A BETTER WAY TO EXERCISE

"Take the stairs. Walk 10,000 steps a day. Go for a long bike ride," For general health, this is all fine advice. But, if you want to achieve long-term fat loss, you have to exercise in a way that activates your hormones.

The key is increasing exercise resistance — versus duration or frequency. You can do this with targeted resistance training requiring no more than 10 minutes, two times a week.

I recommend a high-intensity-interval-trainlng (HIIT) program that includes "eccentric" muscle contractions. It works your muscles so deeply that you will be sore for two to three days afterward.

Concentric weight-lifting moves (where the muscle contracts) tend to get the most attention, but research shows that lowering weights (the eccentric action where the muscle extends) enables us to generate more force and activate more of our fat-burning muscle fibers.

That's why all my favorite exercises involve eccentric moves — leg presses, seated rows, chest presses, and overhead shoulder presses.

My own weekly exercise routine consists of doing just one intensive set of eccentric exercises for my legs, back, chest, shoulders, and abdominals. I then do about 15 minutes of yoga-inspired stretching.

I'm all for moving your body however else you like — walking, hiking, dancing, biking. Just don't rely on those activities to help you burn fat.

Conventional cardio builds aerobic conditioning but doesn't work well for long- term fat loss because it does not engage the hormone-shifting muscle fibers that help to regulate whole-body metabolism.