This holiday season, a great fat burning workout to boost your metabolism can make all the difference. After all, if we’re already going to be fighting hard to stop ourselves from overindulging (too often), then keeping up the right workouts will be more important than usual.
That said, not all workouts are created equally. While most will boost your metabolism in one way or another, you need your holiday workouts to work especially hard on your behalf. Pay attention to your current fitness level and the amount of time you have available. Then, be sure to use them to your best possible advantage.
A cardiovascular workout is the classic workout to boost your metabolism. This type of workout usually requires you to use several large muscle groups. The reason is that it needs to get your heart pumping. This is the kind of workout that gets your respiration and heart rate up while your temperature rises. Cardio workouts are fantastic for burning fat. This makes them ideal for the holiday season.
The problem with cardio workouts is that you need time to complete them to their best benefit. However, if you alter them slightly to use a high intensity interval training style, you’ll squeeze more out of every minute. In fact, you can usually do a much shorter workout and gain the benefits of a exercising longer in traditional ways. This style involves alternating between intervals of high intensity workout and low intensity exercises. This keeps your heart and lungs working harder so you’ll gain more benefit in less time.
Many people don’t realize the difference strength training can make to being able to boost your metabolism. The reason is that its immediate benefits aren’t nearly as great as those of cardio workouts. However, it is still worthwhile to include strength training into your week two or three times per week. The reason is that strength training helps to boost lean muscle mass.
It also helps to strengthen your body. Since muscles are natural fat burners, this means that the more you build and strengthen them, the more you’ll boost your metabolism even while you’re not working out. That said, you’ll also benefit from strength training by preparing your body for better balance and performance and lower risk of injury during cardio and HIIT workouts.