Those who want to live a healthy and fit lifestyle are often put to a difficult decision come holiday time: curb the festive eating or risk ballooning in weight. To folks who can strike a balance between holiday festivities and healthy eating, more power to ya’. But not everyone is ready to give up their end-of-the-year indulgences, and for good reason. Many healthier-minded folks discipline their eating habits throughout the year, so much so that they deserve a reward come holiday time. All it means is that they need to offset the weight gain with a high-calorie-burn fitness plan after the binging. And here are some of the best exercises to burn said calories.
Cardio
But no ordinary routine is going to do the trick—high intensity cardio is the way to go. That means forgoing treadmill walks and stationary bikes for continuous running, roadwork, or even a spin class. Kickboxing classes are a great option, as are zumba or other dance classes.Folks who are doing stairs should hit them two at a time, which activate muscle fibers in the legs and end up burning more calories. The goal with high-intensity cardio is to keep the heart rate high, which means being constantly out of breath is the norm.
Interval training
Those who are more sprinters than marathon runners may want to consider interval training over high-intensity cardio. For simple fat burning, intervals are the way to go. These exercises incorporate high-intensity workout periods with short rest times, which not only incinerates calories during the workoutbut keeps burning them even after leaving the gym. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts are becoming all the rage for these reasons, and a number of effective workouts can be found here.
Circuit training
Those who want to improve mobility, stamina and strength while still enjoying the calorie burn that comes with effective cardio will love circuit training. Like its title suggests, this workout is made up of six to ten strength exercises (pull ups, bench dips, medicine ball chest passes, etc.), each performed a certain number of reps before moving onto the next exercise. This makes up the “circuit.” The exercises within said circuit are separated by a short rest time with a longer rest period between circuits. Those who are new to this training may want to opt for a lighter routine of two circuits, while more advanced go-getters can go all the way up to six. Here are some of the best circuit training workouts to burn calories quickly.
These are just a few high-octane exercise routines to burn holiday calories quickly. There are other tips of course, such as not starving oneself before or after the holidays in order to make up for the binging. (Highly unhealthy behavior.) Keeping a fat diary is another helpful tool in the war against weight gain. All it involves is writing down daily food consumption in order to monitor calorie intake.