What's the one missing ingredient that a lot of people fail to include when trying to lose weight? I'll give you a hint, it's also the most important thing. Resistance training. Without a doubt, resistance training is the one thing you can do for yourself that will absolutely redesign your body and have you looking and feeling like a completely new person.

Just as with cardiovascular exercise, there are numerous ways to do resistance training. Add to that the endless amounts of equipment that can also be used. Machines, dumbbells, balls, bands, etc. All of these can make some people very confused and it might even scare them off entirely from getting started.

But my article is meant to clarify all of the confusion and show you how you can get started with minimal equipment right in the comfort of you r own home. I'm even going to let you in on a secret to resistance training that will cut your time down and get you even better results than a traditional resistance training routine. "With that said, let's take a look at what a traditional resistance training routine looks like and the history behind it.

Traditional resistance training became popular in the mid-70's, early 80's. This was the era of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the rest of the steroid-taking, body-building "freaks". These men and women typically spend anywhere from 4 - 6 hours in the gym lifting weights. Their routines mainly consisted of doing a few exercises for each "body part". (Ex. Chest press, chest fly, bicep curl, etc.). They would do one set with very heavy weight, rest for a few minutes, then do another set, rest for a few minutes, etc.

They did this style of training because they were "body builders". Their main objective was to build their muscles up as much as possible. Losing weight, functioning, etc. did not matter to them.

The problem now was that the general public, you and I, saw that these mean and women got great results from this. So that is what we started doing. No one told us that this kind of workout was not ideal for burning calories. No one mentioned that most of the bodybuilders spent 4 - 6 hours a DAY working out. No one said that most of the bodybuilders were taking steroids.

I should also mention that these training methods were done over 30 years ago! Haven't there been any updates since then?? If so, why are most people still doing traditional style resistance training workouts? My answer to that is that most people are still being misinformed. But not you. Not now. You are going to have the knowledge of knowing what you need to do to put your resistance training into the future, head and shoulders above most other people. And you are going to get maximum results in minimum time.

I now introduce you to the world of circuit training. Circuit training is the act of doing anywhere from 3 to 6 exercises in a row without resting. I should also add that a lot of the exercises will be based on movements and not specific "body part: exercises.

A typical circuit might be: squat, overhead press, standing row. You would do these 3 exercises in a row, then rest for 60 seconds. You would then do the 3 exercises again, rest and then do them one more time. That's just a quick example. You can add more exercises, change the length of the rest period, do 4 exercises instead of 3, do 4 circuits instead of 3, etc. The possibilities are endless.

What I want you to take away from this article more than anything is that by doing a circuit style workout you are increasing something known as EPOC. EPOC stands for Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption. In layman's terms this basically means how long your body continues to burn calories once your workout is over. Everyone always gets so caught up in how many calories they are burning for just the workout session. How about the amount of calories you are burning for the other 23+ hours of the day. Isn't that important? You better believe it is! Circuit style training has been shown in some studies to increase EPOC for as long as 38 hours after the exercise session. Can you imagine that----38 HOURS! Traditional training doesn't even come close to that. The reason being is that there is not a lot of resting or "waiting" in between sets and exercises with circuit style training. You go from one exercise to the next and you keep your heart rate elevated, thus making the exercise session more intense and more efficient.

As I said earlier another great benefit is you can do this workout at home with minimal equipment. All you really need is dumbbells (make sure to get heavy enough weights, the stronger you get the heavier you'll need), an exercise ball, and exercise bands. Once you have the equipment you need it's just a matter of setting everything up before your workout so you can go from one exercise to the next with no time being wasted setting everything up during the workout. Of course you can also do this kind of workout in a gym. It just might be a little tougher because you have to worry about other people using the equipment that you might need for your exercises.

One final note; circuit style training can and should be very challenging. Typical training routines more times than not aren't very challenging (at least the way most people do them) and that's why a lot of people don't get such good results. Keep in mind though, as I said, circuit style training sessions are shorter and one of the reasons for that is because they are supposed to be pretty intense.

But remember, if the desired outcome is losing fat and redesigning your body, a little hard work is a small price to pay.