4 tips – Burn more calories when doing a home workout

Introduction

In this article, we share a few tips to help you stay fit at home during the coronavirus pandemic, and, above all, to make your home workout effective and efficient.

Don’t let it get you down: keep fit and healthy. We’ll support you wherever we can.

Contents

1. HIIT – High-Intensity Interval Training
2. Caffeine and theobromine improve your performance
3. Train in a higher rep range
4. Choose exercises you enjoy

1. HIIT – High-Intensity Interval Training

High-Intensity Interval Training isn’t called that for nothing. Experts repeatedly stress that this kind of training requires a particularly high level of motivation from the person doing it.

However challenging it may be, HIIT is probably the best way to burn fat and build naturally defined muscle evenly across the body.

There’s no single definitive way to do this type of training, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Where possible, structure your workout in three stages: 1. warm-up, 2. full-intensity training, 3. cool-down/stretching.
2. Use a stopwatch or an app to time your workout.
3. A workout should last about 30 minutes and consist of 5 to 6 exercises.
4. Within each set, do an exercise for about 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, then go all out again for another 30 seconds.
5. Don’t forget to stretch at the end. This also releases dopamine and helps protect you from injuries during your next workout. You can find more in-depth information in our article “Dopamine: functions, sources, production and homeostasis”.

2. Caffeine and theobromine improve your performance

Top athletes perform exceptionally well not only because they’ve trained consistently for years, but also because they’ve carefully adjusted and optimised their diet.

The great thing is that you don’t have to give up treats; it’s simply about eating mindfully and in a balanced way. To improve your overall physical wellbeing, read up on intermittent fasting.

What can you do right before a workout to get an extra energy boost, and what can you do afterwards to replenish your reserves?

Guayusa offers a great option. Indigenous people in Ecuador have traditionally used this unassuming plant for thousands of years before hunting to help them withstand the exertion. The caffeine and theobromine in Guayusa provide sustained energy and improve performance. Theobromine in particular increases oxygen uptake and significantly raises the heart’s pumping capacity. You’ll find everything you need to know about Guayusa’s effects and its ingredients and active compounds in the linked articles.

We recommend a cup of Guayusa about 30 minutes before training and another afterwards. As the warmer season approaches, a cold brew is also a particularly good option. You can drink water during your workout.

Guayusa tea after exercise replenishes your energy stores and provides minerals such as magnesium, zinc and calcium.

3. Train in a higher rep range

You should train differently depending on whether you want to build muscle and strength or improve muscular endurance.

Use short sets of 1 to 5 reps with a heavy weight to build strength; for endurance and fat burning, do more repetitions – more than 30, for example – with a lighter weight.

You can train for strength or endurance with bodyweight exercises, too. If you want to burn fat, aim for lots of repetitions. If you want to build strength, don’t underestimate the power of visualisation: imagine carrying an extra 30 kg on your shoulders during each exercise, and tense your muscles as much as possible.

Start with a low number of repetitions and gradually increase them until your final repetition.

4. Choose exercises you enjoy

What do you want from your workout? That’s the most important question. Whether you want to lose weight or build more muscle, you’ve probably decided to do something for yourself and your body because you want to feel more comfortable in your own skin. That’s why it’s important to enjoy your training.

Of course, enjoyment shouldn’t take priority over your goal: there will always be times when you have to push yourself to do an exercise. When that happens, remind yourself why you started and enjoy the effort. In our articles on productivity and time management, we share practical examples of how to set and achieve goals.

After the effort comes the reward, and you’ll feel much better. The release of dopamine is an important part of this, too.