This time of the year eating a little more is difficult to avoid due to all the holiday gatherings and delicious Christmas food temptations being all around us.
So many of my clients keep asking me what can they do to counterbalance this and burn off all those excess calories.
First let me start by saying this, there is no such style of training that can burn off all of the food you eat especially if you are consuming easy 1000-2000 calories per meal during holiday season, so please don’t try to punish yourself for enjoying your food. You would probably need to workout all day to burn off Christmas lunch, and we don’t want or need to do this. Remember that your body burns a fair bit of calories just keeping you alive and moving throughout the day doing basic tasks.
For most adults minimum of 1200-1600 calories could be burnt during the day without doing anything at all, but just existing. Because your bodily functions burn calories, such as breathing, digesting, pumping blood etc. And the better your metabolism is over all the more calories you burn at rest. Also, the more muscle mass you have the more calories your body burns at rest, because muscles increase metabolic rate.
However, I will include a list of exercises or should I say training methods that I tend to lean towards during holidays season for myself and for my clients when we tend to eat more calories, as it makes more sense to ramp up the intensity a little to at least try and burn of a little extra since we eat a little extra as well.
If there is a possibility, I would also recommend to ramp up frequency of your training, but I understand that this time of the year can actually get quite busy for many of us, so workouts can be missed. So, if you can’t increase frequency and volume or duration, then increase intensity.
My 2 favourite things I try to focus on as they burn the most calories are lower body weight training and HIIT cardio or combination of both.
Why lower body focus? Because exercises such as lunges, squats, deadlifts and step ups require far more energy than shoulder presses or bicep curls for example. And energy = calories. The harder and more energy taxing the exercises, the more calories you burn.
Also exercises that are referred to as compound as opposed to isolated, meaning exercises that target multiple muscle groups at the same time. Such as the leg exercises, I mentioned above, or squat and overhead dumbbell press, and pull ups or assisted pull ups, push ups, and core exercises. In those exercises you are using multiple muscle groups and they will get your heart rate up higher than if you do isolated exercises such as tricep extensions or bicep curls.
So, what are the best weight loss exercises or training styles that burn the most calories?
I will not include exact calories burnt per each style of workout, because it varies dramatically depending on how heavy or light you are and how heavy the weights you are using are, like dumbbells or barbells. So, it will really vary from person to person. But a quick note, the heavier your weight is the more calories you will generally burn as it will take more energy to move more weight around, so don’t be discouraged if you are a little on the heavy side, it can work to your advantage. But yes, it may also mean that the exercises will seem a bit harder than to those who are leaner and lighter.
1) FULL BODY WORKOUTS WITH FREE WEIGHTS.
Full body compound movements with weights, such as metabolic style workouts. Think of it as HIIT with weights. So, if you imagine doing something that is high intensity like burpees or jump squats, or even something a little less impact on joints, but fast paced with added dumbbells to it. I have put together 3 workouts that you can try this week with instructional videos included, get access to the free workouts here.
My clients burn over 400 calories when performing such workouts for around 45 mins.
If you are looking to get some affordable home training equipment to get you started I have compiled a list of home fitness essentials that I recommend.
Check out the blog right here.
2) FULL LEG SESSIONS WITH FREE WEIGHTS.
Full leg sessions involving compound movements such as squats, step ups, lunges and deadlifts. They take up more energy than upper body workouts usually and if you are using barbells or dumbbells you will definitely work harder than with most machines at the gym as well. You can of course incorporate some machines too if you like. But aim to make your leg session with at least 70% using free weights.
I burn around 300-400 calories when training legs with weights for 1 hour.
3) HIIT WITHOUT WEIGHTS.
HIIT (Hight Intensity Interval Training) using your own bodyweight, with short rest periods for up to 30 minutes long. Approximate workout to rest rations is 1:1. Say 30 seconds of mountain climbers followed by 30 second rest. This is where you can pick 4-5 exercises such as mountain climbers, burpees, jump squats, jumping jacks and high knees and do them in a circuit style with tier set for interval training. I would recommend to repeat 4 rounds of each exercise with as little break as possible.
The benefit of HIIT is that you also get the afterburn effect even after you compete your workout. Your calorie burn is at a slightly higher rate than after steady cardio like walking, jogging or swimming.
4) INTERVAL SPRINTS ON MACHINES OR OUTDOORS.
Sprints don’t just refer to running, it refers to doing something very fast for a short period of time at your maximum ability. Interval sprints on treadmill or outdoors or on elliptical equipment such as cross-trainer, rower or stationary bike. The same principal as above, but using cardio equipment or running fast outdoors for short intervals.
5) COMBINATION CIRCUITS (Tabata style).
Combination of weighted exercises and cardio machines or jump rope done as a circuit HIIT style training. This is where you can set up a little circuit for yourself where you can combine some exercises such as squat and press for example, followed by jump rope (skipping rope), then fast 30 seconds on a rowing machine, followed by a round of step ups with dumbbells, push ups or even assisted pull ups with loop bands. Combination of weights and cardio equipment. It’s fun to mix it up sometimes. You will find your heart rate quiet high during such workouts and therefore burn lot’s of calories.
Even though the above methods are great if you can do then, if you are finding that you might not be quiet ready for those styles for workouts yet especially if you are beginner in fitness, simply getting more steps in during the holiday season is a fantastic way to burn off the extra bread rolls and dessert, not to mention it definitely will help you feel better mentally.
I personally love combining strength sessions with a little bit of HIIT training and on weekend getting some steps in outdoors in the park or by the river or ocean if I can. There is just something so soothing and healthful about seeing the trees, the sky and the water while moving the body.
