We all have different goals and aspirations in life, particularly when it comes to our physical appearance.

We’re a race that is seemingly obsessed with how our bodies look, which is one of the reasons why we spend so much money on gym memberships, diet plans, personal trainers, health supplements, and workout gear.

If we had the choice of choosing the perfect body, most people would opt for less fat and more lean muscle, and rightfully so.

Having a lean and muscular body is not only great for your self confidence and your appearance, it is also great for your health, as there are many health risks associated with being overweight. Sadly, burning fat and building muscle individually, is difficult enough, yet doing both simultaneously is notoriously difficult.

For anybody trying to look for ways to burn fat build muscle, however, it can be done, you just need to know what you’re doing.

Here’s a look at a few highly effective strategies proven to help burn fat build muscle like never before.

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

High Intensity Interval Training is one of the most effective forms of cardio training for people trying to burn fat and build muscle, ever.

HIIT is perfect because it targets abdominal belly fat when you perform it, and actually helps to turn your body into a fat burning machine for several hours after you complete your workout, thanks to a process known as the ‘afterburn effect’.

HIIT can be performed in a variety of different ways, though one of the most popular methods of performing HIIT is to do it on a treadmill. Basically, you will alternate between several rounds of slow and steady exercise, and fast paced, high intensity exercise.

For example, you may begin on a treadmill, walking at a moderate pace for 60 seconds. After 60 seconds, you will then increase the speed and sprint as fast as you can for 40 seconds. That will count as one round.

After those 40 seconds, you immediately slow down, and walk again for 60 seconds, thus beginning round two. You will repeat this process for several rounds, with most HIIT workouts lasting around 20 minutes on average.

High Reps Lighter Weight

People seem to think that the only way to build muscle is with heavy weights and relatively low reps, but that is not the case at all. Studies have revealed time and time again, that high reps and a lighter weight are just as effective at stimulating new muscle growth, if not more so in fact.

The reason for this is that, by reducing the weight and performing more reps, you will be exercising for longer, thus burning more calories in the process.

Not only do your muscles benefit from you lifting the weight, your body fat levels also benefit because as you’re burning more energy, you’ll lose more fat in the process.

Eat Plenty Of Lean Protein

For people trying to burn fat and build muscle, protein is absolutely vital, no ifs or buts about it. In terms of which proteins should be consumed, ideally you should opt for lean sources of protein such as skinless chicken breasts or turkey.

Obviously, as you’re trying to burn fat and build muscle, you’ll need to keep your fat and calorie consumption relatively low, so lean sources of protein are recommended. Protein helps to both build muscle, and burn fat simultaneously.

It helps assist with muscle growth and repair and is essential for protein synthesis, without which, new muscle tissues and proteins simply would not be generated. As well as that, however, it is also ideal from a fat loss point of view as well.

Protein is a thermogenic compound, which means that it raises the body’s core temperature. It does this because it is harder to digest and breakdown than other foods, which means that the body has to work twice as hard after the protein has been consumed.

As the body must work harder, it requires more energy, which it gets in the form of burned calories. This means that by simply digesting lean protein sources, we’re actually burning calories in the process.

As protein also promotes lean muscle growth, as muscle requires more calories to maintain itself than fat, the more muscular an individual becomes, the faster their metabolisms become.

Eat Little And Often

Rather than simply starving yourself throughout the day, and consuming a huge dinner in the evening, research has found that the most effective way of both, building muscle, and burning fat, is to eat several smaller and healthier meals throughout the day, every two to three hours or so.

This is because eating in this manner will help keep the metabolism running at full capacity, which in turn will energize you, and allow you to burn more calories in the process. Think of your metabolism like a fire. If you starve the fire of wood, it will slow down, burning cooler and cooler.

If you let it almost burn out, and then throw a huge pile of wood onto it at the end of the day, it would struggle to get going again and could become bogged down and ineffective.

If, however, you throw manageable sized bags of wood onto it every few hours, it will burn hotter and brighter, giving off more heat and energy. The same principle applies for your metabolism, except instead of firewood, you use small and healthy meals instead.