In my many years working as a fitness trainer, many people ask questions like “What are the best exercises to lose leg fat or the best exercises to lose back fat?” That’s an easy answer to express, but many times people are very surprised that the answer is nothing like what they expected. Let me go into exactly what is the best method to lose fat over time and explain the science behind it.

A lot of people don’t expect to hear this, but you can’t target fat loss to specific parts of the body. Many people are under the impression that if they work on strengthening their abdominal muscles, they will lose stomach fat as a result. That is simply not the case. But I have great news. Every strength training exercise is a leg fat loss exercise.

I’ll explain: the most useful exercise philosophy for fat loss focuses on building more muscle mass. You see, for every pound of muscle we add to our bodies, we can burn an additional 37.5 calories per day at rest. When I added the 9 pounds of muscle to my frame, I was able to increase my resting metabolism to burn 337 calories every day while simply resting. That’s powerful!

That’s why I make all of my clients focus on strength training in the safest way possible for the best long-term results. See, whenever we do any type of aerobic activity like jogging, we only get the benefits while doing the activity. But strength training increases the metabolism constantly to change its baseline in a resting state. I will also say that 60 to 80 percent of runners get injured every year, so I recommend staying as safe as possible. All strength training exercises are great leg fat loss exercises.

My best advice is this: work a bi-weekly strength training regimen to bring all of your major muscle groups to total fatigue and you’ll start to notice a difference in whatever target area you’re looking to lose fat. We are all very different, so we all have different areas where we can carry our body fat. For maximum results, strengthening muscle groups throughout the body will allow you to burn the most calories simply in a state of rest. This allows your metabolism to always be on fire.

In short, total body strength training and muscle building are the keys to being the best exercises for losing leg fat. I will also give tips to stay as safe as possible, that is my specialty, safe physical training. I hope you take a look at the Super Slow Fitness Program, it has changed my family’s life and it can change yours too!