Using your workout time more efficiently can often make the difference between a successful weight loss regimen and one that goes nowhere. Check out our smartest exercise strategies below.
Walk the walk. It may not burn calories at warp speed, but slow and steady is the way to go for a lot of us. For every mile you walk you'll burn about 100 calories, nearly the same as you would if you covered the same distance at a run. True, you'd go further, faster if you picked up the pace, but you're also likely to poop out sooner and get injured more often.
Put a little hustle in your muscle. Kicking up your workout intensity a couple of times a week builds muscles, burns more calories and boosts your met abolism. If you're a walker, warm up first and then do six or more cycles of two minutes of running or fast walking alternated with two minutes of moderately paced walking. Finish up with a cool down. You can apply this type of workout pattern to swimming, cycling, rollerblading or any other type of exercise activity. Overdoing a high-intensity workout invites injury and burnout, so limit this strategy to two workouts a week max.
Break it up. The number-one excuse for not working out: no time. However, this reason becomes obsolete if you split up your workout time into two, three or even four mini-workouts daily. Research shows you'll burn the same amount of calories whether you do your workout all at once or in bits and pieces. For instance, you can do a brisk 10-minute walk before work, climb your office stairs for 10 minutes at lunchtime and bop to your favorite tunes for 10 minutes while you're microwaving chicken for tonight's dinner.
Get sneaky. Slipping in an activity that you might not necessarily consider to be "exercise" can help rack up your daily calorie burn total. Don't believe it? Some examples: Window-shopping for 10 minutes burns 35 calories. A quick run through your garden to pull weeds burns 60 calories. Lugging your toddler around the house for five minutes burns 40 calories. Foregoing an escalator and walking up one flight of stairs burns 16 calories. And singing "We Are the World" at a karaoke bar burns off 20 calories. You get the idea.
Gain weight. As in a weight-training routine. We're not talking about dedicating your life to the gym or chaining yourself to the chest press machine. All it takes is 8 to 12 exercises per workout twice a week. Every pound of muscle you add to your frame kicks up your metabolism another 50 or so calories per day (enough to prevent a five-pound per year weight gain.) Consider the 30 to 40 minutes of time this takes an investment in your better body.
Try a pogo stick. Okay, so maybe hopping up and down on a springy pole isn't your idea of the ideal workout. The point is, the more fun you have, the more likely you are to stick with it. So search for a form of exercise you love and make it your passion. Ultimately, the most effective workout is not the one that burns the most calories per hour or utilizes the most muscles -- it's the one you'll actually do.
