Quickest Workout to Lose Weight

Quickest Workout to Lose Weight
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The quickest way to lose weight is to burn the most amount of calories as possible. This is usually through aerobic or cardio activity like running, swimming, biking or hiking. Elevating the heart rate and breaking a sweat will mean calories will be burned and fat will be virtually melted off your body.

Calories

In order to lose a pound you must burn 3,500 calories. Watching what you eat and working out will put your body into a caloric deficit, meaning you are burning more calories than you are consuming. If you burn an extra 500 calories a day you will lose a pound a week. Working out frequently and making the most of your workouts will help you burn those calories faster.

How Often

In order to see results, frequency is key. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is recommend to aerobically train five days a week for 30 minutes. This is a good goal to have to maintain weight and stay health. As your body gets used to aerobically training you can work towards increasing your duration and thus burning more calories.

Interval Training

Interval training is an effect way to lose weight. According to the American Council of Exercise, interval training promotes weight loss because it utilizes the body's two energy systems, the aerobic and the anaerobic. It involves short burst of high intensity work followed by a recovery period.

Ways to Train

Interval training can be done with almost all forms of exercise like running, swimming, biking and even cardio machines. An interval of two minutes of moderate activity followed by 30 seconds of high intensity effort can applied to all workouts. For example, run or swim for two minutes and sprint for 30 seconds. Interval training on an elliptical or stair climber can also be done by working for two minutes and upping your speed for 30 seconds.

Calories Burned

According to the Mayo Clinic, interval training will burn more calories than a steady paced cardio workout simply because the more vigorous you workout the more calories you will burn, even if it is just for a short burst. Changing the duration of your short burst of high intensity work will help you burn more calories during your workout. Not only will you burn more calories and get to your goal faster but you will build a stronger aerobic capacity.

References

Article reviewed by David Ciminelli Last updated on: Sep 2, 2010

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