For full figured, obese or overweight women who want great weight loss workouts, there are specific and safe exercise routines, for losing weight that work very well with obese or moderately overweight women. I’m a certified personal trainer and most of my women clients are overweight, some clinically obese. Overweight or obese women need NOT run in order to lose a lot of weight. One exercise myth is that in order to lose a lot of weight, women must run hard and fast. Truth is, weight loss can occur in obese or moderately overweight women with even slower exercise routines, without any running.
Full figured or obese women need to embrace a scientifically proven strategy for fat burning and weight loss, called high intensity interval training (HIIT). What may intimidate some obese or overweight women, especially women who are new to exercise, is the word “intensity.” But women cannot burn a lot of fat and lose weight without intensity. It’s just impossible — unless a woman walks for eight hours straight. What’s good about HIIT is that the intensity lasts only 30 to 60 SECONDS.
By definition, high intensity lasts for very short periods. If the pace is sustainable, it’s not intense. Sustained paces do not trigger increased release of human growth hormone, which is a potent fat burner, far more effective than those fat blocking pills that are advertised to burn fat — and safer as well.
If an obese or overweight woman normally uses an elliptical trainer or stationary bike, they shouldn’t bother with the setting that says “fat burning.” Instead, apply the following principle: Every 2-3 minutes, pedal as fast as possible with some pedal tension added in. Do this for 30-60 seconds, after which you should be very, very out of breath. Then, for 2-3 minutes, pedal easily to regroup. Then go back to the high intensity. Alternate as such for just 30 minutes.
Women, whether obese, moderately overweight or healthy size, will need to figure out an RPM range and pedal tension that they can BARELY do for 30 to 60 seconds. If at the end of one minute, a woman feels she can continue with this increased intensity, then for the next intensity interval, go faster, and/or use an even stiffer pedal resistance.
Apply this concept to walking outdoors. Every 2-3 minutes, walk your fastest, preferably up a hill, for 30-60 seconds. Switch back and forth between easy walking and strenuous walking, for a total of just 30 minutes. You can go longer if you choose.
I recommend that walking be done outdoors so that women are not tempted to hold onto a treadmill. Virtually every obese or moderately overweight woman I have ever seen at a gym or exercise center, holds their hands to the treadmill. This is not correct. Please read my article, “10 Reasons Never to Hold onto the Treadmill,” HERE.
If walking outdoors is not possible, use your gym’s track or the perimeter of the gym’s basketball court. (If you need to use an incline to get intensity, then go for the treadmill. But pump your arms rather than hold to the rails.) You can easily count the seconds of the intensity portions; they need not be precisely 30 seconds or precisely 60 seconds. Further, an individual should be able to estimate when approximately two minutes have passed for the easy pacing portion.
Finally, LIFT WEIGHTS. Tight, toned muscles take up less space and look trimmer than sagging, flabby loose muscles. Worked muscles eat up fat for energy. As lean muscle mass increases, an obese woman will LOSE FAT. The net result is a smaller body. This is why the majority of women who spend a lot of time lifting weights are on the leaner side, while you’ll notice that many of the women who do only cardio are obese or moderately overweight.
