When it comes to hitting your weight loss goals, incorporating effective exercises into your fitness routine is CRUCIAL. The right combo of exercises can help you blast through more calories, keep your metabolism running and achieve your health goals.
Today, you will be exploring 10 of the most effective exercises for weight loss. From beginner to experienced fitness enthusiast, these different exercises will help you build a solid foundation for your fitness journey.
Get ready to unleash your potential and witness incredible results!
Table of Contents:
- Running for Cardio
- HIIT
- Strength Training
- Cycling
- Jumping Rope
- Swimming
- Circuit-Training
- Rowing
- Dancing
- Kickboxing
Running for Cardiovascular Endurance
If you are looking for one of the oldest exercises that hasn’t gone out of style in millennia, look no further than the classic run.
It’s a wonderful way to burn calories, fortify your cardiovascular system and shed any unwanted weight. And you don’t need to be moving at high speeds to make this kind of training work for you.
Many people find great success by simply going for a stroll for 20-30 minutes a day, while breathing in the fresh air. Once you feel comfortable doing that, adding in a light jog is a way to enhance what you are looking for.
While this is probably one of the cheapest ways we know of to get your training in, we do recommend making some pretty important investments. Making sure that you have proper running/walking shoes will ensure that you are comfortable out on the trails (or treadmill) and keep with your goals longer.
Another bonus we think is important is to find a way to track your travels. This can be as simple as an app on your phone that tracks total distance traveled, a pedometer to track steps or a Smart Watch to keep it all in the same place. While this isn't a requirement in the LEAST, knowing that you are making some kind of progress does help people stick with their goals longer.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT workouts are one of the most powerful tools for weight loss and body transformations.
When you combine short bursts of incredibly intense exercises with shorter recovery or rest periods, you are able to maximize how many calories you burn and send the time that your metabolism is in overdrive into overtime.
The other added bonus for HIIT is that you are able to incorporate both cardio machines or body weight style exercises into the mix to keep it interesting and fun, while also making it portable. Many people use body weight exercises like burpees, mountain climbers and jumping jacks into their routine to keep everything fun and fancy free.
We personally enjoy the Tabata method, where you do 20 seconds of intense training followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 8 rounds or 4 minutes. It will be the hardest 4 minutes of your training if you do it properly.
What HIIT timing do you enjoy using in your sessions?
Strength Training for Muscle Building and Fat Loss
While we can talk about strength training until we are blue in the face (which we have done before), it is STILL important to mention here.
Strength training allows you to build muscle which plays a vital role in losing weight and fat loss. As your body gains muscles, it becomes more efficient at burning calories, even while at rest.
To get the best bang for your buck and to save some time, we recommend tackling compound movements that engage multiple muscle groups at the same time, to maximize the fat loss potential while also building a bit of muscle.
If you aren’t terribly sure where to start, we recommend downloading our FREE POWERLIFTING PROGRAM to really put your best foot forward.
Cycling for Cardio and Leg Strength
Cycling is one of the greatest low-impact exercises that provides an excellent cardio workout while also hitting almost all of the muscles in your lower body.
The peddling motion of cycling allows you to get a consistent workout in no matter what kind of riding you are doing, from the streets to the peaks and even in your own bedroom.
If you are into outdoor cycling and are really wanting to push it, increasing session time, distance, or speed is a phenomenal way to set a goal and achieve it.
On the other hand, if you are doing in-door cycling, you can look into peddle along classes online to see what the world brings you. These online cycling classes vary in time, intensity, and other motions that are included. They also offer different training levels so workouts can be catered to your level.
Jump Rope for Fun and Fat Burning
Jump rope is the worst kept secret of professional athletes getting their cardio sessions in on the road.
Jumping rope is an incredibly simple yet effective exercise that engages your entire body, burns through calories, and has the added benefit of improving coordination while you are doing it. You can increase the difficulty of jumping rope by adding different complexities like speed, new techniques or just going for a longer period of time than before.
As an added bonus, the portability and cost of your average jump rope makes it easy to get your training sessions in while you are on the road.
When it comes to jumping rope, it's time for you to jump in. Just make sure that you aren’t hitting anything along the way.
Swimming for a Full-Body Workout
It’s time to dive deeper into weight loss with swimming!
Swimming is another one of the great low-impact exercises that puts minimal stress on your joints and provides a full-body workout at the same time. The act of swimming engages your arms, legs and core to help you burn more calories and keep your heart pumping a long time.
Swimming isn’t the only way to have fun in the water, you can join aerobics classes as well or just simply walk around aqua tracks if your joints are feeling achy and tired. If you are looking to challenge yourself in the water, set either a time to beat or a distance to swim so you can get the maximal amount out of your chosen stroke style.
Circuit Training for Total-Body Conditioning
IF you are looking to have a mixed bag of fun with your exercise then circuit training might be the way for you to go.
Circuit training involves moving between exercises with minimal rest between them. By combining different varieties of strength training and cardio into a single training session, you are able to both maximize calories burned, challenge your body and keep your mind engaged.
If you are wondering what kind of training you can do to keep you flowing through your circuit, we recommend that you do a strength exercise like squat, followed by a cardio exercise like jumping jacks then taking a break.
Other people use circuit training at their local Planet Fitness to really pump themselves up, so if you are looking for ideas or wanting to streamline what you are looking to do, take a look online to see what PF does and base your training off of that.
Rowing for Strength and Stamina
The row is a full-body exercise that engages almost EVERY part of your body, from your biceps and back to legs and core. Rowing not only helps you burn a MASSIVE amount of calories, it also helps improve your muscular endurance and total body strength.
One of the most convenient ways to row is on a machine in the gym, which is usually a Concept 2 rower. These use wind resistance to let you build up your body and lungs, whereas other brands use magnets or water to help you get your training in.
Or if you are so inclined, you can take a look online and see if there are any local water features that allow the use or rental of actual boats to do the same thing.
Rowing lends itself to both HIIT training (which we have talked about a bit above) or sitting in it for the long haul. Whatever type of rowing you decide to perform, you are sure to get a good training session in!
Dance Fitness for Joyful Calorie Burning
You can dance if you want to! And you don’t even need to leave your friends behind when you start!
Dance fitness classes like Zumba, hip-hop, or salsa sessions offer a really fun way to burn your calories on the weight loss journey. These classes (which can be easily found at your local YMCA or online) will get your body moving and grooving to the rhythm while improving coordination and building your lung power.
It’s always a blast to put on some music, shed some sweat, and have a blast with like-minded funky individuals like yourself.
Kickboxing for Power and Stamina
Sometimes to get the best weight loss results you need to kick a little ass! And we mean that literally.
Kickboxing is a high-energy cardio session that combines different martial arts techniques making it an effective choice for weight loss. These intense workouts not only help burn calories, but improve coordination, agility, and your cardiovascular system.
Another advantage to these kinds of training sessions is that you are able to take classes, both online and in person, to keep them fun and exciting. The uniqueness of sweating it out with friends around may help you stay motivated on days that are a bit harder than others to get through the session.
If you are interested, then it is time to kick your way to a leaner, fitter physique!
Unlock YOUR Fitness Potential
By incorporating these 10 super effective exercises for your weight loss into your fitness routine, you will create a solid foundation to build your goals on top of.
Remember that your training and workouts should be fun and customized to YOUR goals and fitness levels. Which means that there can be a gradual increase in intensity and a focus on maintaining consistency over motivation. Pair these different exercises with balanced macronutrients (Learn More HERE), the best hydration and optimized sleep and relaxation, and you will hit all of the goals set before you.
Embrace the challenge, stay motivated, enjoy the journey, and find what powers YOU!
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