Are you short on time and want exercises that burn the most calories?
When it comes to exercise, most people look for quick gains. Their routines include intense and high-impact workouts.
While this can produce results, it often creates more injuries than benefits.
For those who avoid injury, they can feel exhausted and dread starting the next session. Maybe you feel this way about running. Running can burn many calories, but the high impact could overload your joints, muscles, and tendons.
Don’t worry! There are exercises that get results, limit your risk of injury – and that you can also enjoy.
What Type of Exercise Should I Choose?
Burning calories depends on different factors. Length of time, pace, and intensity all play a role, but the type of exercise is important.
Strength training builds muscle, and muscle burns three times more calories than fat. In fact, strength training can help you burn calories all day as your body works to recover from the session.
A study revealed the effect of resistance training in adult women increased their basal metabolic rate for up to 48 hours. (1) Basal metabolic rate means the number of calories burned while the body is resting.
Other benefits include:
- A faster metabolism
- Burning more fat
- Increased energy
- Stronger bones
Where Do I Start?
The best strength workouts use free weights and resistance bands to build muscle.
The key is to target multiple muscle groups at once.
When most people exercise, they isolate one joint and muscle. A good example of this is a bicep curl. Instead of focusing on one muscle, it’s important to focus on chains of muscles that move multiple parts of the body.
Including larger muscles will also burn more calories. Think quads, hamstrings, gluteus, back, and chest.
Exercises that use chains of muscles also help with everyday tasks. You may notice picking up bags or getting up from the ground becomes easier. Plus, you’ll save time as you train all your muscles in one movement – win-win!
Resources
(1) Stavres, J., Zeigler, M.P., & Bayles, M.P. (2018). Six Weeks of Moderate Functional Resistance Training Increases Basal Metabolic Rate in Sedentary Adult Women. International journal of exercise science, 11, 32-41.
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