Manipulating hormones during exercise is one the key elements to successful fat loss. Research has shown that doing resistance training, particularly when performed in a circuit as performed on PeakXVfitness London out door fitness classes, increases certain hormones such as testosterone, cortisol and growth hormone. The goal with this type of weight training circuit is to produce as much lactate as possible in the working muscles. When lactate builds up in your muscles you get that burning sensation as they quiver under the strain of hard exercise.

Lactate production is directly correlated to growth hormone production – so training hard to produce as much lactate as possible is a great way to burn fat. Here’s how it works. Lactate is an acid and as the lactate builds up in your muscles and blood your blood pH goes down (becoming more acidic). This causes your growth hormone production to go up. In the liver growth hormone is converted to a substance called insulin growth like factor 1 (IGF1) and this causes more fat to be burnt during exercise thus making you lose more body fat.

Blood lactate concentration is correlated to the amount and size of the muscles used during an exercise. Therefore using exercises that target a large group of muscles such as a squats is much more effective for building up lactate than using an exercise that only uses a small amount of muscle mass such as wrist curls. When you perform a circuit of exercises such as those performed on PeakXVfitness outdoor fitness classes you get a huge lactate build up. Try this at home or in the park...

A1. Burpees x 10

A2. Alternating jump lunges x 10

A3. Basketball spins x 10

A4. Crunches x 10

This circuit targets the legs and abs and should only take 1-2 minutes to complete but you are certainly going to feel it. After you have finished the crunches rest for 2-3 minutes and repeat the circuit again and rest for a further 2-3 minutes. Try to do as many circuits as you can in 20 minutes for a great lower body and abs lactate workout. You should feel nauseous within 10 minutes of doing fat loss circuits like this as the lactate builds up, if not – you are not training hard enough.

If you really want to get supper results pick different exercises for different body parts and train twice a day 6 days a week for 2 weeks, then back off for a week only training once a day. Here is an example:

Day 1 Legs and abs a.m. interval training p.m.

Day 2 Upper body a.m. interval training p.m.

Day 3 Repeat day 1

Day 4 Repeat day 2

Day 5 Repeat day 1

Day 6 Repeat day 2

Day 7 off

Remember the more weight you use for a given exercise means the more calories are burned and the more fat you’ll lose. Therefore remember to use large compound exercises such as plyometrics, squats, lunges, dead lifts, presses and rows for your exercises. You should also aim to increase the weight you use for each exercise with each workout.

This type of workout is also great if you are stuck in a hotel on business or on holiday or even out in a park where you have no or minimal exercise equipment, just pick 4 body weight exercises and perform 10 reps of each back to back to create that lactate build up and burn fat.