Danny Davis
Losing weight takes patience and dedication. It also requires some changes in your day-to-day habits. Eating better, staying hydrated, and exercising all play a significant role in your weight loss efforts.
Today, we’re focusing mainly on the effects exercise has on your body. While staying active and working out 3 to 5 times a week is a great way to maintain your physical and mental health, exercising by itself isn’t going to make you slimmer.
Nevertheless, we still have to put in the work to help boost our weight loss efforts. For starters, staying active burns off fat cells, engages our metabolism, and gets our heart pumping.
So, if you’re interested in the top 10 ways to use exercise to boost your weight loss efforts, then keep reading!
Do What Makes You Happy
You should never think of exercise as some form of punishment. On the contrary, exercise should be fun and exciting. How else are you going to keep at it day in and day out?
The best way to stay on track and stick to your routine is to find workouts you enjoy. So, if you like being outdoors, why not try hiking or cycling? If you like being in the water, swim several times a week or try water polo or aqua yoga.
Experts recommend that you make a list and do everything on it. Working out is about staying consistent with the effort you put in. It doesn’t mean repeating the same old boring exercise routine each week.
Make the Workout Count
Going through the motions of exercising won’t make you slimmer. It’ll just pile on the guilt, which is the last thing you want when you’re trying to lose weight and stay healthy.
Fitness trainers all agree that it’s the intensity of the workout that makes all the difference. So, a nice afternoon stroll in the park is good and all, but it won’t do anything for your metabolism.
To gauge the intensity of your exercise routine, try to hold a conversation. If you can talk but not hold a conversation, then you’re working out at a high level of intensity, perfect for boosting metabolism and enhancing weight loss.
Take a Rest Day
Taking a day or two in the week to rest and recover is just as important as the workouts themselves. Making your body work overtime will only lead to burnout and possible injuries.
Plus, it can get boring after a while, even if you’re doing activities you love. You owe it to your body to take those rest days and give yourself a break.
The critical thing to remember is that weight loss is gradual. It takes time, which means it’s more important to train smart than train hard.
Do More Full-Body Moves
Yes, workouts that involve one muscle group are great, like push-ups, crunches, and squats. But why work one muscle group when you can work 4 or 5 simultaneously and burn more calories in the process?
Here are a few full-body workouts to help get you inspired:
- Rowing
- Squat-to-presses
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Jogging
- Burpees
- Kettlebell swings
- Engage Your Abs
Your core muscles, or abdominals, are a pretty big muscle group. There are muscles on the sides of your torso, upper abs, and lower abs.
Not only that but each of these is divided into several sections. That’s how we’re able to get those ripped six-packs.
When you engage as many of your core muscles as you can, you’re able to burn more calories over a longer period of time. So, try to incorporate moves that engage your abs in one form or another.
Alternate Between Upper and Lower Body Muscle Groups
Switching between lower body and upper body workouts makes your body work harder. And the harder it works, the more calories it burns.
Plus, alternating like that helps you sustain a higher level of intensity much longer than if you were doing the same routine over and over again. So, you build muscle equally over your entire body, as opposed to focusing on only one or two muscle groups.
In addition, it reduces your risk of injury, prevents overusing certain joints, and keeps your brain alert.
Lift Some Weights
Doing one or two strength training exercises each week is the perfect way to build muscle mass. Lifting weights also burns the same amount of calories as cardio workouts.
Also, remember that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. This is because your body needs more energy to maintain muscle tissue than to store fat cells.
So, you look fabulous and feel terrific. Plus, you lose weight in the process. What could be better than that?
Don’t Be Afraid to HIIT
High-Intensity Interval Training, aka HIIT, consists of four or more routines with a short recovery time in between each one. This alternating between high-intensity moves to rest and back has proven to be highly effective when it comes to weight loss.
So much so, in fact, that it’s actually capable of boosting your resting metabolic rate for hours after your workout. This means that you keep burning calories even after you’ve showered and left the gym.
Start by incorporating one HITT session per week. Then, when you get used to its high level of intensity, add another one.
Two weekly sessions are more than enough to build muscle mass and burn calories. Then, on the other days, try to do something not as intense to give your muscles a chance to recover.
Surprise Yourself
Have you seen a movie or read a book where the plot twist completely takes you by surprise? Do you remember how much thrill you got out of it?
Well, it’s the same way for your body.
It’s always more fun to switch up your exercise routine. It’s also an easy way to burn more calories because the more changes you bring into the training, the harder your body has to work to keep up and regain its equilibrium post-workout. Thus, you boost your metabolism and lose weight faster than your hum-drum everyday workout.
These changes don’t have to be anything drastic. You can start by changing the timing of the workout intervals, doing more repetitions, or doing an extra set.
Keep the Time Between Repetitions at a Minimum
If you’re doing three repetitions of a certain workout routine, you want to keep your heart rate elevated for as long as possible. This way, your heart works hard, burning off fat cells to provide your body with the energy it needs to keep going.
So, limiting the rest time between each repetition works to your advantage. Fitness instructors recommend setting a timer for 30 to 60 seconds each time you rest between reps.
The timer will help you stay accountable so you can make the most of your workouts.
