Best Exercise To Burn Calories
Looking after children is a full-time job, and at times may seem like a workout in itself. Forcing them into their pyjamas, getting them to brush their teeth, not to mention getting them to eat those pesky veggies! It goes without saying that everyone should incorporate a workout into their everyday routine, even if it’s just for 10 minutes while your children are playing with their toys. While running is a fantastic form of exercising, it isn’t for everyone. In fact, short, high-intensity workouts have been proven to burn just as many if not more calories than steady cardio such as running! Between HIIT, tabata and circuit training, it may seem overwhelming to choose the best exercise to burn calories.
Let’s take a look at some of the different types of calorie-burning exercises and which one is best exercise to burn calories.
Best Exercise To Burn Calories: HIIT
You can do exercises that burn lots of calories even if you don’t have much time. The key is to focus on high-intensity workouts that quickly increase your heart rate. High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a popular way to do this. It involves short bursts of exercise at more than 70% of your aerobic capacity.
One HIIT method involves alternating between 30-second speed and 1-minute rest intervals. By doing high-intensity workouts, you can burn a lot of calories in 30 minutes or less.
A study compared the calories burned during 30 minutes each of HIIT, weight training, running and biking. The researchers found that HIIT burned 25–30% more calories than the other forms of exercise!
The best HIIT exercises to do for maximum calorie burn are the following:
Each exercise burns 240 to 355.5 calories in 30 minutes.
1. High Knees - 240 to 355.5 calories burned in 30 minutes.
High-knee running is a vigorous cardio workout. It raises your heart rate while strengthening your lower body. As a high-intensity exercise, high-knee running is useful for burning calories in a short amount of time.
2. Butt Kicks - 240 to 355.5
Butt kicks are a cardio workout, just like high-knee running. You can quickly burn calories within 30 minutes by doing butt kicks at a high intensity.
3. Mountain climbers - 240 to 355.5
The mountain climber is a cardio exercise that doubles as a full-body workout. Since you need to use your entire body, you’ll burn a lot of calories in a short period of time.
There are plenty of HIIT videos for all fitness levels ranging from 10-45 minutes long so you are sure to find something that fits into your schedule and this one below is perfect for a couple and only 10 minutes long - perhaps when the kids are at school?
Best Exercise To Burn Calories: Tabata
If you have ever tried interval training then you must be familiar with the term "Tabata training" or "Tabata protocol." Tabata is a high-intensity interval training, which is specifically designed to get your heart rate up in a short period of time. Developed by Izumi Tabata, PhD, at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Tabata is based on timed interval method. In this training session, you have to perform any exercise for 20 seconds with maximum intensity and then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this 8 times for about 4 minutes and then change the exercise.
This form of workout puts a lot of stress on your body and as a result, you burn more calories in a short period of time. As per a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, doing a Tabata workout can help you burn 15 calories every minute. This workout regime can be excellent for people trying to shed kilos.
An example of a Tabata workout looks like this:
Push-ups (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Squats (4 minutes)
Burpees (4 minutes)
Mountain Climbers (4 minutes)
Start with push-ups. Perform them for 20 seconds at a high-intensity. Rest for 10 seconds, and then go back to doing push-ups for 20 seconds. Once you complete eight sets of push-ups, rest for one minute.
Next, move on to squats and repeat the sequence of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Once you finish eight sets of squats, rest for one minute, and then do burpees. After burpees, finish the workout with mountain climbers.
Tabata is great to get a quick workout in if you're short on time, you need to switch up your routine, or you want to improve endurance and speed. Incorporate this type of workout into your fitness routine and you will scorch those calories and see results!
Best Exercise To Burn Calories: Jumping Rope
This isn’t just something for children to do in the playground, jumping rope is one of the best exercises to burn calories! On average, you burn 667–990 calories/hour (jumping at 120 skips per minute)! Jumping rope is great for developing coordination, calf and ankle strength, core strength, posture, and cardiovascular endurance. It also helps build bone density, which guards against bone loss, osteoporosis, and bone loss.
Ideally, the best way to start jumping rope is to go slow and do it in 20- to 30-second bursts. Once you've mastered that flick-of-the-wrist and your timing, work on increasing your speed and duration to burn more calories. If you want to burn even more calories, try using a weighted jumping rope!
If you need a little inspiration or motivation, try looking at this calorie-torching jump rope workout from Carrie Underwood's trainer a try. (It helped her score those iconic legs!)
Best Exercise To Burn Calories: Sprints
You don’t need a track to do sprints! Use a sidewalk, your back garden or a treadmill to do this calorie-scorching exercise (639–946 calories/hour)! Sprinting is a maximal effort exercise that requires a lot of power from your glutes and hamstrings. By alternating between maximal efforts and recovery periods, you build cardiovascular endurance and promote fat-burning.
To make the most of your efforts, you will want to sprint at a pace you can only maintain for about 20 seconds, followed by a recovery run at half of the intensity but double the time. If you want to take things up a gear, take your sprints up a hill or up some stairs! You fight against gravity, which increases the intensity even more!
Best Exercise To Burn Calories: Kickboxing
Burning around 582–864 calories per hour, kickboxing is a very effective exercise to burn calories! Kickboxing works your upper body and core without a lot of impact to your legs, so it’s great if you can’t jump or have knee pain while jumping! Plus, kickboxing has been shown to improve cardio, strength, agility, balance, coordination, upper body fitness, and aerobic power!
To get started, you'll want to learn common boxing moves (like jabs, crosses, uppercuts, and hooks) and be ready to incorporate squats, lunges, and ducks. Top tip: Learn the handwork before you start the footwork, and decrease rest times between sets. If you want to take your at-home kickboxing workouts to the next level, it may be worth investing in your own punching bag!
Best Exercise To Burn Calories: Spinning
Last but by no means least is spinning. Burning approximately 568–841 calories per hour, spinning is an excellent form of cardio if you have knee pain with running or are recovering from knee issues. In addition to improving both aerobic and anaerobic function, doing intervals on an exercise bike has also been shown to be particularly effective for reducing body fat.
Try an instructor-led spin class to guarantee you'll hit those intervals hard. If cycling alone, alternate between one minute of high-intensity effort and 30 seconds at a calmer pace.
