Many people think that running is the best way to burn calories. If they want to burn fat they will spend hours either running on a treadmill or outside. If you like running this is great and you should definitely keep doing it. However if you don't like running there are other options which can actually burn more calories.

Weight Training

A key mistake people make is thinking that weight training is only for bodybuilders or people who want to put on muscle. However a good weight training circuit can burn as many calories as running. This is because of something called the 'afterburner' effect. The 'afterburner' effect is the number of extra calories your body burns after exercise! For weight training your body can keep burning extra calories for 24 hours after you finished your workout!

Burpees

Everyones favourite exercise! Ok I know that is not true, but there is a reason you feel so exhausted after doing these. It is because they are a fantastic exercise. The reason they burn so many calories is because they are a full body exercise, meaning you use most of your muscles (upper body, core and lower body) when it is done properly. Just remember it is more effective to go slightly slower with good technique than faster with poor technique!

Indoor Rowing

If you go to the gym to do cardio why not try swapping the bike or treadmill for the rowing machine? You will see the difference after 2 minutes I promise! This is another full body exercise and so is a great calorie burner. If you have never used it before make sure you ask one of the gym staff to show you the proper technique first (it is not difficult but like everything it is much more effective when done with the right technique).

Skipping

Skipping is another exercise that uses more muscles than running. It also helps improve your balance and co-ordination. One workout I like to do is 10 seconds fast skipping at full pace followed by 20 seconds of gentle skipping to recover. I try and do this circuit 10 times (5 minutes in total).

HIIT

This isn't an exercise. Instead it is a way of doing exercises. HIIT means High Intensity Interval Training and this is what I use for all my workouts. A HIIT workout is where you have a period of 100% effort doing an exercise followed by a short recovery period. The reason I love this so much is because it is a very efficient way to train (meaning I can get my workouts done in 30 minutes), I can change the exercises depending on my aims, and it has a large 'afterburner' effect like weight training.

TAGS: fitness