Exercise is often advised alongside a healthy diet for weight loss.
This is because to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in.
And exercise increases the number of calories your body uses or burns off.
But there are 3 things needed to make a weight loss exercise effective:
- Target large muscle group
- Challenge your cardio fitness
- Intensity
Any exercise that combines those 3 can help you lose weight.
With that in mind, here are the 8 most effective exercises to lose weight and burn fat quickly.
1. Running
Running is everyone’s go-to workout for weight loss. And that’s for a good reason. You can burn 600-700 calories per hour, running a 10-minute mile.
Per the American Council on Exercise, a 120-pound person burns about 11.4 calories per minute running.
For a 20 minute run, that’s 228 calories. Do that for 7 days, you burn 1,596 calories by going for a 20-minute.
2. Burpees
A burpee is as complete of a full-body exercise as can be. This exercise combines a squat, plank, push-up, and jump forward, exploding up and down. When a burpee is done right, it improves all aspect of your fitness: cardio, strength, and speed.
It conditions the heart and lungs by getting the heart rate up and pumping. It also tones your arms, core, and legs.
Burpees also burn tons of calories, helping you lose weight and burn fat.
3. High Knees
High knees or run-in-place is one of the best bodyweight cardio exercises you can do at home. It doesn’t take up much space to perform -living room, bedroom, or even a garage would be suitable for this convenient exercise.
High knees combine the typical running motion with exaggerated knee lifts. Similar to the jumping jacks, high knees condition the entire body including the hearts, legs, and core.
To perform this exercise, simply go through the running motions in place by lifting your knees high to your waist level. To maintain the posture, be sure to engage your abs throughout the move.
You can also pump your arms to warm up your upper body and aid the running motion.
