A nice leisurely stroll is an easy way to burn a few calories, but let's face the facts. A slow walk only helps shed the pounds the same way -- slowly. If you want to rev up your weight loss, you want big numbers.
For maximum calorie crunching, short and intense workouts give you more bang for the buck than long and slow. Here are seven activities that burn up those calories like wildfire, so you can see the results you want, quick as a blaze.
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Jumping Rope
It may seem like little girl stuff, but there's a good reason that heavyweight boxers also make use of jump ropes. It's a serious hardcore workout. Not only can jumping rope burn about 200 calories for only 15 minutes (800k an hour), but it increases agility, tones your muscles and gives you powerful strength.
Running
Take a good look at the mallwalkers in their track suits on Sunday. Do any of them have the body you want? No, it's the runners who look long, lithe and muscular. That's because a mere 20 minutes of sprinting burns almost double the calories of a whole hour of strolling. Speed up your time around the block and you'll burn about 700 calories an hour.
Elliptical Training
Not very many years ago, the elliptical machine was the new machine on the block. Now you see them in every gym, and you're lucky if you can nab one. That's because the elliptical burns as many calories as running (700 an hour), but without the stress on your knees and feet. For a low impact workout with a high impact on calorie burning, the elliptical totally trumps the treadmill.
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Biking
It's no wonder bicycling is such a popular activity for fitness: it's actually fun. There are few other workouts that deliver the same punch -- 650 calories an hour burned -- and feel so much like recreation. Whether you cycle in the great outdoors or hit the virtual trails on your gym's stationary bike, you'll have a session that delivers fun and fitness in one.
Power Walking
If running is too hard on your heels and joints, you still don't have to settle for a slow-burning walk. A power walk can burn up to 600 calories an hour, which still puts regular walking to shame when it comes to numbers (a slow stroll only earns 280k). The trick is to get your arms moving, and keep a quick pace. The extra speed means extra burn, and the arm movement helps you have a full body workout to boot.
Rowing
It's hard to believe that a machine you can sit down in can be such an effective fat burning mechanism, but that's exactly what rowing can do. The secret is that it targets some of your hugest muscle groups, most notably your back. Your arms, shoulders and legs get a workout too, and your abs reap even more benefits, all to the tune of 550 calories per hour.
Step Aerobics
All aerobics classes are good for calorie burning, but for maximum effect, step aerobics pack the biggest power punch. An hour of step class burns an extra one hundred calories per hour as compared to a generic aerobics session (for a total of 550 calories an hour), so step up your workout by stepping up.
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Remember that hard work always means a bigger payoff when it comes to calories burned, but it's work that's well worth it. Add any of these fat blasting workouts to your routine, and you'll be reaping some beautiful benefits.