One of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off is to vary your workouts. This helps prevent the plateauing and burnout that often lead to less-effective exercise routines or quitting a fitness program. Running and weightlifting help you burn calories in a variety of ways — understanding how will help you create varied workouts to keep you on track and help you meet your goals.
Heart Rates
For most people, aerobic exercise is the most efficient way to burn calories. Beginners should work at a slower pace until they have the stamina and endurance to work at a higher heart rate for long periods. Sprint training burns more calories, but few people have the conditioning to pursue these types of workouts, especially using weights. If you don’t have a heart rate monitor, run or lift weights at the maximum intensity you can maintain without stopping frequently. For beginners, this might be 2 to 4 mph on a treadmill, or similar to brisk walking. For aerobic workouts, jog or run at 4 mph or higher, if you can maintain that speed throughout your workout. Make sure you can talk while you are running or lifting. If you have a heart rate monitor, aim for 50 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate if you are a beginner, or 70 to 80 percent if you’re ready for aerobic exercise.
Amount of Weight or Resistance
To burn calories with weights, avoid using heavy weights or high resistance settings that are close to the maximum you can lift or move. This amount of resistance will fatigue your muscles, requiring frequent recovery periods. Use about half the amount of weight or resistance settings you can move to perform exercises.
Running Workouts
Whether you power walk, jog, run or sprint, find a pace you can continue for 30 minutes or longer. The American Heart Association recommends 60- to 90-minute workouts several days per week for weight loss, but shorter periods of vigorous activity can help you burn calories. If you power walk or jog, add one minute of higher-intensity running every 10 minutes to help improve your stamina and burn more calories. If you plan to run at a steady pace, vary the incline setting on a treadmill or run an outdoor course with hills to add more resistance and calorie burning.
Lifting Workouts
Using half of your maximum weight or resistance, use your equipment to create circuit-training workouts. These workouts consist of short bouts of vigorous exercise followed by a short rest, repeat this cycle over and over to create a workout. You can create a circuit using a set number of repetitions or by time. For example, you can perform 12 repetitions of biceps curls, take a 30-second break, then move to 12 reps of deadlifts. Alternately, you can perform curls for 60 seconds, take a break, then perform deadlifts for 60 seconds.
As you fatigue during circuit training, use less muscular effort to perform the exercises, letting weights drop after uplifts and letting momentum help you raise weights. The key to losing weight with weights is to raise your heart rate, rather than focusing on building large muscles.
Member Comments