Running allows you to get a stress-removing, energy-boosting workout with just foot wear and the road. As personal trainers we don’t want to knock running and other activities that burn calories in less time..

It burns some calories. At roughly the normal long marathon pace—you’ll burn about 10 calories per minute.  Not too bad at all. That’s a steady number, and if you run faster, you can burn even more.  So a half hour jog will burn about 300 calories. The average person however can only sustain 30 minutes at a normal pace before their legs totally fatigue.

That’s okay…So if running isn’t your favourite activity, there are plenty of other types of exercise that can help you torch calories at a more efficient rate. This is where hiring a personal trainer can improve your results. Parkfit Perth personal trainers recommend weighted full body circuit training.

“In general, you burn calories in less time by doing high-intensity circuit weight training than you do running,” says Doug McDade,  personal trainer at the popular Parkfit Personal Training Perth.

Most people don’t realize this, though. That’s often because the number of calories you’re told you just burned is typically estimated from the Compendium of Physical Activities, which calculates energy expended through aerobic activity.

That Compendum calculates well for low- to medium-intensity exercise, but not so well for higher-intensity weighted resistance activities that rely on anaerobic metabolism.

Moreover, when researchers at the used a more advanced method to estimate energy expenditure during exercise, they found that weight training burns up to 71 percent more calories than originally thought.  This suggests that a fast-paced circuit workout burns as many calories as running at a 16 kilometre per hour pa

Moreover traditional resistance training isn’t your only option. Think “sprints meets weights”. There are other more effective cardio boosters that can fire up your burn . We reveal 5 secret go to exercises that personal trainers like to utilize to help you burn calories in less time than running without ever having to repetitively hit the pavement.

KETTLEBELL SWING

The kettlebell swing works you so hard because it’s not a movement you’re used to,” says Dan John, a strength coach in Salt Lake city and the author of Intervention. “You’re not super efficient at it, which taxes your body.” The kettlebell swing involves an explosive push forward at the hips and activates the big energy consuming muscles of the body being glutes, hamstrings, back and core. It’s scientifically proven that activating the bigger major muscle groups burns more calories!

BURPEES

An 82 kilogram person burns about 1.43 calories per burpee, says exercise scientist and Spartan Coach Jeff Godin.  So if you can push out at least seven a minute you’re in the double digits of calorie burn already which beats the calorie burn of running.

You should aim to average at least 10 every 60 seconds which equates to a big rate of 14.3 calories per minute!

Performing just 10 burpee reps at a fast pace can rev your metabolism as much as a 30-second, all-out bike sprint…… and that makes the burpee the king cardio exercise.

TOTAL BODY PARKFIT CIRCUIT

A full body one on one PT circuit like we do at Parkfit burns an average 13 calories per minute, according to scientists at Kennesaw State University.

It’s effective because it pairs exercises like—5 pullups, 10 pushups, and 15 air squats—that work different major muscle groups, and you do as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes…then switch stations. When one muscle group rests, we work the other groups so you can ramp up the intensity and not fatigue too early in one area like running does to you.

Any fitness routine that takes you from standing position, down to the ground, and back up to standing again which is an amazing calorie burner, because it really spikes the heart rate. These types of routines are much more effective than using the machines in the gym because they activate the stabilizer muscles and not just the prime mover muscles. Full total body moves are brilliant because they make the body pump blood all the way up and then….. all the way down your body so it must work even harder to keep up.  Additionally, total body moves are better because they activate the upper and lower body which increases the calorie burn drastically especially when you include compound moves with barbells, sandbags and dumbbell free weights. However, the downside is proper execution of the lifts must be mastered and implemented to avoid injury.  This technique using free weights is best learned from a personal trainer.

TABATA JUMP SQUATS

This four-minute miracle drill burns big calories both during a workout and after. In an Auburn University study, participants who did eight rounds of all-out jump squats—20 seconds of hard work, separated by 10 seconds of rest—burned 13.4 calories per minute and doubled their post-exercise metabolic rate for at least 30 minutes. With Tabata workouts, an oxygen debt is created by the workout that the body must repay up to 13 hours post workout!

 BATTLE  ROPES

In a recent college study comparing various workout styles, battling-rope exercises came first in terms of total oxygen consumption and an average calorie burn of 10.3 calories per minute. When done properly, a simple battle rope slam done many times over activates the legs, core, back & shoulders which consume a lot of energy and calories!

Battle ropes combine elements of resistance training and cardiovascular exercise. Your muscles get a workout at the same time as your heart and lungs. When it comes to the calorie burn, training with battle ropes rivals how many calories you’d expend in a sprint workout, claims personal trainer Doug McDade. Battle ropes can be classified as high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. It is virtually impossible to train with ropes at a low or moderate intensity for a sustained period of time; rather, you have to train maximally for a short period, and then rest. The main advantage this type of training holds over traditional cardio is that not only is the calorie burn per minute higher during a HIIT session, but you also burn more calories and fat for up to 24 hours after finishing. Doug advises performing an exercise for 20 to 40 seconds, resting for 10 to 20 seconds and repeating this for 10 to 30 minutes.

In summary, if you lift weights and use moves that involve the whole body in circuit style and keep your heart rate up resisting the urge to rest, you’ll burn many many more calories in less time than running alone.

Doug McDade is known for his honest, friendly no-hype approach to health and fitness. We all lead busy lives working in offices, glass cubicles and buildings. He encourages people to unplug and reconnect to nature by exercising outdoors to breathe in the fresh air, feel the grass in their toes and absorb some much needed vitamin D from the sunshine. Lastly, as the go to personal trainer he feels it’s his duty to show people that health and fitness doesn’t have to be difficult because it needs to be a part of their everyday lives.