4 ways to get lean: Your express pass to searing away your gut while maintaining your muscle

The art of combination

“All exercise burns calories,” says Dr Jeff Volek an exercise and nutrition scientist at the University of Connecticut. “But it’s the combination of different types of exercise that will optimise your leanness.” In one of Volek’s studies he put people on a reduced calorie plan, and divided them into three groups. One group didn’t exercise, another did aerobic exercise three days a week and a third did aerobic and weight training three days a week (like this programme). The results: those who combined lifting with aerobic exercise, the way you will in this plan, shed nearly 3kg more fat.

How you'll do better

So a blend of weights and cardio is the best way to lose fat, but it is possible to go not one, but two better. First, the cardio plans that follow are short enough to be done after your weights session. This is the perfect time because doing cardio after weights burns 27% more calories than cardio by itself, according to research from the University of Tokyo. Secondly, you won’t be running, cycling or rowing at the same old steady state pace, you’ll do interval training – alternating between periods of hard work and recovery. Research at Laval University, Canada found this kind of training can burn up to three times more fat than exercising at the same pace. So you’ll be doing weights followed by optimum length cardio sessions. The result: more muscle, less fat and a body that’ll make those old T-shirts at the back of your cupboard fit like a torso-shaped glove.

Your action plan

After your weights workout choose one of the following interval training regimes and aim to wrap up both your weights and cardio in an hour at most. Mix it up as much as possible and never repeat the same interval workout twice in a week. You don’t have to do it in the gym either. After you’ve finished the weights hop on your bike or go outside for a run. Just follow the work-to-rest guidelines in the cardio workouts section. If you want to go for a long run at the weekend, do it in the morning. When you wake up, your core body temperature is at its lowest, allowing for improved endurance. “In a recent study, people riding bikes could push themselves 5.3 minutes longer at 6:45am than at 6:45pm, because a cooler body delays overheating,” says study author Dr Ruth Hobson. Stick to the routine for four weeks and you’ll have more muscle, more leisure time and the very best results in the shortest time possible.