Losing weight is a common objective for a lot of people. However, when most people start their fitness journey, either at home or at the gym, they don’t see results in the first few weeks or months, and they lose motivation. Besides being patient and consistent with the exercise that you do, it is also important to have a clear understanding of what the best gym equipment is for weight loss and the best exercises for losing weight.
Losing fat, in particular, is one of the most wished-for results for most people, but not many manage to make good progress. The issue is that when you work out, you train the muscles, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will lose the fat that covers those muscles. For example, when you do crunches, you’re exercising your abs, but you can still have hard abs under more flaccid tummy skin.
To lose weight, the best option is to do full-body exercises and interval training. Let’s delve deeper into the best gym equipment to lose fat and the best exercises.
Types of exercises for weight loss
Full-body workouts
Doing just one type of exercise or focusing on just one area of your body is not going to help you improve the appearance of that area that much. Instead, you need to do fat burning exercises for your whole body. The more of your body you work out, the more you will need to use your reserve of fat to create energy and build muscle.
Therefore, make sure you do a mix of legs, back, shoulders, core, glutes and arms exercises.
Cardio
Doing cardio can be fantastic as a form of exercise when losing weight is your main objective. However, you need to do it correctly. Keeping a steady pace when running or cycling, for instance, won’t make you lose that much fat. Instead, you need to switch from a steady pace to one that’s constantly changing - i.e. you need to do intervals in your exercises and the machines that you use.
Best gym equipment for weight loss
Look for machines and equipment that will work your entire body and engage as many muscles as possible.
Treadmill
A treadmill is a great machine for burning fat, as it can burn a lot of calories. However, static running is not the best type of exercise. Instead, use the treadmill to do inclined intervals or do a full-body warm-up as a general exercise. Outside of the gym, there is a whole world out there, and even better than a treadmill is road running.
Obviously, there are drawbacks to running in the street like the fact that it can be harder to track your progress, and depending on where you live it may be far easier to just do your running in a controlled environment especially if you live in a crowded city.
Elliptical
Elliptical machines, also known as cross trainers are low-impact but also effective at burning calories. Use them to do intervals by increasing the resistance and going as fast as possible for 30 seconds, then going back to your warm-up pace for 90 seconds, repeating for 20 or 30 minutes.
Kettlebells
Kettlebells are a classic in all gyms (and home gyms) for very good reasons. Use them to do exercises such as kettlebell swings, thrusters or squats. There is a wide variety of exercises that can be done with kettlebells due to their sheer versatility.
The compound nature of most kettlebell exercises means that they are ideal for burning fat and building lean muscle. We have a separate blog on the specifics of kettlebell workouts and how to get the most out of them.
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are fantastic for losing fat and weight while increasing muscle size. The best way to use them is to do HIIT exercises. Instead of going for the maximum weight you can lift, try a lighter weight and do a high-intensity interval training session.
You can still perform the same exercises, but instead of just doing normal repetitions, do the exercise for 40 seconds and then take a 10-second break before starting with a different exercise.
YouTube has many HIIT videos that you can watch if you want to work out at home.
Ultimately there is a wide range of exercises that you can do that will help with weight loss, as the simple fact of building muscle will significantly help your overall physical performance.
Barbells
Barbells offer a wide range of large movements and offer fantastic personalisation for the exercise you’re performing. Incorporating barbell use in your workout allows you to activate a plethora of muscles at huge efforts which aids in achieving your desired results.
When using barbells, you can add more weight which means your body is working harder to move the barbell. This increases your heart rate and aids in weight loss.
Plyometric Boxes
One of the most effective ways you can optimize your body's results is through plyometric training. This method involves explosive movement over a short period of time, which is perfect for increasing your heart rate and effort in your workout.
The combination of stretching and contraction of muscles when training allows the individual to increase muscle power, balance, agility, speed and strength. We have a separate blog for plyometric training and plyometric boxes.