exercise is when you're lowering the weight back down to your thighs.
In order to build muscle with eccentric exercises, you'll need to focus on slow and controlled time under tension (this is the hypertrophy, or muscle-building phase), Heather explained. Don't forget to focus on your tempo! In the muscle-building phase, you'll need to follow a three- or four-count tempo during the eccentric portion of the exercise.
If you're not sure how heavy you should be lifting, use this simple guide.