For adults, losing body fat is a matter of forcing the body to get rid of something that it perceives as necessary for survival. For thousands of years, man was err to the cycle of feast and famine with food consumption. Sometimes there was plenty of food, other times there was none.  Storing body fat helped man stay alive when there was no food because the stored fat could be broken down and used as energy. Only recently have we been faced with a situation in which we have an over-abundance of food. The body still thinks it needs to save up for when there is another famine.
To replace old, ineffective methods for fat loss with an updated, scientifically proven program try the “Do this, don’t do that” approach to your exercise outlined below. 
 
Do This:  Intense Resistance training
Not That:  Cardio only
To burn more calories and fat, you need more lean muscle. Resistance training is how you get it.  Lean muscle works like a car’s engine to use fat as fuel. If you have a small engine, it doesn’t matter how hard you do cardiovascular exercise, you can only burn so many calories. Doing whole-body, large muscle group resistance training creates a bigger lean muscle engine to burn calories and fat both while exercising and resting. Add 2-4 days of resistance training to your program every week.

Do This: Whole-Body Metabolic Resistance Training
Not That:  Body-Part Splits (chest, shoulders, triceps, etc)
Body part splits became popular with bodybuilders as they allow for focus on certain muscle groups, in addition to ample recovery days in between training. For the average adult trying to lose maximal body fat in minimal time, this program comes up short. In comes Metabolic Resistance Training. Pair your exercises with opposite movements together into supersets.

Do This:  Focus your time on large muscle groups
Not That:  Focus your time on abs, arms, and other smaller muscle groups
When time and fat burning efficiency is of the essence, these smaller muscle groups do relatively little to stoke the metabolism to create more lean muscle mass or burn fat and calories. 
Focus your work on the legs, chest, and back with movements that incorporate the entire body like squats, lunges dead lifts, push variations (push-ups, bench press), pull variations (pull-ups, 1-arm rows).  As you will see, these exercises are much more taxing to the system and do a lot more for your fat-burning goals.

Brett Klika C.S.C.S., Director of Athletics at Fitness Quest 10, is a world renowned human performance specialist, motivational speaker, author, and educator. In his 14 year career, Brett has accrued more than 20,000 hours of training with youth, athletes, executives, and every day people.  He uses this knowledge and experience to motivate individuals and audiences around the world through his writing, speaking, DVD’s, and personal correspondence.  For a copy of his new e-book and exercise program “The Underground Workout Manual- Exercise and Fat Loss in the Real World” visit www.undergroundworkoutmanual.com.  To contact Brett, send correspondence to brett@fitnessquest10.com.