Written by Tim Rigby
You’ve had an amazing winter of training and dieting with discipline which you never saw yourself having before. Summer is lurking on the horizon, so now is the time to reduce those final few pounds of unwanted fat to show off killer abs and even better muscle definition. Science has proven the effectiveness of many different fat-burner ingredients toward stimulating your metabolism and/or releasing fat for you to burn off as energy. Don’t leave these very valuable instruments of fat destruction sitting on the table! Use these in conjunction with a sound diet and vigorous training to ensure you are truly shredded come summer. Many pre-workout blends available to you go the extra mile and combine effective ingredients to maximize your energy output when training and help you drop as much fat as possible!
CAFFEINE ANHYDROUS
No surprise here that caffeine is a top priority fat burner, since it’s the most-studied and proven-effective fat burning supplement there is, but did you know that technically speaking, it’s really a fat releaser? Instead of adenosine connecting to the receptors on your fat cells, caffeine takes its place when consumed. This situation frees up fat release from the adipocytes which covert to workable energy for you; it’s at this point where people consider caffeine to be a fat burner, since by the time this occurs you will have experienced a stimulant effect. Exercise some moderation, however, since too much caffeine can pose a host of health side effects including making you too jittery. It’s excellent as a pre-workout, especially if you avoid consuming it at other times.
Standard Dosage: 200-300 milligrams per serving, ideally 30 minutes before you work out.
SYNEPHRINE
This is an herb derived from the citrus aurantium plant, a name which you may recognize from some fat-burner blends. Like caffeine, it frees up fat tissue from your cells which you can work into expendable energy. Although synephrine has a chemical composition similar to ephedrine, which has had a lot of bad publicity, the former has been shown to not cause a boost to your heart rate and blood pressure like the latter does. Nonetheless, you’ll still derive a metabolic boost.
Standard Dosage: 10-20 milligrams, from once to a maximum of three times daily.
ACETYL-L-CARNITINE
Now here is where you can be assured of fundamental fat burning. Carnitine is an amino-acid-like molecule with a significant role in the fat transporting system from your fat cells to the mitochondria, where fat is burned away for good. Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC) is a superior variation of carnitine which does not require an insulin spike (or to be consumed with food), like the plainer version. ALC has better absorption and uptake, meaning you only need about half the strength of regular carnitine to get the same fat-burning effect.
Standard Dosage: 1-2 milligrams per serving, once or twice daily.
CONJUGATED LINOLEIC ACID
For those of you who like to take preventative measures (i.e. stopping the development of fat before it begins), then conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is for you. This is a naturally occurring group of Omega-6 healthy fats. CLA inhibits the enzyme lipoprotein lipase and in doing so prevents the buildup of more fat into your cells. Subsequently you can use the energy from fat content to augment your workouts. Take CLA with each of your meals for best results.