Wondering how to get your body to continue burning more calories for the rest of the day, despite being at work or at home after completing your workout? Called the Afterburn effect, this works wonders all day long, even while you're sitting in front of the computer or at home.
Most people focus on the calories burned during workouts or the calorie indicator on the treadmill or an activity tracker. While the number is important, did you know that your body burns calories even after exercise?
The excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is used to restore the body to a resting state after the workout is completed. This restoration process requires energy in the form of calories too. Starting to wonder how you can increase that post workout calorie burn so as to maximise your total calorie burn? The key is to push yourself beyond your perceived threshold in short bursts. Some guaranteed ways to increase the afterburn are:
Strength training: Use weights that challenge you and target lower repetitions per set. Compound workouts: Combine your upper and lower body movements as much as possible. Using more than one muscle group in a single variation is called a compound workout. Interval training: Trade in steady state cardio like long distance running or cycling for sprinting in shorts bursts called intervals.
—The writer is a personal trainer, virtual fitness consultant and a group fitness instructor
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INVERTED FLYER WITH DB ROWING
Balance on the left leg, tip forward from the hip and lift the right leg parallel to the floor while grasping dumbbells in both hands. Now, with your palms facing inwards, lift the dumbbell in the left hand till it is on the side of the chest. Make sure the elbow is close to the body. Now, extend the left arm and repeat on the right arm. Target a challenging weight with lower range of repetitions. Then change legs and start the exercise with the opposite arm. Pick a suitable dumbbell weight which challenges you.
VIPR SQUAT & PRESS
Grasp the ViPR with both arms and hold it right in front of the chest. Your feet should be shoulder width apart. Now, push the hip back and sit until the thighs are parallel to the floor. The back should be neutral, heels and toes grounded. Knees should not go ahead of the toes. Simultaneously push the ViPR forward till the arms are fully outstretched and parallel to the floor at shoulder level. Now return to start position and repeat for desired number of reps. Pick a suitable ViPR weight with which you can perform this exercise with proper form while challenging yourself at the same time.
WOOD CHOPPER WITH LUNGEs
Grasp a single dumbbell with both hands stacked on top of the other. Now, place one leg behind the body. Push the knee of the rear leg towards the floor while keeping the front knee stable. Don’t let knee of the leg in the front go ahead of the toes. Stop when the thigh of the front leg is parallel to the floor, and the knee of rear leg is almost touching the ground. This is the lunge position. While holding this position, get the dumbbell to the side of the front leg. Now, drive the dumbbell to the other side of the body, twist at the torso and go into a partial lunge on the opposite side while lifting the dumbbell up to the side of the head. This is a twist of the torso, turn of the toes to lunge with opposite legs and movement of dumbbell from lower side of the body to the upper opposite side. Repeat for desired number of repetitions and pick a weight that challenges you.
RUNNING or SPRINTING and INTERVAL TRAINING 1, 2, 3
Steady state cardio workouts would give a lower afterburn whereas running or cycling with short bursts of sprints would give greater afterburn. Tweak your workouts so that you sprint (run as quick as you can) for a short burst (first interval), then slow down and recover. Once recovered, go for the next sprint again (second interval). Repeat this routine to implement your own high- intensity interval training. You are sure to feel the difference compared to running or cycling at a constant speed.
