Fitness

15 Ways to Burn Up More Calories During Any Type of Workout

Put your arms into action When you are chilling through walking, the arms go first and legs follow. This helps you to increase your pace. If… Simi - January 22, 2018

Every time there is the familiar flurry of resolution-making. It is something that most people have practiced by now, having promised all manner of things for many years. The problem with all these resolutions is that most of the time they are not worth the paper they are written on. The challenge is to be organized to put them in motion. The capacity is all there but needs the implementation of those goals.

The issue of health is mostly a number one priority for most people. There are so many people who have promised to start jogging or going to the gym. This has come to nothing and you find yourself still sitting on the couch and watching your favorite music artist. This year you have the opportunity to do things differently. You can turn your new year’s resolutions into reality.

Some predict that today’s generation will be the first in over a century with a shorter life expectancy. The youth of today are increasingly having a shorter lifespan than their parents. In adults, obesity has long been known to be linked to a range of health problems including diabetes. But now, alarmingly, this so-called disorder is affecting a large number of youth and children too.

Young people in our country are becoming increasingly inactive. They eat more of junk food and chill out by watching their popular movies on the television. It is important to avoid falling into the same sandpit that traps many, well-intention but poorly organized people. It is important to seek regular exercise habits. Here are 15 ways to burn more calories during any type of workout.

Waking your brain up with a dance

Jamming to your favorite artist will make you smarter. dancing integrates several brain functions at once. This includes increasing brain connectivity across kinesthetic, rational, musical, and emotional processes. Therefore, it would be right to plug into music while exercising. This will stimulate and psych you up to find that sweet spot where you can effectively and efficiently perform to your best. Most people jam to music and you will not be the odd one out.

Studies have shown that most of athletes can associate a particular piece of music with their maximum state of mind. Therefore, pop in headphones to manage your exercise, that will be cool. Actually, some sporting groups fear that listening to music can give you an advantage over other competitors. This has attracted bans when the athletes are performing. If you can fight tiredness with music, that will be nice.

Working out to your favorite fitness playlist will help you enjoy your music. At the same time, increase your workouts to increase by up to 20% longer. Importantly, you will burn more calories. A study by West London’s Brunel University says that music blocks weariness and produces the feeling of energy. In addition, it helps you keep pace by synchronizing your movements.

Michael Phelps who is one of the most successful Olympians is known for his love of music. He likes hip-hop playlist when he is in the competitive arena. He is able to faze out before the race and focus on the task at hand. He has never got it wrong as he has proven all the time his prowess in the pool. If you have a workout pal, choose the playlist which you both like.

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Pair up with an inspiring partner

It will do you good to combine fun with workouts. The best way is to take along your buddy or sweetheart to the gym. It works fine to get your heart racing when you include one-on-one basketball and even a partner workout in the gym. It helps you take turns leading new exercises and changing the routine. If you know a particular routine, you can teach your partner how to do it. It becomes more fun and let your partner also teach you his routine.

When you change your workouts, your body is going to respond better. It will eventually be going to get better and the gym will be a place to chill out together. The intensity becomes greater when you let it go with someone else. It’s better than doing it alone when the motivation can sometimes be at the lowest. This is when you become a crybaby who can’t keep up with a simple exercise.

Get a partner whose athletic abilities are the same as yours. Having someone whose athletic abilities are the same as yours, will prevent you look like a jerk when doing it together. It can be frustrating to exercise with a professional when you are a newbie. When you are on the same level, you can encourage each other to do more. There is a possibility that you will stretch to the same limits at the same time. You may also quit around the same time.

Individuals who have an exercise partner are most likely to get active than those doing it on their own. They also stay active and finding a workout buddy increases the responsibility factor. It will help you work harder and more often. A study by researchers from Kansas State University did a study on exercising with a partner. They found that people who had partners were fitter and stronger.

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Let go of the rails

The rule of thumb in the gym is that the more muscles you use, the more calories you burn. Letting go off the rails on the treadmill will enable more benefits. Holding on with either one or two hands on the rails is simply cheating. It creates uneven stresses on the body. Having your hands on the machine reduces the efficiency and will decrease the effects on your body. Your legs will get an easier ride when you put your hands on the rails.

If you hold the rails it will ruin your posture. Frankly, your lower back will not get the full benefits and will not do the work. The effect is that it will weaken the back muscles. It’s bad for tall people who hold or lean forward on the treadmill. Holding on creates an unnatural gait and you will not burn enough calories. Since holding takes away a substantial workload from the legs, the burned calories will be much lower.

The leg and gluteal muscles are the largest muscles available in the body. Therefore, by walking or running, you burn 20% to 25% more calories for the same duration. Your body tilts back when you hold onto the front bar or console. This is the same angle like when you are walking on a flat surface. It is better to slowly build up the incline as time goes on. This will help you adjust to the incline which will be easier to deal with.

It’s the same in real situation where the surfaces where you walk are uneven. The brain helps you to sense the surfaces through the signal that are sent in your spinal cord. This helps you navigate the areas where you are walking. In that way, you avoid falling down. When you hold on to the treadmill, you interfere with these signals. This restricts your coordination and removes your body’s balancing system.

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Put your arms into action

When you are chilling through walking, the arms go first and legs follow. This helps you to increase your pace. If you move your hands faster and legs follow, more calories will be burned. It is an easy way to remove unnecessary weight that your friends may be hitting on. Moreover, you will use your upper body muscles and you will hit two birds with one stone. There will be more calories that will be removed from that part.

Studies indicate that those who exercise use more fat-burning oxygen when they use their arms. The elliptical machine exercises will enable your arms to hold onto the handles. By ensuring that the legs are following, you will remove more calories. This works better than using the legs alone. Alternatively, take to walking into a calorie-burning workout. You can go out with friends if you are lazy to do it alone.

You will need to pace yourself up if you are delaying exercises. Focus on doing one thing at a time like walking. It is cool when you have your buddies to walk with. This will help you get motivated and have fun while removing those calories. It’s also an occasion to bond more with your partners if you are sweet on someone. By walking you will get to know each other better. You will be able to identify the weaknesses and strengths of your partner.

When walking during a workout, bend your elbows to 90 degrees and pump your arms as you pace. It will automatically increase your pace and burn up to 15% more calories. To get the optimum benefits, make sure the elbows are in. The hands should not cross beyond the middle of your chest. Remember that when you do too much side-to-side movement, it drags down your pace. This will reduce the number of calories that you burn.

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Create a mix

Walking is great, but you will need to spice it up with other exercises. It will help you to get other distractions that will assist you to be focused and interested. A game like tennis is an ideal way to play with your buddy. This will give you fun as you compete to find out the winner. Furthermore, it acts as an opportunity to bond with your friends. It’s important to socialize when you are exercising rather than doing it alone.

Games are a good way to burn more calories and keep fit. Importantly, they provide a social outlet and physical challenge. For instance, a game of tennis will give you an opportunity to get new pals. You cannot play alone in this game as you need a partner. The game will also provide you with lots of fun while still getting exercise. It is this social outlet that will help you keep consistency and move on.

It is normal to find yourself with low motivation some days. You may be tempted to go home and chill on the couch watching television. The desire to go to a bar can be strong but your training pals will have a strong influence on you. Tennis and walking will most likely remove the calories from your body. However, you need to find an exercise that will build your muscles too.

A single activity cannot build up the muscles and this includes the six-pack. Walking is good for cardiovascular conditioning and weight control. It does little to build strength. This is where you need strength and a bit of stretching will help you release that tight hamstring. This can get even tighter with walking or running. You want to look cool to your chick when you are fit.

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Find your sweet spot

The more work you give your body to do, the more calories you will burn. Fluctuating between different intensities will enable you to reach what is called sweet spot. This is the point when you can exercise for 30 minutes and reach the optimal exercise intensity. You will feel it when you reach it and may even enjoy doing it. As you change things up, your body will be adapting too. It is a lot of effort and is intended to be like that.

If you are doing aerobics training, alternate between fast-paced exercises and those that are very difficult to do. This should be done several times and the hard ones are those that you can’t do for more than a minute. It’s good to do the hard ones because they take a big chunk of calories from your body. If you are doing it together with your partner, ensure that they are not too hard for the other guy.

The hard stuff removes more calories per minute. They also increase your metabolism for more hours after leaving the gym. When you are chilling at home and listening to your rock-n-roll music, more calories will still be burning. The catch is that you can’t keep the pace with the hard exercises for long. They are too difficult to sustain and a little effort at them is all that is needed.

The hard exercises are great for getting a large metabolic hit for your exercise time. You easily get burned out because they are hard. It’s a great idea to manage your routine. For instance, four minutes of steady-state easy exercise should be alternated with a minute of the hard task. The sweet spot will actually be sweet because at that point you will enjoy the exercise. When you are there, your breathing will be slightly labored.

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Wear some weights

It’s not surprising to see heavier people burning more calories than those who are not. Their bodies work harder to keep them moving. It doesn’t mean that it’s cool to have a heavier body. It means that you can wear weights to fake like you have a heavier body. Some of the weights to consider include a weighted vest and adjustable weight garment. This is a contraction shirt that will allow you to put more pounds of weight into the pockets.

Studies show that adding weight to your exercises increases burning calories by 7%. This occurs when you take moderate walks including more than 13% when you climb steps. Actually, to really burn more calories, it depends on the size of the weight. If you use heavier weights, you can burn up to 25% more calories when you are done. It has been suggested that heavyweights create more protein breakdown.

The protein breakdown happens in the muscles. Therefore, your body requires using more energy to repair and recover from those that have broken down. This is the way lean muscles develop in your body. You will, eventually, get leaner. The exercises don’t have to be intensive. It has been suggested that a few reps such as 3 to 6 can increase your sleeping metabolic rate.

There are calories that are burned when you are sleeping at night. You can lose up to 8% calories when you are sleeping at night. This is the result of the weights. You don’t have to gain a few calories to achieve this. If you are not in favor of wearing heavier weights, then at least you can do something by wearing a few of them. It will not overburden you but the calories will overwhelmingly be reduced.

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Use the force

Gravity is a natural and effective way to burn calories. If you are a bike junkie and like to showcase the progressive side of riding, then this is for you. Whether you walk, bike, or run at an incline, you have to work harder to fight the forces of gravity. On the incline, there is what it’s said, “what goes up must come down.” The gravity forces will be pulling you down and when you resist this force you will burn calories.

Mountain riding is as challenging as it is fun to venture into. You can burn up to 50% more calories when you go from a simple terrain to a more challenging 6% incline. It is tough to overcome such challenges which are good for your body. When it’s hard like that, you burn more calories. Riding on simple-inclined terrains will not burn as many calories as you would expect. Your friends may admire just your riding skills but are not really of much help.

You can get yourself a cross-country mountain bike. There are lots of fun out there including the delights of downhill and freestyle ride. There are many people that get involved themselves in this kind of riding. If you don’t have friends, don’t worry because you will find people to socialize with. The most important thing is to get into riding and start burning calories. You can even enter some competitions just to give yourself some goals.

Ideas alone won’t get you into riding and doing what you would like to do. You have got to do it rather than sitting on your backside and talking. The more you do bike riding, the more calories you will burn. In the same way, the more inclined the slope, the more you will burn calories. Having a riding partner will also help you have a spotter. He/she will alert you about what you are doing wrong and the success you are having.

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Cool your system

Having water while exercising is one of the important things that you can do. It’s ideal to hydrate the water for one or two metabolic calorie-burning punch. Gulping a few glasses of cold water raises your metabolism by close to 5%. This happens as your body tries to warm the fluid. If you are of the guys who don’t fanny cold water, drinking an icy beverage can also work wonders. This should be done before exercising.

An icy beverage or water before exercise will help you feel fresher and last longer. You will surprise even yourself because you will work harder before getting tired. In that way, you will be burning more calories. This is why most athletes are given icy water when they do their exercises. Your body loses energy when it runs out of oxygen. Water has oxygen and drinking throughout your workout helps you sustain the intensity of the workouts.

There is another advantage to drinking water including helping the lymphatic system. It flushes out the bad fat from the system when you are doing special motions. For instance, rebounding on a trampoline can significantly remove fats. Therefore, never underestimate the power of water in your routine exercises. The refrigerated water bottle should be taken when going for warm weather training.

A study found that those who drink refrigerated water lasted nearly 25% longer than those who didn’t. The other guys who drank warm water felt the training difficult. Drinking refrigerated water can be done whether you are doing indoor or outdoor exercises. The water should be taken prior to and throughout the training. Additionally, it will keep your body temperature down. The energy levels will be kept up for burning calories.

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Tune in

Most people like to take frequent breaks when they are exercising. Bathroom breaks and taking selfies give your heart a chance to return to normal. You will lose that momentum that you had worked so hard to attain. Give a break to those selfies when you are exercising and can be done when you complete the task. The longer you keep your heart elevated, your body will work hard. This will ensure that more calories are burned. There is no time for dillydallying when you are training.

Changing between indoor and outdoor workouts will give you a chance to prevent boredom. The fact is that training in an air-conditioned room is different to that done outdoors. In the outdoors, there is heat from the sun and there are different terrains that are challenging. It’s also not a bad idea for your gym partner to see how much hard work you are doing. This helps in feedback and might encourage some other equally inspired guys to join you.

When you change the training environment, your body has to adjust to different things. In order to overcome the resistance, you will burn more calories. The outdoor exercise may provide you with an opportunity to do other different training. Doing the same routine for a long time can also be bad. Your body gets used to it and reduces the burning of calories. However, when you change the environment, the body will burn more calories.

If you are able to multitask while training such as watching the television while on the stationary bike is bad. It takes away your attention from the workout. This prevents you from giving it the best effort. It’s ideal to pay attention to what you are doing such as the heart rate and your breathing. This will assist you to maintain a steady effort throughout and you will burn more calories.

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Pre-workout Snack

There is no doubt that your body needs food for energy. You can’t do the workouts on an empty stomach. Food is what fuels your exercises and lack of it, the body starts using your fats. It’s a good idea if you think that that’s the whole point of exercising. However, when there is no food in the stomach, there will be low energy. This means you can’t work out efficiently which results in an unfinished routine.

When you are in the gym, the idea is to give your best shot. This can only be achieved if you have enough energy in your body. The best thing to do is to feel if you are hungry and eat whenever you are really hungry. Studies have confirmed that eating in the morning before you hit the gym is ideal. This is the time when overnight you had nothing to eat apart from your dreams.

It’s advisable to eat the best food choices as much as you can. Some experts agree that if the best foods are not available, you can still eat the junk foods that are available. It’s wise to eat than go hungry and fail to finish your exercises. You will need to make better choices of food to be on the good track. The good thing is that the gym will help you get rid of the effects of junk food.

If you are gaining weight, it is good to check what type of foods you are eating. Most of the time this comes about from eating bad foods. Processed and junk foods can have a high density of calories. Healthy foods that have a high density of calories are difficult to eat in large quantities. For instance, cheese or avocados cannot be eaten as much as Doritos.

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Break up your sets

There are some guys who think they have to lose all the weight in one go. This is impossible and there is no singular exercise that can help you achieve that. Therefore, the best way to perform is to do is by doing the circuit. Instead of doing 2 or 3 sets of one exercise prior to moving to the next one, do a circuit. This is when you complete only one set and immediately move to the next set of exercise. This will help you burn more calories.

After completing the set, you can repeat the circuit. In most cases, you can do 2 or 3 sets of 4 to 6 exercises with 2 minutes of break. The breaks are taken in between and this is the standard strength training. The circuit training involves moving through a series of 6 exercises that is done 3 times. There are 30-second breaks in between. The studies indicated that circuit training burns close to double as many calories as standard ones.

The circuit trainers have their heart rate that stays elevated longer after the training. They continue burning the calories as if they are still training. This is different from those who do the standard training. These guys, once the training is over, that’s the end of it. There is no more burning of calories and the weight loss is different to their colleagues. This confirms that it’s the way you do the exercises that will have an impact on your body.

When you hit the gym with your buddies, ensure that your training schedule should stick to the circuit training. There are some people who prefer certain types of exercises and will do everything to thwart your efforts. Let go of such partners if they can’t stick to the training program. Otherwise, your efforts will be rendered useless as you will fail to burn enough calories.

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Log at for 12 minutes

Get an exercise that will warm up your gym training. Push-up is one of the common exercises that you can do. This is the granddaddy of all upper body exercises. It targets a huge cross-section of the muscles including the shoulders, chest, and arms. To do a proper push-up, start out on your knees and walk your arms forward until you have a proper straight line. This should run from your hips and down to shoulders but outside of shoulder width apart. Drop the whole body as a single unit as far down as possible.

Then hold at the bottom for two whole seconds and power up slowly again. Aim to do at least 12 of these every day. It works well when you have a partner or group of guys doing it at the same time. Make it competitive and increase the number of push-ups which you can do. Those lagging behind will be noticed easily as they cannot keep up with the rest of the group. It acts a motivation when you see others achieving their targets.

Any cardio exercise will burn calories. To optimize your training, you will need to have at least 12 minutes on top of the warm-up exercise. This should be a continuous moderate and increase to the high-intensity training routine. You will know that you are at the peak when you start breathing hard. This is ideal to be done for most days of the week. You will find that within months of training, you will lose weight.

When you are breathing hard, don’t be afraid. This signifies that the training is having an effect. It helps your body to use oxygen and generate more useful enzymes like lipase. This enzyme is used to burn more calories in your body. If you come out of the gym without breathing hard, then there is no work done. It would be better for you to just chill out on television with your homeboys or girls.

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Cut your workouts

Having a short period of rigorous exercises can speed up your weight loss. This also helps reduce workout time by up half or more. You don’t want to spend the whole day working out in the gym. Your friends deserve some time to socialize with you. Studies compared women who alternate only 8 seconds of high-intensity training with 12 seconds of low-intensity for 20 minutes of training. The other women didn’t alternate and continued the same routine for 20 minutes. They found that those who had 8 seconds had better benefits.

These women in the study from the Australian researchers trained 3 times a week. The women who had 8 seconds lost weight faster than the others who had a steady pace. Even though they worked out twice as long, their weight loss was minimal. This means that it’s not how long you stay in the gym that will determine how much you lose weight. It’s better to devise a proper plan that will ensure that your efforts are working.

There were amazing results in this study. The women who had interval training lost up to 16 pounds and their bellies reduced by 12%. Furthermore, their thighs reduced by 15% and their metabolism muscles increased by 11/2 pounds within four months. There is no doubt that a 20-minute interval will work wonders for your body. It will be a good idea to have your friends for motivation when doing this exercise.

The ball leg curl can be used as a warm-up. Lie on your back on a mat and plunk your feet up on a ball. Keep your arms by your side for balance and lift your hips off the floor. This should be done until you have a long straight line running through your heels down to your shoulders. Now, keep your hips off the floor while simultaneously pulling your knees in, towards your chest. Straighten them out again. This will help you prevent cellulite.

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Stretching

Stretching is the best way to keep your muscles flexible. It also assists you to prepare them for more exercises and recovery from it. This is the reason the athletes stretch themselves before training or competing to prepare their muscles for the work to come. If you skip the stretches you will be doing yourself an injustice because you will not perform to your best capability. Any rookie can beat you to the game at the end of it.

Stretching will assist you to move freely during any sports activity. It also helps your muscles to build more strength during the training. It has been suggested that it assists your muscles to be long and lean. There are many sports activities which will not allow someone participating in the game to get involved without doing it. The match officials or those managing the sports try to prevent the individuals from getting hurt.

You can do a simple run to stretch your muscles. In other cases, the lunge is the best way to flex your muscles. If you want a strong toned lower body, lunges are an absolute must. Find a large open space around the house like a corridor. Stand at one end, and take a big step forward dropping the knee to within one inch of the floor. Use that same hind leg to power off into your next step.

You always be dropping the knee behind you close to the floor. This should be done while making sure to keep the one ahead of you behind your toe line. Keep walking to the end of the corridor, turn around and walk back in the same fashion. That burning sensation you feel is what tells you how hard those legs are working. This can be done every time before you do your routine exercises.

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