No Lie: These 2 Workouts Burn More Calories Than a 3-Mile Run

Let’s be honest, running is a great workout. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but research shows that you can burn around 113 calories for each mile mark you hit (pretty good, right?). But some of us suffer from knee injuries or other health concerns that make it difficult to log long distances by foot, and avid runners need a day off every once in a while.

Which is why it’s a good thing that there are some high-intensity interval training workouts that will actually burn more calories than that three-mile run would have, Women’s Health reports. And guess what? These fitness routines actually shock your system—in a good way—with small bursts of energy that force your metabolism to move even faster. (Bonus points: A new study finds that HIIT may also reverse the aging process).

“It’s important to constantly confuse your muscles in order to effectively burn calories and keep your fitness level from hitting a plateau,” says Daphne Yang, a personal trainer and creator of the HIIT IT! workout class in New York City. This is exactly what these interval-training exercises do—surprise your body by mixing up different moves. According to fitness specialists Daphne Yang and Lauren Williams, here are two workouts that burn more calories than a three-mile run.

THE 60-45-20 METHOD

Yang created this descending interval workout because she found that Tabata-style intervals—in which you do an exercise for 20 seconds, recover for 10 seconds, and then repeat—didn’t give her body enough time to raise her heartbeat enough. “You need more time to get in enough repetitions to get the heart rate up into that crazy-high zone,” Yang says. “It’s more challenging than Tabata training and lets you sculpt the entire body while melting away fat.” Here’s how to do Yang’s workout, which burns 100 to 140 calories per interval:

• Begin with 60 seconds of burpees.
• Rest for 10 seconds.
• Do jump lunges with arm swings for 45 seconds.
• Rest for 10 seconds.
• Do 30 seconds of mountain climbers.
• Rest for 10 seconds.
• Repeat interval three times.

THE CHISEL CLUB WORKOUT

Lauren Williams, personal trainer and founder of Chisel Club, relies on a total-body workout that incorporates the lower body, upper body, and core. “This workout is different from a run because instead of going at a steady pace and keeping your heart rate consistent for 30 minutes, you’ll be working through different heart-rate zones,” Williams says. Here’s how to do Williams’s workout, which burns about 350 to 450 calories total:

• Do plank walks for 45 seconds.
• Engage in squat jumps for 45 seconds.
• Move on to sumo squat pulses for 45 seconds.
• Do pushups for 45 seconds.
• Sprint for two 10-second intervals.
• Rest for 60 seconds.
• Repeat this sequence three times.
• Next, do mountain climber crossovers for 45 seconds.
• Engage in side lunges for 45 seconds.
• Move on to core toe touches for 45 seconds.
• Do donkey kicks for 45 seconds.
• Sprint for three 10-second intervals.
• Rest for 60 seconds.
• Repeat this sequence three times.

Head over to Women’s Health for more high-intensity exercises, and pick up a chic stopwatch to keep track of your intervals.

From:mydomaine