Are you looking for an effective exercise workout routine? Do you want to really burn a lot of calories, slim down and tone up? Well, I'm about to tell you exactly what to do. But, let's take a look at some ineffective exercise workout routines to understand why they do not really work and why what I am about to tell you will.

First, it's important to understand that to lose a single pound of fat requires you to expend 3,500 calories of energy. When you consider that the average person only burns 2,000 in the average 24 hour period you start to get an understanding of exactly how much effort is required to burn just a single pound of fat and, of course, most people could stand to lose more than a pound.

Most people to about trying to get in shape one of two traditional ways. Running or other cardio exercises or sit ups or other stomach exercises. Here is the problem with that. You can not spot reduce fat on your stomach any more than you can spot reduce fat on your chin and, even if you could, sit ups do not expend enough energy to make a difference. Running and cardio exercises expend considerably more energy but you can run a few miles and only burn a few hundred calories. You've still got a long way to go to burn that pound of fat.

Doing compound weight lifting exercises are really the best way to go about slimming down and firming up. Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at the same time and cause you to exert so much effort that your body goes into a metabolic shock and burns calories at a higher rate for days after.

Do the following routine and you will be ready for the beach in no time. Two sets of each exercise with 1-5 repetitions.

Day 1: Bench press, squats, clean and jerk, dumb bell snatches
Day 2: Dead lift, chin ups, bent over rows
Day 3: Lunges, military press, dips, dumb bell swings
Day 4: Romanian dead lift, pull ups, single armed bar bell curls, renegade rows