8 Exercises For Weight Loss
To loose weight by exercising you will need both time and effort. If time is an issue, it may be good to choose a great calorie burning exercise.
Exercise is really good for you and can help you to both loose weight and shape up. It makes you feel good and can extend your life. A common pitful though is that people over eat when exercising. You need to burn more calories than you take in to shift the weight.
You should chose a level that is suitable for you and work form there. The harder you work, the more calories you will burn but also you will get more tired more quickly. The amount of calories that you burn will also depend on your weight, age, gender and genes. Fitness trackers / apps are a great way to see what progress you are making.
So what exercises should I be looking to do?
Running
It is a whole body workout
It uses all the major muscles
To burn more calories you can run faster or run up hills
Interval training (where you change between fast and slow running) can increase calorie burning too.
It is seen as one of the best exercises for weight loss
It is free
It is physically demanding but very effective
Swimming
Swimming is low impact
It is a big calorie burner
It targets the whole body
You can do a variety of different strokes
It is a cardio workout
It also improves strength due to the resistance of the water
You can work at a higher intensity without impact
Skipping
It is a mega calorie burner
It uses all the major muscles
A great way to improve fitness
You can do it at home
It helps you drop the pounds
Skipping for 10 minutes is the same as a 20 minute jog
It improves your core
However: It is hard to maintain at a high level for a long time
Strength training
You use resistance to build up muscle and strength
It is anaerobic and not aerobic
You will use lots of muscles
You can use bands, weights, body weight and resistance to work out lots of muscles
Squats, pull-ups, press ups are easy to learn
You will burn calories and increase your metabolism
You will increase your strength
You will lose body fat and keep it off too!
High Intensity Interval Training
It is a great calorie burner.
You do a variety of exercise
Crossfit is an example of HIIT.
The aim is to do intense bursts of exercise followed by short recovery periods.
You keep your heart rate high so you burn more fat.
It keeps metabolism going after your workout so you keep on burning calories.
Weights and kettlebells
Weight lifting helps you to loose weight – believe it or not!
They help you to shift weight and tone up
They boost your metabolic rate
When you have a bigger muscle mass, you burn more calories
Kettlebells create lean muscle mass and burn fat
You will keep on burning calories afterwards due to your anaerobic effort
Cycling / Spinning
It is a great calorie burner
It is relatively low impact
It is good for your joints
Various challenges – faster, hills, resistance
It is a great cardiovascular workout.
Yoga
Can be a gentler pace
It is a great stress buster – stress can lead to weight gain
It promotes better sleep that is important for weight loss. Poor sleep usually makes us over eat.
Intense yoga can burn lots of calories.
Change it up!
Try and do a variety of exercises. Run one day, swim the next…
It is important to rest so that your muscles can repair.
To loose weight get going now!