There are many different exercises you can do for just about any type of goal. Want to be more flexible? Try yoga. Looking for more muscle mass? Focus on strength training. And if it’s weight loss you’re after, you’re certainly not alone. In the most recent report of its kind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 49% of U.S. adults tried to lose weight in a 12-month period.
Losing weight is a layered issue and requires more than just an exercise regimen, including a diet with food specific to your goal of weight loss, but the gym (or at home on a mat) is where most Americans begin their weight-loss journey. According to the Mayo Clinic, you need a reduction of 500 to 750 calories a day through diet and exercise to lose 1.5 pounds a week. It should also be noted that having goals is good, but being too specific in them is one of the ways you’re sabotaging your workout, so it is important to realize that not every exercise or routine works the same way for everyone.
The benefits of interval training
Working out in intervals is one way to reap the benefits of cardio and strength, while maximizing your calorie burn in a short amount of time. Interval workouts involve alternating between short bursts of intense effort and periods of lower intensity or rest. The intensity resets your metabolism to a higher rate during your workout, so it takes hours for your body to cool down again. This is what’s known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). That means you burn calories long after you’ve finished your workout compared to doing a workout at a continuous moderate pace (a.k.a. LISS), according to a 2017 study from the European Journal of Applied Physiology.
“Intervals are a great way to promote weight loss beyond just the EPOC effect. A lot of weight loss comes from the mental side of the spectrum too,” says Chris Ryan, one of MIRROR’s founding trainers. “Intervals offer a great way to harness individual victories after each rep or round of exercise—and not simply looking at the workout as a whole.”
1. Running
The burn: 566–839 calories/hour (10-minute mile pace)
One major reason running is such an effective weight loss exercise? In addition to working the large muscles in your legs, it’s high-impact. “You have to push your body weight off of the ground with every stride,” says Berkow.
If you’re just getting started (or if running at a steady pace bothers your ankles or knees), opt for intervals of runs, alternating with intervals of light jogging or walking. “If you are new to running, use a 1:2 work to rest ratio, or recover for twice as long as you run,” Berkow recommends.
2. Kickboxing
“At its essence, boxing is really another form of interval training,” explains Rosante. But it also makes you feel freaking badass. Here’s the trick to remember: It’s a common mistake for beginners to punch using only their arm strength, but the majority of your power is going to come from your core and you’ll use muscles that are typically ignored in other workouts (hey there, obliques).
It’s best to log this type of workout in a class, as Rosante says it’s crucial for beginners to learn proper form from an instructor who can help keep your intensity level high. Here are 18 boxing gyms worth visiting. But if you want to brush up on your skills at home, try this beginner-friendly video from Milan Costich, founder of Prevail boxing gym in Los Angeles.
3. Jumping Rope
The burn: 667–990 calories/hour (jumping at 120 skips per minute)
Yep, this blast from your playground past is a total torcher. Plus, “jumping rope is great for developing coordination, calf and ankle strength, core strength, posture, and cardiovascular endurance,” explains Berkow. “It also helps build bone density, which guards against bone loss, osteoporosis, and bone loss.”
Ideally, the best way to start jumping rope is to go slow and do it in 20- to 30-second bursts, Berkow suggests. Once you’ve mastered that flick-of-the-wrist and your timing, work on increasing your speed and duration to burn more calories.
For a full-body workout challenge, give this calorie-torching jump rope workout from Carrie Underwood’s trainer a try. (It helped her score those iconic legs!)
4. Swimming
If you can’t stand the thought of running, or just want to work out without a ton of pounding on your joints, do a few laps in the pool. It’s a low-impact exercise that will work all of your major muscle groups. As with most workouts, it helps to go in with a plan. Try this one, from Rosante: Tread water for as long as possible by standing upright in the deep end and using your arms and legs to stay afloat. Then rest for two minutes. Now swim 10 sets of 100 meters (that’s back-and-forth lap in an Olympic-sized pool), resting for one minute in between sets. By the time you climb out of the pool, your muscles will be pleasantly worn out.
5. StairMaster
No matter how fit you are, climbing up a flight of stairs is always a challenge. That’s because steps are designed to be short so that you have to engage additional muscles, like your glutes, quads, and calves, to bring your entire body up. “The StairMaster offers a great way to strengthen the glutes, quads, and hamstrings. Working the biggest, strongest muscles in the body keep your metabolic rate high, and your body strong and toned,” Ryan says.
TRY a HIIT StairMaster workout. In this interval circuit, you’ll work your way from a comfortable, moderate pace to an all-out effort.
6. Tabata
If your biggest excuse for skipping a workout is being crunched for time, Tabata is your dream come true. It’s designed to be four minutes of high-intensity interval training that consists of 20 seconds of all-out effort, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated eight times, explains Shanon Squires, an exercise physiologist and human performance lab coordinator at Colorado University Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. And you can use this protocol with any number of different exercises. You’ll spike your metabolism and heart rate in four minutes, but Squires warns against making this time frame a habit if you’re trying to lose weight. “Your body will quickly adapt to that interval, and you’ll need to increase the volume or intensity to continue getting a benefit from it,” he says. To do that, Rosante suggests extending your session to 20 minutes and following the same format. Simply pick four exercises—think jump rope, squats, mountain climbers, and squat jumps—then do each for 20 seconds as hard and fast as you can (while maintaining proper form, of course), then recovering for 10 seconds and 10 seconds only. Repeat for eight rounds on that one move (so, four minutes of work) before resting for one minute and moving on to the next exercise.
7. CrossFit
There’s a reason CrossFit has become such a booming part of the workout industry—it works, so long as you don’t overdo it. Workouts are varied—you may be doing anything from kettlebell swings to rope climbs and box jumps to front squats—and the routines are designed to be short and intense. The most important thing to find when looking for the box (CrossFit slang for “gym”) that fits you best: a well-informed coach who can explain and modify the moves, and make sure that you don’t push yourself to the point of injury. Here are a few things to keep in mind before every WOD, and here are 11 of the best CrossFit gyms in America.
8. Boot Camp
For a workout that’s going to keep your metabolism elevated, turn to boot camp, as these classes (think Barry’s Bootcamp) combine two of the most effective styles of training: interval and resistance. “You’ll perform exercises, some more cardio-focused and others strength-focused, full-out for short bursts of time, coupled with short periods of rest,” says Adam Rosante, certified personal trainer and author of The 30-Second Body. But if it’s your first time going to a boot camp class, speak up. He says a good instructor will help you determine when you need to crank up the weight or intensity (tip: if you can cruise through 10 reps without any trouble, it’s too easy), keep your form on par, and can always provide a modification for any move that might be too tough or irritates an injury. If you can’t make it to a studio, though, you can virtually sweat it out with Rosante in his 20-minute C9 Challenge, or try this bodyweight-only 16-minute routine.
9. Elliptical
Don’t be fooled by the elliptical! It might look an easy machine, casually spinning your legs while watching TV or reading a magazine. But if you crank up the resistance and work at a hard pace, it’ll leave you breathless. “Riding the elliptical at an easy clip will not do much, but magic happens when the lungs start working and the blood starts pumping,” Ryan says. Be sure to stand up straight to lengthen your abs and engage your upper-body muscles. Making use of the handles and swinging your arms will help you blast more fat and calories.
Dorset adds that machines like the elliptical are a good option to keep the weight loss going while protecting your body from extra stress: “The elliptical is great for providing lower impact while maintaining fitness,” says Dorset. “It’s particularly good for helping precent injury at the onset of for coming back to running when recovering from an injury.”
TRY working out like Jennifer Aniston: As reported by Vogue in 2017, the Friends star likes to hit the elliptical for 20 or more minutes. She’ll raise the incline, then alternate between walking for 1 minute and running for 2 minutes.
10. Sprints
The burn: 639–946 calories/hour
Whether you’re on a tread, at a track, or on the sidewalk, charging ahead at top speeds during a sprint workout is guaranteed to rev that inner engine.
“Sprinting is a maximal effort that requires a lot of power from your glutes and hamstrings,” explains Berkow. By alternating between maximal efforts and recovery periods, you build cardiovascular endurance and promote fat-burning, she adds.
To make the most of your efforts, “you want to sprint at a pace you can only maintain for about 20 seconds,” Miranda says. “Follow that with a recovery run at half of the intensity but double the time.”
Miranda recommends starting with 10 to 15 stairs at a time. Once you’ve found your groove, you can even take two steps at a time to amp up the power required of each stride, suggest Berkow.
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