Exercise Routines to Burn
Calories
Here are a few guidelines about what type
of exercise and fitness training works best to help you to get fit, increase
your strength, burn calories and lose body fat.
Best Form of Cardiovascular (Cardio-Aerobic)
Training
Walking
and swimming are probably
the best type of aerobic exercise to raise heart rate and improve cardiovascular
and respiratory function. According to a major health and fitness study
of 73,743 women, participants who walked 2.5 hours a week (roughly 20
minutes a day) reduced their cardiovascular risk by about 30 percent.
A regular swim also provides a range of heart
and breathing improvements.
Best Type of Strength-Training Exercise
Using freeweights, in combination with a
range of weight machines in your local gym, is probably the best type
of resistance or
strength-training program.
If you can't get to a gym, and prefer exercising at home, combine hand-weights
with exercises in which your muscles
work against gravity: such as, crunches
(to strengthen abs) press-ups or push-ups
- to work the triceps (upper-arm), pectoral musles (chest), latissimus
dorsi (back and shoulder) as well as the abdominal
muscles - and chin-ups. Weight-bearing
aerobic activities, like running,
tennis, squash, football,
plyometrics and
skiing will also improve
muscular strength and endurance.
Best Type of Calorie Burning Exercise for
Weight Loss
Aerobic
activity is the best type of exercise to burn calories. Any continuous
aerobic exercise, sustained for longer than 20 minutes at the correct
heart-rate, will burn fat. As a rough rule of thumb, the higher the
intensity the more fat calories will be burned. But aerobic
training and instant calorie-expenditure is only part of the picture.
Effective weight loss over the long-term requires you to raise your resting
metabolic rate (how fast you burn calories while at rest) so that you
can continue to burn extra calories when your workout is over. Although
aerobic exercise raises metabolism, strength-training - esp. lifting
weights - is also very important for this. So the best weight loss
exercise program alternates aerobic training with resistance training.
Best Type of Bodybuilding Exercise
Lifting weights as part of a high-intensity
weight-training program, incorporating proper recovery periods, under
the supervision of a trained physical fitness or muscle-building
instructor, is probably the best way to develop bigger muscles. Unsupervised
or unplanned bodybuilding
training, in which you simply lift heavy dumbells and barbells, are
not likely to be safe and may cause muscle tear and strain.
Best Type of Exercise for Overweight Individuals
If you suffer from serious obesity, swimming
or water-aerobics
is probably the best and safest type of fitness workout. Swimming has
two benefits. First, it is a non weight-bearing activity - meaning, your
body weight is not supported by your legs, there is therefore less risk
of muscle or joint strain. Second, swimming is high in resistance because
moving limbs through water is 12 times harder than out of water, so it
benefits muscle strength and endurance.
Best Type of Exercise for Fitness Rehabilitation
Swimming is also very good for rehabilitating
muscles, joints and bones, after suffering injury problems or strains.
Training in water imposes far less stress on the body than regular physical
activities.
Best Total-Body Exercise
Circuit-training
is probably the best type of all-over exercise for general fitness. It's
a very flexible type of workout, and it's cardio-aerobic or strength-training
content can easily be varied. Home exercise, using BandFlex®
or BowFlex® home
gyms may offer a similar circuit-training type of fitness workout on a
reduced scale.
Best Indoor Exercise Equipment
The treadmill
is probably the best piece of indoor fitness equipment, for calorie-burning.
In a special trial, at 'reasonably hard' resistance levels, treadmill
walking/jogging expended 700 calories per hour, while stair stepping averaged
627, rowing 606, skiing 595, dual-action cycling 509, and regular biking
498 calories. Treadmill walking works the glutes, quadriceps,
hamstrings and calf muscles, while jogging
or power-walking
also works the upper body. Using a stair stepper, rowing
ergometer or dual-action bike is also very effective for both calorie
expenditure and general fitness training.
Best Exercise Routines for Pregnant Women
The best type of exercise to perform during
pregnancy is low-impact, low or non weight-bearing exercises, including:
- Pre-natal aerobics, yoga
or pilates classes.
- Swimming (excellent for Moms-to-be).
- Walking, steady dancing
or steady hiking.
- Stationary cycling,
stepping.
In general, the less strenuous and stressful
the exercise, the better it is likely to be for pregnancy. So, workouts
involving sudden jerk-like movements, or over-stretching, or intense exertion,
or excessive weight-resistance, are likely to be too risky for the health
of you and your baby.
For more: see Best Exercise
in Pregnancy
Best Exercise Workout for Health and Safety
Any healthy fitness workout should start
with 5-10 minutes of light exercise, followed by gentle stretches. Warming
up for 15-20 minutes is even better. All fitness studies show that warm-ups
are essential to prepare muscles and the heart for vigorous activity.
In addition, all workouts should end with a cooling-down period, to extend
muscles, reduce muscle-soreness and relax the heart. Like warm-ups, cool-downs
should include 5-10 minutes of gentle exercises and stretches.
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