The Best Fat Burning Exercises to Turn Up the Fat Burn

If you spend any amount of time watching workout videos, visiting fitness sites/blogs or reading any type of fitness magazines or books then you are probably very familiar with the top 6 basic fat burning exercises including:

  1. dynamic planks - side planks, swinging planks, burpees, squat thrusts, plank jacks, traveling, gliding disc, stability ball, etc.
  2. dynamic lunges - jumping, walking, step up, lateral, reverse, etc.
  3. presses of any type - pushups, inverted, db, medicine ball, etc.
  4. rowing of any type - db, bodyweight, machine, bands, pullup bar
  5. squats with some type of upper body movement - curl, press, swing, etc.
  6. sprint intervals - outdoors with jump rope or on machine
  7. throwing, tossing, swinging or undulating weight

There are hundreds of fatloss workouts here on the site that feature all the awesome fat burning exercises listed above but what if you're ready for more challenging exercises for your fat loss workouts? 

The solution is combining the best fat burning exercises into more complex movement patterns that challenge your body to work harder which means increased fat burning and fatloss.  Get started with any of the examples below.

My favorite fat burning exercise is the db squat to alternating reverse lunge with overhead press

Some people call this a power pull and there's other fancy names for it too.

This is the most basic example of how combining 3 exercises, the squat + lunge + overhead press, turns up the fat burn and speeds up your fatloss results.

I like to switch out the squat portion for a stiff leg deadlift sometimes just to mix things up.


The spinal rock getup jump or what I like to call the full body crunch is a combination of squat, reverse crunch, situp, squat jump and even though it looks and is tons of fun it's also incredibly challenging.

I do not recommend this move for anybody with neck, shoulder, low back or hip issues.  Oh wait I have some of those issues and I can still do this so maybe just start by breaking it down. 

The spinal rock portion is from Tacfit so check out their stuff if you need more help with this one.

The capoeira db row is a move that I adapted from the workout plan Brazil Butt Lift. 

This evil exercise is a combination squat, lunge, row and keeps your glutes loaded the entire time so if you have lazy butt syndrome (dysfunctional glutes) you need to skip this one and work on building some hip and core stability & strength before you try it. 

If you can do this move be sure to use a weight that feels fairly heavy throughout the entire exercise to get the most out of it.


The straddle squat thrust twisting lunge is probably one of the most fun and intense fat burning exercise because it challenges your thighs, butt, arms, and abs.

The wider you thrust your legs out and the deeper you lunge the more challenging this move gets.

I'm not lunging very deep in this video but I do in other videos on my site bestfemalefigure.com.

If alternating sides is too much for you then try all your reps to one side then the other. 


The modified suspension trainer muscle up is a great option for anybody who still can't do a pullup but who needs to progress from more beginner bodyweight rows.

If you've never tried this before then be prepared to feel sore in the triceps, biceps, rear shoulders and entire upper back for days.

This move works all those areas plus provides a nice low back and hip stretch too.

Make sure to pull all the way into the suspension trainer then really squeeze the triceps at the top.


The plank thrust sit thru is one of the best fat burning exercises to work your core, arms, hip flexors and endurance.  

You could add a side plank to each side if you like to slow the exercise down a bit or you could also do a full squat thrust to sit thru to increase intensity too.

This is another move that I adapted from Tacfit to improve hip flexor and core strength while burning fat.

The alternating lateral tactical lunge works your legs, abs, butt, arms and shoulders while improving endurance and coordination.

It's one of the best fat burning exercises that I learned from kb expert Sarah Lurie and can be done with any type of weight so no need to go get some expensive kb for this move.

I prefer sandbells for this but dumbbells work fine too.

Want to see examples of how I combine these workouts into circuits. Check out my youtube channel Your Best Female Figure.