Weight loss requires both cardio and strength training; interval-style workouts are an effective way to stimulate both. Interval-style exercises allow your heart rate to elevate without going too far (the Cleveland Clinic notes that muscle tissue burns more calories even while at rest). However, for maximum success with weight loss exercises, it is best when combined with a calorie-restricted diet plan.
1. High-Intensity Interval Training
High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is one of the best workouts to build muscle and burn fat simultaneously. HIIT exercises use short bursts of intense exercise followed by periods of recovery to build both muscles and burn fat more efficiently than any other form of training. Incorporating HIIT workouts into your busy schedule won’t compromise their efficacy!
HIIT workouts can also help preserve lean body mass and burn more calories at rest. This is because these intense exercises target your muscles at near-maximum intensity, helping your body preserve muscle and expend energy more efficiently while burning additional calories at rest. To maximize results even further, add weights to your HIIT routine for even greater results!
2. High Intensity Cardio
Studies have proven HIIT is an extremely efficient way to burn calories, target fat and build muscle. A typical HIIT workout combines short bursts of maximum-intensity activity—such as sprints—with periods of lower-intensity activity or rest.
HIIT workouts differ from steady-state cardio in that they target your muscles to fatigue before giving you time to recover before pumping your heart rate up again, creating what is known as EPOC (Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption). You can engage in this type of cardio in various forms, from running outdoors or treadmill running to jumping rope or performing bodyweight exercises such as squats and jump jacks.
3. Strength Training
Strength training (lifting weights) can be an excellent way to build lean muscle mass and burn calories at rest. Some may fear that increasing their muscle mass will cause them to put on weight or “bulk up,” but building it actually speeds your metabolism and allows your body to burn more calories at rest.
Strength training should begin by engaging each muscle group twice every week with weight or resistance levels that fatigue your muscles after about 12-15 repetitions. Work with a certified fitness professional to learn safe techniques, gradually increasing weight, sets or number of exercises as you become stronger.
4. High Intensity Resistance Training
HIIT workouts may be time-efficient and help stave off workout boredom, but they won’t lead to weight loss on their own. According to The Cleveland Clinic, in order to shed pounds, you must burn off more calories than you consume each day.
Increased muscle mass can increase resting metabolism and therefore burn more calories than fat does. Strength training as part of cardio workouts is another effective way to accelerate this process and burn even more calories. The addition of a prowler sled to your HIIT workout will engage multiple muscle groups at the same time, including hips and glutes. Furthermore, circuit training exercises work your entire body.
5. Low Intensity Cardio
Though high-intensity interval training (HIIT), circuit training, and AMRAPs might dominate your workouts at your gym, low-intensity cardio should still make up an integral part of your fitness regime. Low-intensity cardio includes any activity that raises your heart rate but doesn’t cause it to skyrocket—you should still be able to hold conversations after such workouts!
As part of your regular exercise routine, it is beneficial to incorporate low-intensity cardio workouts each week into your exercise plan. These help build endurance without overexertion while improving cardiovascular health and strengthening slow-twitch muscle fibers for more efficient oxygen utilization and fat burning.
6. Strength Training with Weights
Strength training is an indispensable way to build and preserve muscle mass, which increases metabolism and burns calories throughout the day. You can start out with simple bodyweight exercises like push-ups and lunges before progressing with dumbbells for greater effectiveness.
Beginners should aim for two sessions of strength training per week; more experienced exercisers may increase this amount over time. Allow 48-72 hours between each workout, and try different workouts each time to keep muscles challenged. HIIT can be an effective way to burn fat, but it’s essential to remember that any rigorous workout will only help you reach weight loss when coupled with a healthy and calorie-controlled diet.
7. High-Intensity Interval Training with Weights
Combining cardiovascular (aerobic) and strength training workouts can effectively aid in weight loss. Both activities help build muscle mass—and muscle burns more calories at rest than fat tissue, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
HIIT, which involves short bursts of intense exercise followed by periods of recovery, is one of the best cardio workouts for weight loss. Furthermore, its intermittent nature helps you burn calories more effectively than steady-state cardio such as jogging. Add high-intensity interval training (HIIT) into your workouts using bodyweight exercises like push-ups and squats as well as cardio equipment like the treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical. Do this on three nonconsecutive days.
8. High-Intensity Interval Training with Weights
High Intensity Interval Training with Weights, or HIIT, combines cardio and strength exercises into one workout designed to improve heart health while burning calories. It involves mixing treadmill running with weighted exercises such as squats, pushups and other weight-based moves into an engaging routine for maximum cardiovascular and strength gains.
HIIT workouts typically consist of short bursts of intense exercise interspersed with low-intensity recovery periods for maximum efficiency and results (2, 3). They’re an incredibly efficient way to work out and can deliver results comparable to twice as much moderate-intensity activity in much less time than would otherwise be achieved (2).
Your goal should be for your HIIT intervals to be challenging enough that they cause discomfort (rate of perceived exertion, or RPE), yet not so difficult that they make you unable to complete your workout. Start off your session right with walking or marching in place as a warm-up before beginning this workout.
9. High-Intensity Interval Training with Weights and Resistance
This workout includes both cardio and strength training to effectively help your body burn fat in multiple ways. Weight training builds muscle that can increase metabolism over time, while interval training spikes your heart rate for increased daily calorie burning.
These short bursts of hard exercise should be interspersed with periods of recovery. Each cycle of high-intensity exercise should last from several seconds to several minutes and be done at an intensity level that leaves you breathless. This workout plan is meant to be completed three nonconsecutive days each week; however, you can easily swap in an alternative sweat session on any day that best fits into your schedule.
