Fitness & Health tip

Putting Your Heart Into It

Did you know that doing a lower-body workout is one of the most effective ways to elevate your heart rate and burn calories? Well, it's true! In fact, it's why your daily routines are designed to work your lower body during each and every training session.

I like to divide muscle groups into the categories "front" and "back." You should work the front of your chest one day, and your upper back the next. This breakdown allows you to combine exercises for your upper body and lower body in a swift sequence called a super set. This drives the blood back and forth between your upper and lower body, allowing you to burn about twice as many calories! The extra calorie burn results from something called peripheral heart action, or PHA.
PHA is at the heart of my program (no pun intended), and it's one of the reasons I get such great results. As if burning more calories weren't enough, following this kind of routine also reduces the formation of lactic acid, which is the cause of muscle fatigue.