Have 20 minutes to spare?
Spoorthi, strength coach at Cult.fit, tells you how to burn calories without hitting the gym.
Most fitness enthusiasts would agree that high-intensity workouts (HIIT) are one of the quickest and effective ways to lose weight.
However, most high-intensity training can also lead to a lot of joint stress and injuries.
High-intensity training is generally high-impact, not very goal-oriented and risky too. If you get injured while performing a routine, it might increase the recovery time, thsu .
In the quest to meet the demands of fitness enthusiasts who want something intense but less risky, BURN was born.
BURN is a high-intensity format with multiple benefits:
- Helps burn maximum calories even after you finish the workout
- Works on common weak muscle groups and improves posture
- Improves strength
- Improves mobility
In this format, low-impact high-intensity exercises are coupled with exercises that would help increase strength, mobility, and stamina, develop weak muscle groups and make you more functional while ensuring maximum calorie burn.
A typical BURN class would consist of a mobility section, strength section, weak muscle building section and a High-intensity section.
All these exercises ensure that you burn the most calories via EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption). This is a phenomenon through which you burn calories even after exercising at home or at work.
What makes the workout unique is the fact that the workouts are split into four sections --warm up, strength and core, core and HIT followed by cooldown.
With each set lasting between 2-5 minutes, you can finish the entire routine in less than 30 minutes.
In high intensity workouts, mostly injuries happen due to weak posture and imbalances which can easily be avoided and fixed by having a well-rounded programme.
For example, if you do a lot of upper body pushing movements then upper body pulling movements you might end up with overdeveloped chest and shoulders and underdeveloped back muscles which can give rise to a lot of mobility-related problems thus increasing the risk of injury.
This can simply be avoided by doing an equal amount of pushing and pulling movements, an advantage of BURN workouts.
Another important feature of BURN is the fact that it focuses on developing weak muscle groups like core, glutes etc.
Weak core and glutes are a common reason for back pain and weak workout form.
BURN has a separate section of the workout that focuses on building your core and glutes in a truly functional way.
To make it accessible to all fitness enthusiasts, BURN follows a time-based format.
For those who have little time to spare and want to focus on all aspects of fitness like strength, mobility, posture, speed, stamina etc, this is a great workout to begin with.
Presenting four such workouts you can try at home that employs the basic principles in BURN:
1. Tall plank shoulder taps
This movement will help improve your upper body stability and core strength.
How to do it
- Start in a high plank position with palms under the shoulders.
- Shoulders, hips and knees aligned and hips fully extended.
- Tap your right shoulder with left arm.
- Return to the high plank position and repeat the same on the other side.
- Do four sets.
2. Thrusters (using backpack or water bottles)
This exercise will help improve your full body strength and endurance.
How to do it
- Keep your feet shoulder width apart.
- Hold the backpack in both hands/water bottles in either hands at shoulder level.
- Squat down by pushing the hips back.
- Knees are to follow the toes.
- Rise up by extending the hips and knees.
- Once the hips are extended, press the weights up by extending the arms overhead.
- Bring the arms back.
- Do four sets.
3. Grappler sit ups
This movement will engage the core and work on the abs and oblique muscles.
How to do it
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and off the floor.
- Lift your upper body up to touch the left leg with right arm.
- Lower the upper body.
- Repeat the leg tap with the other arm and leg.
- Do four sets.
4. Sprawlees
This movement is great for a full body burn.
How to do it
- Start in a high plank position, with palms under the shoulders.
- Drop the chest down with the entire body touching the floor.
- Return to the high plank position.
- Now Jump forward with both your feet.
- Jump back and that's one repetition!
- Do four sets.
Spoorthi is a professional dancer, strength, conditioning and nutrition coach at Cult.fit. She holds an ISSA Specialist certification in strength and conditioning and a PN (Precision Nutrition) L1 certification.
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