Intense Fat Burning Workouts

Intense fat-burning workouts burn high amounts of calories and integrate intervals of harder intensity work with moderate intensity work or intervals of strength training with cardiovascular training. These workouts require dedication, consistency and hard work; however, if you put the effort into these training programs you will see fat-burning results.

Boot Camp

Boot camp workouts are an interval-style workout that incorporate strength training and cardiovascular work. A typical one-hour boot camp class will burn 600 to 800 calories, depending on your weight and the effort you put into the workout. During a boot camp workout, you will typically perform cardiovascular exercises such as running, side-step running, high knee skipping, jumping jacks, running through tires, climbing walls or climbing over obstacles, and various types of high-intensity jumps. These intervals may be timed for one to three minutes each, or you may be given a goal such as running the length of a field four times. The cardio intervals will be alternated with strength-training exercises such as squats, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups, moving tires, pulling and pushing movements. These intervals can be timed for 30 seconds to two minutes or you may be given a specific number of repetitions to perform. Boot camp classes are offered by most fitness facilities and many park and recreation programs.

Cardio Intervals

Cardio intervals can be performed on any type of cardio machine such as treadmills, elliptical trainers and stationery bikes. Start by finding a moderate resistance on your cardio machine. Moderate resistance should feel as if you have some resistance under your feet, but it should not feel loose or too stiff. Warm up for three to five minutes at a comfortable pace that gets you sweating lightly by the four- to five-minute mark. Next, pick up your pace so that you feel your work effort is a "7" on a scale of one to 10, where one means you are not working and 10 means you feel like you could pass out. Keep this pace for three minutes, then increase your pace, resistance or both until you feel like your work effort is a "9." Work at this pace for one minute, then return to your work effort of "7" for another three-minute interval. Keep repeating this pattern for 20 to 30 minutes, then finish with a light effort for three to five minutes until your heart is beating normally.

Strength Plus Plyometrics

Another effective and intense fat-burning workout is alternating strength-training sets with quick bursts of plyometric exercise. You can use your normal strength-training routine for this style workout. After every two to three sets of strength exercise, add a set of 20 to 30 plyometrics. Most plyometric exercises use the larger muscles of the lower body, which will increase your heart rate and sweat rate while burning calories. Some plyometric exercises to try include: squat jumps, jumping split lunges, jumping quickly up and down onto an elevated platform, long stride side jumps, burpees and plyometric push-ups. For effective fat burning, make sure to work out for a minimum of 30 minutes.