What the heck. You’re going back for a third round of food consumption, and this doesn’t even include the dessert round. Add in those delicious between-meal cookies, chocolate concoctions, and grandma’s sugar-laced treats. Load it up, Cousin Eddie, and have more eggnog. It’s liquid and that doesn’t count, right?
You get the idea. Mega-calorie food consumption is rampant this time of the year. It’s a tradition in many cultures. If you’re into that tradition, then you know there is a price to pay for your acts of gluttony. A gazillion calories consumed means somehow you need to counter it with some type of optimal calorie-burning exercise.
However, the reality is that exercise is a so-so means of countering bad caloric intake. Remember, a quality thirty-minute venture on a treadmill can be ruined by a five-minute date with an eight-ounce bag of chips. So, if you elect to over-indulge during the holiday season, that’s your prerogative. But if you wish to counter that with appropriate exercise, remember the more difficult the exercise selection the better. Choose more demanding as opposed to less demanding.
Knowing that, here are three high-demand, optimal calorie-burning workouts that may leave your tongue dragging on the floor if you get after it.
Workout #1 (24 minutes)
For external resistance exercises (barbell, dumbbell, or machine), assure the repetition goal is demanding. Set your Gymboss timer to 2:00 work and 2:00 rest for 12 rounds. Complete each three-exercise sequence in the least amount of time (with good technique, of course). Whatever time remains is your rest time. Initiate the next round when the beeper sounds For example, if you took 1:15 to complete your work, then :45 rest time remains until you repeat the sequence or do the next segment.
Do each three-exercise sequence twice and move to the next segment. Again, 2:00 to complete each round with the remaining time being your rest time.
- Push up x 10
- Close grip pulldown x 10
- Dumbbell lunge x 6 each leg
- Repeat
- Overhead press x 10
- Body weight or assisted chin up x 10
- Leg press x 10
- Repeat
- Dumbbell Incline press x 10
- Seated row x 10
- Squat x 10
- Repeat
- Mountain climber x 70
- Bicycle crunch x 70
- Medicine ball squat-to-press x 20
- Repeat
- Body weight or assisted dip x 10
- Face pull x 10
- Leg curl x 10
- Repeat
- VersaClimber x 100 feet or all out for :40 on a different exercise device
- Back extension x 8
- Cross-over push up x 5 each side
- Repeat
Workout #2 (20 minutes)
This is a bodyweight workout done at intervals of :30 work and :30 rest. Perform as many repetitions possible in the :30 work period.
- Air squat
- Burpee
- Dive-bomber push up
- Pull up or pull up isometric hold
- Toe-touch crunch
Repeat for three additional rounds
Workout #3 (Completion Time Dependent on Your Ability)
- Exercise device (VersaClimber, elliptical, stair climber, or rower) x five minutes as hard as you can exert
- 45lbs/30lbs (men/women) barbell standing overhead press x maximum repetitions
- Bodyweight low pull up (chest to bar) x maximum repetitions
- Dumbbell farmer’s walk with 60-90lbs/25-55lbs (men/women) x 200 steps
Repeat for an additional round.
As you all know, there are countless ways to train. These three workouts are relatively brief, simple to understand, and difficult to perform if you go all out. Use them during the calorie-hoarding holiday season to at least make a dent in creating a calorie deficit. Happy holidays!
Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.