Calorie Crushing Workouts!

In a world where health advice seems to change by the day, one thing remains certain: we all need to exercise on a regular basis. For most of us, we need to exercise to burn serious calories along with soaking up the other awesome health benefits of exercise, like more energy, better sleep, reduced disease risk or severity, and improved overall well-being.

But that “burning calories” part can be hard. Why? Sometimes we devote precious time to a workout that frankly, just isn’t hard enough. Exercise is supposed to be tough! It’s supposed create a dramatic challenge that forces your mind and body to work together to become stronger and more efficient. And even though “a walk in the park” has other benefits, a high calorie burn is not usually one of them.

So if you are looking to burn serious calories, here are some of the best calorie crushing workouts:

· Dancing, general, burns about 688 calories per hour

o How to boost the burn: bend your knees and move your hips!

· Swimming, crawl, vigorous, 882 calories per hour

o How to boost the burn: add webbed water gloves or fins for added resistance

· Bicycling, vigorous, 14 – 16 mph, 882 calories per hour

o How to boost the burn: find a fast song and ride to the beat! Go fast and hard. (Try to ride 160 – 170 bpm, try a tempo app, like Tempo Magic Pro, found in the app store http://www.lolofit.com/apps/tempo_magic_pro

· Kickboxing, moderate, 908 calories per hour

o How to boost the burn: try weighted gloves and a resisted punching band

· Running 7.5 mph, 1014 calories per hour

o How to boost the burn: add incline!

o It all depends on the exact speed and incline combination, but adding incline to a walk or run can boost your calorie burn by 10 – 75%! Adding 5% incline at a 7.5 mph run, the boost in calorie burn can jump by 50%. That’s a pretty good return for your effforts!

(*these calorie burn rates are for a 185-pound person, the more you weigh, the more you burn and vice versa. Based on Met Value from the Compendium of Physical Activities, 2011)

So what’s the bottom line? Try on of these amazing workouts – or pick any activity you want to try – and go for it! Any change in your activity patterns will add create a positive in your life. Just do something that makes you sweat – most days of the week.

And remember: the workout that burns the most calories is the one you will actually do – the one you enjoy so you’ll truly give it your 100% best effort.

Burning Calories without “Working Out”

Melanie Douglass, R.D., NASM shares the scoop on how to burn calories around the house – without the official “workout”.

No need to lace up your sneakers for these quick calorie-burning activities. If you put a little muscle and heart into everything you do – from typing to gardening to sweeping – you can burn enough calories to make a serious difference in your health.

Check this out:

(*these calorie burn rates are for a 185-pound person, the more you weigh, the more you burn and vice versa. Based on Met Value from the Compendium of Physical Activities, 2011)