Exercising at home is now more popular than ever, and more people are looking for ways to burn fat more easily. With gym prices rising and people looking for ways to cut back, being able to work out at home is important.
It’s a good idea to focus on burning body fat as not only can it help with your body confidence, but it can also increase your health – by reducing your body fat percentage you can decrease the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure according to a study by the Mayo Clinic.
Cardio and strength training are important in fitness regimes, but strength training is often forgotten about when trying to lose weight and body fat, it is just as important as your cardio exercises – more muscle means more fat is burned when resting.
Fat burning exercises work better if you rack up the intensity, it’s why HIIT workouts are popular with personal trainers, but which exercises are the easiest, especially for those with busy lives? I’ve collated some of my favourites that use minimal or no equipment to help with burning fat.
I have chosen 6 great fat burning exercises and added explainer videos and teaching points to each one below. The idea is to create a circuit so you so the six exercises and then repeat it, start off slow and see how you feel after one round of all the exercises. If you feel good then do another round and build up to a 15-20 min circuit.
Once you have achieved that try and push yourself in each exercise to do more reps in the allotted time – make sure you keep good form throughout the workout to avoid injuries.
Jumping Jacks
Jumping jacks (also known as star jumps) are really easy to do and are a great way to get a total body workout in. I have put some guidance below about how to do them and linked to a great YouTube video showing you an example.
Time: 30 seconds
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 30 seconds
The starting position is standing up straight with your feet together and your arms by your side. Bend your knees and jump so your legs are slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and lift your arms in the air above your head. Jump back into the starting position, and repeat for your 30-second rep.
Burpees
Burpees are pretty intense and if done right, they are one of the best fat burning exercises you can do with no equipment! It’s best to start off taking your time with these as there are a lot of things to remember, I have added a great YouTube video that shows how to do them below and included some guidance below.
Time: 30 seconds
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 30 seconds
Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower yourself into a squat, place your hands on the floor in front of you and push your body backwards into a plank. Now, some people then do a press up to make it more challenging, but to begin with just go into to the plank position. Once in the plank position, bring your knees back to your chest, stand up and do a jump.
Squat Jumps
Squat jumps are a great way of not only burning fat but also strengthening your glutes. Squats are a great fat burner and combining them with a jump is a sure-fire way of upping the burn. I have added a video showing you the best way to do this exercise and some teaching points below.
Time: 30 seconds
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 30 seconds
Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, before lowering your body into a squat (make sure your back and upper body stay upright, your knees and bum lower to the ground, but your knees don’t go over your feet), before jumping back up. Landing lightly is the key here.
High Knees
High knees are a great exercise for beginners right through to experts – you can go as slow or as fast as you need to help increase the intensity. I have added some guidance for techniques below along with a video showing you how to perform this exercise.
Time: 30 seconds
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 30 seconds
Stand straight and lift one knee into your chest, quickly switch knees and repeat for 30 seconds. If you are starting off slowly, try to then pick up the pace a little each time that you do the reps.
Mountain Climbers
You can either get an exercise box (link to a suitable product) or use an exercise mat for these. If on the box, set your hands on the top like an incline press up. If on the floor, start off in a plank or press up position. I have added a video from Livestrong below showing you the example using a mat along with some guidance information below.
Time: 30 seconds
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 30 seconds
Bring one knee into your chest before straightening it out again. Swap legs and repeat for 30 seconds. Start off by going at a steady pace but remember you can turn it into a challenge to see how many you can do.
Alternating Jumping Lunges
When lunging, remember that you can go as deep as you can, but balancing gets trickier the lower you go, so be aware of your limits. The video below is one I have selected that shows a great example of this exercise, I have also put some teaching points below too.
Time: 30 seconds
Reps: 8-10
Rest: 30 seconds
With the alternating jumping lunge, go into a lunge and then jump up and swap legs mid-air. As with the mountain climbers, try to pick up the pace and challenge yourself each time you do this exercise.
Conclusion
You’ll notice that a lot of these exercises involve jumping, this is because it elevates the heart rate and helps with burning fat. Do a routine that involves these exercises and you’ll be able to burn more fat but remember to make sure that you are resting sufficiently during each exercise and that you are staying hydrated.
I recommend having water during each 30-second break and take a minute between each circuit of exercises. To maximise effect, do a circuit of these exercises two or three times, but make sure you’re not overdoing it – the last thing you want is to get injured!
There are plenty of ways to help burn fat or lose weight – we have a full range of different hints and tips with how to keep fit – head over to our blog to discover more.
