Exercises That Burn More Fat Than Cardio

Jun 21, 2010 | By Marilyn Rowe Horton

Standard high- and low-impact aerobics burn approximately 515 and 365 calories per hour, respectively, in a 154-lb. person. Based on these numbers, there are some effective ways to not only add some variety to your aerobics class routine, but also make serious strides towards your fat-burning goals. As you test these exercises out, keep in mind that just because you may do aerobics for an hour, that doesn't mean you will be able to do these high-intensity options for a solid hour. You can still glean the high pay-offs, however, by throwing 15 to 30 minutes of these exercises into your current training schedule.

High-Intensity Running

An intense sprint workout is going to burn approximately 1,320 calories per hour of work, which is two and a half times as many calories per hour as you would burn spending the same amount of time at high-impact aerobics and more than three and a half times the calorie burn during low-impact aerobics. Running at a high intensity takes your training from aerobic to anaerobic, which feeds more on fat stores for energy while also strengthening your muscles. The result of this cross-over is that you will burn more calories while performing the actual exercise and burn calories at a greater rate throughout the day and night, even while sleeping. Choose distances of 100 m to 400 m and perform sprint repeats, resting two to four minutes between sprints.

Rowing

Rowing activates the largest muscles of the back and thighs and is performed at a constant pace repeatedly, which burns serious calories while strengthening and toning your muscles. Rowing either on the water or on a row machine at your local fitness center will burn upwards of 880 calories per hour of work for a 154-lb. person, which is almost twice what you will get out of your high-impact aerobics class and almost two and a half times as much calorie-burn as your standard low-impact aerobics routine.

Jumping Rope

Rope jumping is one of those exercises that you probably loved to do as a kid but haven't even attempted since graduating from P.E. class. However, because the entire body is at work while performing this exercise, jumping rope is a great exercise to pick back up as it burns a whopping 735 calories per hour in a 154-lb. person. You are sure to work up a serious sweat, build up diamond-shaped calves and tone your entire body while it actually feeds off the excess fat you have stored up and burns it up more with every workout.