Winter time sees a surge in people taking up running for either fitness or health reasons. Quite possibly this is due to those people entering the London Marathon and starting their build up. Running was my sport for nearly twenty years and I loved it. Nowadays I tend not to do too much of it due to time constraints but mainly because there are better alternatives to keep fit and keeping the fat levels down.

I know there will be lots of people reading this with disbelief but I'll let you in on some not so secret facts about aerobic training.

Yes, running will burn calories, just not enough for efficient fat loss. You see it in all the gyms and out on the roads with people utilising running as a weight/fat loss regime but not seeming to make huge improvements. The same goes for the treadmill or cross trainer at the gym.

So what is the process for burning calories? Without going into too much detail, your lean body mass or muscles burn calories to survive throughout the day and night, regardless of your activity. Therefore, we can already see that having more muscle mass will burn more calories.

Running, like all steady state activities, only raises the metabolism during the activity so only increases calorie burning during this period. For it to become effective, you would need to run several hours per day which is not practical for most people. Aerobic training also releases the hormone Cortisol which breaks down muscle tissue, therefore lowering your metabolism and burning less calories. It also makes the body store glucose or sugar, usually around the mid section.

For running to be effective in reducing body fat, you have to work intensely and it just isn't possible to do this for sufficient lengths of time.

So what is the answer?

If you really want to incorporate running into your fat loss regime, make sure you use interval training. This means working very hard for short bursts of time; maybe thirty seconds to a minute maximum. This is then followed by a period of rest. This should be until you are ready to repeat the interval again at the same intensity.

This type of training can be used two to three times per week, allowing at least one day recovery in between.

On the other hand, if you really want to burn calories and tone up, resistance training is the most beneficial way to go. Following a resistance workout, your muscles are broken down then repair themselves and grow over the next 24-48 hours. This is why it is important to recover and not work the same body parts too close together.

Resistance training can take the form of using weights, resistance bands or even body weight exercises such as squats and push ups. Many people are put off using weights but body weight exercises can be just as demanding and productive.

Females are especially reluctant to use free weights or machines as they believe they will "bulk up". This just won't happen. Females simply do not have the levels of testosterone to develop bulk. Instead, you will become lean and toned and burning calories 24/7.