The foods you eat are the weight you gain and the calories you must burn. Unfortunately, for most people, the process stops in gaining weight without any active effort to burn the fats they accumulate.

Exercising is essential in weight loss and weight maintenance because it keeps metabolism grinding and maintains muscle mass. Cutting on calories drastically can also lead to weight loss, but that does not necessarily mean you remain healthy. Thus, you need a good balance of proper diet and exercise. What weight loss exercise should you try?

This article will give you the seven best exercises to include in your fitness regimen. However, before proceeding to the list, you should at least know the factors that make these exercises effective for weight loss and wellness.

A Good Weight Loss Exercise…

  • Keeps the heart pumping: Any exercise that gets the heart pumping fast is good for weight loss because it pushes metabolism to its upper limit and lets the body use up energy from the fats hiding under the skin. It also gets you sweating hard, although the amount of sweat you excrete does not necessarily translate to the amount of fat you burn.

 

For this reason, some fitness plans or exercise programs focus on how well they keep the heart pumping rather than how long the routines are.

 

  • Increases muscle mass: Some exercises that do not make you catch your breath can still be effective for weight loss if they define your muscles. The muscles are the primary users of energy in the body, so the bigger and more active they are, the more calories you burn. Strength training and resistance training are preferred by a lot of fitness experts for this reason alone.

 

  • Uses all muscle groups of the body: The proper strength training program for people who want to lose weight does not focus on only one muscle group. It has to work on the upper and lower body while also improving resistance. You use more energy when you use more muscles, and that is one secret of many weight loss programs.

 

Professional fitness trainers prefer to incorporate all of these factors in a set of exercises that comprise a fitness program rather than look for a specific weight loss exercise that follows all of these principles. What’s more important is that you follow a holistic fitness program to maximize your body’s capacity to burn calories.

These seven exercises are the most recommended ones by fitness experts. Beginners can choose any of them and then progress from there by trying all as you see good results slowly but consistently.

1. Interval Training

This refers to any exercise that forces you to elevate your heart rate and then rest before repeating the cycle as often as you can. The interval here refers to the resting period between each repetition with no time to gain momentum.

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The most effective weight loss exercise to do interval training is indoor cycling. It allows you to grind as fast as you can right away and then suddenly stop after every repetition.

2. Weight Lifting

This exercise is not exclusive for weight lifters and body builders. Guess what? It is not exclusive to barbells either. You can use dumbbells and kettlebells to develop your arms, shoulders, chest, core, and back, as well as wrist and ankle weights when you are running or doing other exercises.

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Lifting your weight is also more effective albeit more advanced. Try vertical pull-ups and chin-ups if you can, but you can also try kneeling or sitting pull-ups for starters.

3. Boxing

Technically speaking, boxing is also a form of interval training. It offers more benefits though as it allows you to use all muscle groups when done the right way. It requires quick footwork, so your entire lower body is trained. Your core muscles also develop because all your upper body movements are supported by your core muscles. Even the force of your arms when you throw punches comes from your core.

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What’s even better with boxing is that training for it requires you to do other effective weight loss exercises as well, such as jumping ropes and speed bag boxing.

4. CrossFit

This is the trend in interval training today. CrossFit is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that uses several intense exercises that you have to do one by one for just a few seconds but with fast succession. You have to do at least six repetitions per session every day for this to produce good results fast.

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5. Yoga

Do not let the peaceful set-up and the idle movements fool you. It takes a lot of muscle power and lung power to remain still and calm while maintaining difficult yoga poses. The muscles stretch and contract hard, which is noticeable from the intense sweat after practicing yoga.

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The effectiveness of this weight loss exercise can still be improved by practicing bikram yoga instead, a system also known as hot yoga style as it requires a person to practice yoga in a heated room. It is like combining yoga and sauna bath together.

6. Swimming

Swimming for an hour already burns 750 calories. The best part is that you get to relax and enjoy while losing weight. You probably do not notice it, but all of your muscle groups actually work when you swim because they have to keep coordinated and working while you are in the water. More so, swimming improves lung power, which can help you train harder and longer and live a more active lifestyle.

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7. Walking

Never underestimating good-ol’ walking—the easiest yet still effective way to burn calories. Do you know that walking for 45 minutes can already burn up to 360 calories, and you can do that without exerting any effort and allotting special time. All you have to do is to take as many opportunities as you can and make as many excuses as you can to walk every day. Those beyond the overweight and obesity mark are advised to start with walking to avoid injuring their knees, feet, hips, and back.

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There is no need to do all of these exercises in the same session or within the same day. However, you should be able to do all of them at different instances as your resistance and strength improve.