How to Effectively Burn More Calories During Your Workout

A lot of people who are new to exercise encounter a period in their exercise routines where no matter what they try, the weight just doesn’t seem to drop any further. This is not unusual—the so-called ‘weight loss plateau’ occurs when the workout no longer exceeds the calorific intake the body needs to function, because all the excess fat has been burnt off and the body and muscles are functioning at near-peak efficiency. However, instead of cutting back on calorie intake further, there are some handy hints and tricks you can use to effectively burn more calories during your workout, aiding weight loss and promoting muscle growth.

First up, move away from resistance machines and hit the free weights mat. While these machines are great for people starting out or just looking to keep in tone, they do not train the muscles anywhere near as thoroughly as a good set of barbells or dumbbells can. Free weights also allow for improvement in muscle balance and co-ordination, and focus on specific muscle groups to work them more intensively, hence the jump in calorie requirements.

Secondly, incorporate more movement into your free-weights workout. Now, obviously attempting to run the 100-metres while deadlifting isn’t the most sensible idea, but adding in lunges and step-ups into exercises such as bicep curls and other upper-body (particularly arm-based) exercises can drastically up calorie consumption. Try getting hold of a step aerobics step, and see how you can incorporate that into your workout. Lunges can also be added, which help tone and exercise the hamstrings, quads and glutes, and can help to make exercises more intense. They also require extra concentration and co-ordination.

Between sets, try to add in some additional exercises. Don’t just sit there and let the muscles freeze up—try getting in two minutes of sit-ups, calf raises, press ups or stretches in while you wait. This cuts down on wasted time, and has the added benefit of increasing flexibility and range of muscle movement. If nothing else is available, hop on the cross trainer, treadmill or stairmaster for a few minutes—just make sure you keep moving.

Lastly, keep your workouts confined to large muscle groups and do only compound exercises. Large muscle groups like the legs, back, chest and shoulders each consume a lot more calories during a session than individual muscles. Compound exercises like the barbell press, squat, and deadlift use plenty of muscles at once, all of which are busy burning up plenty of calories in their own right.

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