7 Best Calorie-Burning Workouts

If you don’t have an extended block of time in which to exercise, try incorporating two to four 10-minute bursts of moderate- to high-intensity exercise. Research shows these that these short intervals are just as beneficial for your health as exercising longer at one time, because you burn calories both during and after these intensive bursts. Vary your activity based on your schedule by jogging when you walk the dog in the morning, power walking during lunch, and then dancing with your kids before bed.

Try this 10-minute cardio blast workout.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is all the rage and the premise behind many boot camp and CrossFit-type workouts. HIIT workouts combine intense short bursts of exercise (think sprints) followed by a repeated series of lower-intensity exercises that are usually strength-based. Although only 20 to 30 minutes total, the constant up and down in intensity sizzles calories and also causes dramatic improvements in your cardiovascular fitness compared to longer workouts where the intensity doesn’t vary.

While the long-term metabolism benefits are great, strength and toning exercises don’t burn loads of calories when you’re actually doing them unless they involve the whole body and increase your heart rate. The only effective way to speed up your metabolism is to build muscle. Check out the class listing at your local fitness center to see if they offer full body strength or weight classes, or look for online videos for exercises you can do at home. This type of workout will burn calories now and keep your metabolism revved up later.

Stationary cycling may sound intimidating if you’re not a bike rider, but it takes much less skill and coordination than other group fitness classes. Each rider continuously changes speed and pedal resistance, so all fitness levels can participate. In each 45-minutes class, you burn 400 to 600 calories and get a high-intensity, low-impact cardio workout as well as lower body muscle work.