“The most important goal is to get sweaty”
The age old adage of calories in vs. calories out is in full effect here. That adage and saying that you hear constantly is actually very important, perhaps the single most important element if you want to either lose body fat or put on extra muscle.
Your nutrition has to be on point, which goes without saying because nothing is achieved physically without supplying your body with the right nutrients to work with.
However, there are a few extremely fun and effective activities and sports that can fast-track you on a path to burn even more calories faster.
Some examples are: basketball, football, hiking, swimming, tennis, hockey, martial arts and many more.
These sports and activities are perfect because they make use of your entire body, not just one part of your body.
Why switch it up?
If you are getting tired of your cardio routine, then this is the switch that your body needs to recuperate and get out of that mindset of monotony and sluggishness. If you struggle with working through your HIIT training workouts, then this would benefit you, and probably burn more calories over time because you are more likely to stay consistent with this type of training versus a type of training that you do not like.
If you just read that, and do want to train HIIT workouts, but don’t know the specifics, I have an entire article dedicated to that. Read it here: HIIT
Otherwise, I would suggest swapping out a couple of your normal, boring cardio sessions for a sport or activity that you actually like to do. If you don’t like sports, have never played them, or don’t think you’d be good at them, try tennis out. Get with a couple of friends and just play a few times. It took me about 2-3 hours to get decent enough at tennis to be able to play and have fun, all while burning a solid amount of calories. You certainly won’t break any records for how much you burn, but if you struggle with the thought of getting active, getting sweaty, and getting healthy, then tennis is one of the easiest ways to start off your workout journey.
What to do if you don’t have access to any type of gym, courts, fields, or space outdoors?
Let’s say you do not have a dedicated cardio/blood pumping weekly routine right now.
A simple way to get this in is to get outside early in the morning and do an outside workout.
One of the many problems with that might be location, weather, and safety. You can eliminate all of those problems simply by buying one piece of material.
A jump rope.
Using a jump rope, along with other bodyweight movements back to back such as mountain climbers, box jumps, or bear crawls, just to name a few, will increase the likelihood that you start sweating and get your heart rate up because you won’t have an excuse, as the workout is in your own home.
There are no more excuses as to why you are unable to get your blood flowing, metabolism up, heart rate up, and sweat draining. You may not want to do it, but the benefits far outweigh the costs, especially when you can work out from the comfort of your own home.
The message here is the same, regardless if you want to burn your calories playing a sport that you love, or burn them working out in the comfort of your own home, and that message is this:
The most important goal is to get sweaty, because this provides a plethora of benefits far too long for this article, some of which include: boosting the hormones associated with happiness and longevity, boosting morale, increasing your productivity, eating better, and sleeping sounder.
If you want these benefits, then you need to get moving, one way or another.
Come win with us.