It's also low-impact read: easier on your joints so whether you're 20 or 80, you can make this exercise part of your workout regime. Depending on your goal and skill level, you can try a swim workout that lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.

For best results, aim for swimming four to five days a week. Begin with to minute swims every other day, eventually working your way up to minute swims four to five days a week. And on your active recovery day i. when you're not swimming , embrace your inner senior snowbird and take up a water aerobics class.

Noodle, anyone? You've heard it before: the hardest part about working out is not working out, per se, it's showing up. But what if exercising were fun?

Would we then be more inclined to make an effort to break a sweat? Zumba is a cardio workout that involves dancing to Latin and world music. It gets your heart rate up, which may help to build cardio endurance, while also being a great way to let loose and de-stress.

Sessions typically range from to minutes with many studios now offering virtual Zumba classes. Regardless of whether you have natural rhythm or two left feet, consider giving Zumba a try. It just might change your outlook on working out.

But if not, at least it will improve your dance moves. The goal to lose weight and build muscle can seem overwhelming, but by focusing on making small, simple changes, it becomes more attainable.

If fat loss is your focus , then try factoring in two or three weight-training sessions per week, two or three HIIT, and one LISS. Ensure you have one rest day too. It could look like this:. Monday: HIIT. Tuesday: weight training. Wednesday: rest. Thursday: HIIT. Friday: weight training.

Saturday: rest day. Sunday: LISS. Cleveland Clinic. Want to lose weight? build muscle. Updated August 6, Cruz-Ferreira A, Fernandes J, Kuo YL, et al. Does pilates-based exercise improve postural alignment in adult women?

Women Health. Weightlifting Is Crucial for Hitting Weight Loss Goals—Here's What You Need to Know. Subscribe Email Address Subscribe. Thank you [email] for signing up.

Please enter a valid email address. Email Address Subscribe. So, to lose fat as much as possible, your program will consist of 3 full body workouts per week alternating between Workout A and Workout B with 2 days of cardio and 2 days off. Set your timer for the number of minutes X recommended and choose a weight you can perform 10 repetitions with.

For the paired exercise, do the same: Do what the workout suggests rep-wise or choose a weight you can do 10 times, but only perform 5 reps. Go back and forth between these paired exercises with as little rest as possible.

Make sure to check the table for the suggested timeframe for the following week s. Start with a minute general cardiovascular warm up followed by minute dynamic drills stretches and skipping variations. Next, set up a treadmill to the maximal incline and at a speed you can sprint for seconds.

Set up a mat beside your treadmill with an exercise ball, a 50lb dumbbell and an ab wheel. Losing fat and taking your body fat percent down is not as easy task.

Make sure to get enough quality sleep per night to ensure you can recovery well in between workouts — shoot for hours per night. Remember, diet plays more of a role in fat loss than high intensity workouts.

There are options for getting in a fast and effective workout when you're pressed for time. This member of the Elevator Boys phenomenon uses reps and rest to rule social media. You can get the same benefit from short workouts spread throughout the day as you do with continuous workouts.

For example, a pound person would burn about calories after running at 6 mph for 30 minutes. If this person walked at 3.

But, the number of calories you can burn isn't the whole story. Too many high-intensity workouts every week can put you at risk in a number of ways. If you don't have much experience with exercise, you may not have the conditioning or the desire for breathless and challenging workouts.

If you have any medical condition or injury, check with a healthcare provider before training. If you're doing several days of cardio each week, you would probably want only one or two workouts to fall into the high-intensity range.

You can use other workouts to target different fitness areas like endurance and allow your body to recover. Here are some examples of how to incorporate high-intensity workouts. One way to incorporate high-intensity workouts is to exercise at a fast pace. You can use any activity or machine for a minute workout at a fast pace, but the idea is to stay in the high-intensity work zone throughout the workout.

Twenty minutes is usually the recommended length, and most people wouldn't want to go much longer than that. Tabata training is another form of high-intensity interval training in which you work very hard for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for 4 minutes.

In this workout, you should be breathless and unable to talk. Additionally, interval training is a great way to incorporate high-intensity training without doing it continuously.

Alternate a hard segment e. Repeat this series for the length of the workout, usually around 20 to 30 minutes. That would be a level four to six on a point perceived exertion scale.

You are breathing harder than usual, but can carry on a conversation without much difficulty. Schedule your day around exercise instead of trying to squeeze it in when you can. Making your workout a priority increases the chances that you will accomplish your goal.

The American College of Sports Medicine ACSM often recommends this level of intensity in its exercise guidelines. The lower end of this range usually incorporates the fat-burning zone. Moderate-intensity workouts also have some great benefits.

For instance, even modest movement can improve your health while lowering your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Also, it takes time to build up the endurance and strength to handle challenging exercises.

Moderate workouts allow you to work at a more comfortable pace, which means you may be more consistent with your program. You also can usually get into the moderate heart rate zones with a variety of activities.

Even raking leaves or shoveling snow can fall into that category if you do it vigorously enough. For weight management, you would likely want the majority of your cardio workouts to fall into the moderate range. Some examples include:.

This level of intensity is no doubt one of the most comfortable areas of exercise, keeping you at a pace that isn't too taxing and doesn't pose much of a challenge. This fact, along with the idea that it burns more fat, makes low-intensity exercise popular.

But, as we've learned, working at a variety of intensities is ideal for weight loss. That doesn't mean that low-intensity exercise has no purpose, though. It involves the long, slow activities you feel like you could do all day. Even better, it includes activities you usually enjoy, such as taking a stroll, gardening, riding a bike, or a gentle stretching routine.

Low-intensity cardio can be something you do all day long by doing an extra lap when you're shopping, taking the stairs , parking farther from the entrance, and doing more physical chores around the house.

Exercise such as Pilates and yoga are at a lower intensity but help develop your core, flexibility, and balance. They can be a part of a well-rounded routine. It may seem like a no-brainer that regular exercise can help you burn fat.

But it's not just about the calories you're burning. It's also about the adaptations your body makes when you exercise on a regular basis. Many of those adaptations lead directly to your ability to burn more fat without even trying. Adding more muscle by lifting weights and doing other resistance exercises can also help with burning fat.

While many people focus more on cardio for weight loss, there's no doubt that strength training is a key component in any weight loss routine. Here are some benefits of weight training.

If you lift weights at a higher intensity, you can increase your afterburn, or the calories you burn after your workout. That means that you burn calories during your workouts, but your body continues to burn calories even after your workout while your body gets back to its resting state.

Lifting weights and maintaining muscle helps keep the metabolism up, even if you're cutting your calories. If you are restricting calories, you risk losing muscle.

Muscle is metabolically active , so when you lose it, you also lose the extra calorie burn muscles produce. To start, choose a basic total body workout and do that about twice a week, with at least one day in between. As you get stronger, you can do more exercises, increase intensity, or add more days of strength training.

It may take a few weeks but you'll eventually see and feel a difference in your body. If you want a more structured program, try a four-week slow build program which includes a schedule of cardio and strength workouts that allows you to gradually increase your intensity.

When it comes to burning more fat, you have to work at it.