Want to maximise your workout in half the time? Lose weight without realising? Course you do...
Call us lazy, but the problem with working out is that it's just, well, a lot of hard work! If only there were simple ways to revamp your shape without having to put in huge amounts of nearly-kill-yourself effort... Well, hello regime-dreams! "If you want to improve your body through exercise it's about working smarter, not harder and certainly not for longer," explains personal trainer Daniel Newman. Shake up your usual routine with the power of these small changes and watch those muscles tone up and the pounds drop off.
1 Burn fat. Faster!
No one has the time - or the inclination - to spend ages in the gym (there are far more less-sweaty things to be doing), and now it seems shortening your sesh can make you fitter, not fatter. Professor Jan Helgerud from the Norwegian University Of Science And Technology has discovered that working out in quick bursts at max effort is as effective as a non-stop low-intensity routine that takes twice the time. "The intense bursts of exercise encourage your body to build a type of muscle fibre that uses up oxygen and fat faster, burning extra calories in the process," explains Professor Helgerud. Try alternating four, four-minute bursts of running at maximum effort with three-minute recovery periods at a lower intensity (time to talk about last night's 'Enders). Add a low-intensity six-minute warm-up and cool-down, and you'll have spent just 30 minutes exercising but burned the same amount of flab as an hour-long sesh.
2. Stop the weights worry
Time to overcome your fear of the weights section - it's not going to turn you into an oiled-up meat-head, it'll actually do the opposite. "Using weights encourages your body to turn fat into muscle and, for every pound of muscle you gain, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day, because active muscle needs more fuel than fat cells," explains Daniel. In fact, researchers at Tufts University in the US found that using weights boosts metabolism by 15 per cent, so you'll still burn energy after your workout, even while you're on the sofa reading this.
3. Exercise al fresco
Swapping the stuffy gym for your local park not only means no more sweaty splashback from that beefy bloke on the cross-trainer, but you'll burn five per cent more calories, too. According to Phil Hayes, an exercise physiologist at Northumbria University, the outdoor combination of wind resistance and uneven ground means your muscles work harder than they do on a treadmill, using up to 300 extra calories during a one-hour run. Definitely worth getting blustered around for.
4. Sup to slim
A cool water might not have the same ring to it as a cold beer, but taking the tap stuff super-cold burns off 75 extra calories a day (shame the same isn't true for a G&T). It's all down to how hard your body has to work to consume it, and the colder, the better. "Your body uses one calorie to heat a litre of water by one degree, so heating a litre of iced water (zero degrees) to body temperature uses 37 calories - and double that for your recommended two litres," explains Professor Mike Gleeson from Loughborough University. Drink at least 500ml before your workout as being dehydrated will halve your stamina.
5. Boost your burn
Fed up with sacrificing your post-work pub sessions for gym workouts? While it might sound tough, switching your snooze off for an early-morning run around the park instead of an evening one burns 100 extra calories - even if you spend the rest of the day sat on your butt. How? It's because exercise boosts your metabolic rate (the speed at which your body uses calories) for almost 20 hours afterwards, so if you're on the go for the rest of the day, you'll burn more calories than if you just crawl into bed in the evening. "Exercising before 9am for an hour boosts metabolic rate by 13 per cent for the first three hours, then four per cent for the following 16, which could add up to an extra 100 calories burnt off by the end of the day," explains online personal trainer James Griffiths.*
6. Belt up
Seems the humble belt works in fashion and fitness. OK, so it might not look as good as your favourite Topshop skinny, but wearing a weighted belt can help you shift a muffin top while you walk. "For every 1kg of weight carried over 1km, your body needs one calorie," explains Professor Gleeson. It might not sound like very much, but simply pull on a 10kg belt for a 30-minute brisk walk (try it on your way to work) and you could burn an extra 150 calories in one week (that's the three jaffa cakes you end up scoffing when you're feeling bored, FYI). Try the Adjustable Waist Belt, £39.99, Amazon.co.uk.
7. Max your motivation
You don't need us to tell you that getting hot and sweaty with an international rap-star-cum-sex-god would be good for you. Sadly we can't whisk him into your bed, but putting him on your iPod will help keep your motivation levels up. Experts at Brunel University have discovered that runners listening to tunes with beats that matched their heartbeats were distracted into working out for 15 per cent longer without even realising. Good warm-up tunes are around 80-125 bpm, like Kylie's All The Lovers; then build up to 130-150 bpm, with songs such as Usher's OMG. Work out to your perfect playlist by downloading the BPM Analyzer (Mixmeister.com), which is a free app that calculates the BPM of your fave tunes in seconds.
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