Wellness

Five Hottest Workout Methods of 2015

hottest-exercise
Written by Do I Editorial

Male or female, a hot bod is never out of fashion. While our lifestyle these days gives us ample reasons to remain unfit, an increased awareness has also ensured that almost everyone is committed to their bodies. The thing about workouts is that they have evolved over the decades and now they evolve practically every year. Let’s check-out a few of the hottest workouts of 2015:

  1. High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT works on alternate levels of intense activities interspersed with medium-level activity and facilitates fat burning, rise in metabolism and a boost to the level of fitness. Most effective if you are looking to build oxygen capacity of VO2 Max, HIIT is also preferred by runners. An HIIT workout is super efficient and can be fitted into your schedule however bust you are. It also burns more calories. More fat is burnt about 24 hours from the time an HIIT workout is done as compared to your usual run. Extreme training with HIIT helps the heart pump faster and ensures a healthier heart. The best part of HIIT is that no equipments are necessary. In fact, using equipments like dumbbells can make the routine less effective. HIIT ensures you lose weight, and not muscle. It allows dieters to preserve the muscle gained while ensuring that the fat goes. In the process, it also increases metabolism. The best thing about HIIT is that it can be done anywhere.

A possible HIIT routine could be – run as fast as possible on a treadmill for 30 seconds and then slow down for about 3-4 minutes of recovery; repeat the same sequence 4 times, increasing the numbers over the weeks. It is also recommended that HIIT should be done on alternate days so that you get a day of recovery.

There are experts who believe that HIIT is extremely beneficial for diabetics and can actually reverse insulin resistance. So if you are diabetic, do give some serious thought to HIIT.

Since HIIT, by its very name, involves short bursts of high intensity activities, it is best to start doing it under expert guidance.

  1. A comparatively economical option, bodyweight training takes lesser time than many other fitness options. You can do these workouts at your convenience and six steps make up your workout. Bodyweight training includes pushups, Glute Bridge, Burpee, prone hamstring raise, squat and plank. Here is a brief on how you can do them:
  • To do push-ups, get into position with your body weight on your palms and fingers of your feet. Make sure your body is parallel to the ground. Bring the weight down, keeping the back straight. Now take your body up to where it was, still parallel to the ground. Do this for 30 reps.
  • To do a Burpee, stand with your feet hip-width apart. Take your hands overhead and bring them to the ground, to rest in front of your feet while you go to the squatting position. With pressure on your palms, hop your legs backwards so that you are in the press up position. Lower your chest towards the floor. Push your chest back up and bring your legs back to the squat position. Jump up, raising both hands above your head.
  • For Glute Bridge, lie face-up with your knees bent. Bring right knee close to your chest and hold. Raise your hips off the floor until there is a straight line from your knee to your shoulder. Go back to the starting position and do with the left leg.
  • To do a squat you need to stand straight with your feet hip-width apart. Tighten the muscles of your stomach and push your lower back towards the ground. Crouch on the ground in this position for a few seconds and go back to standing position.
  • Get on the floor to do the plank position. Face down; your weight needs to rest on your palms which are shoulder-width apart and feet which are hip-width apart. Your body needs to be parallel to the ground. Hold in this position for as many seconds as you can, and get back to starting position.
  • To do the prone hamstring raise, one needs to lie down on the floor with the face towards the ceiling. Extend one leg towards the ceiling, do the same with the hands. Try to lift the hips off the ground, apply pressure there.
  1. Yoga will probably never go out of fashion. The hottest postures, put together, make your body flexible, strong and fit. This is one workout which works for your insides as well as the outsides. Your internal system, hair, skin and your physique, every part of your body benefits from yoga. It is highly advisable to learn and practice this form of exercise under expert guidance. Yoga improves flexibility, strength, and posture. It prevents cartilage and joint breakdown and it also protects your spine. Yoga assists better bone health, increases blood flow, ups the heart rate and drops blood pressure. You can regulate your adrenal glands if you do yoga. It lowers your blood sugar, makes you happy and relaxes your system, improves your balance, and even maintains your nervous system. The thing about yoga is that is has an exercise regime for all physical ailments. All you need to do is consult an expert and trust them to put together a set of postures for your body kind and ailments. People who do yoga are not only fit and flexible but also have lustrous hair and glowing skin.
  1. Strength training can be added to your regular workouts and it proves to be beneficial for the body. Strength training works on how you exhale and inhale. Watch yourself in the mirror which doing strength training. By doing so, you can keep a tab on your breathing. Ensure that your chest moves out when you breathe in and goes in when you breathe out.
  1. Digital engagement: Apps like the Nike training app, pedometers etc. are the in-things this year. Most technologically-obsessed people are turning to these apps which double as trackers, providing insights, information and records of one’s health and fitness, all stored at one place. More people have taken to walking and running since these apps became popular. Knowing how much you have walked acts as an inspiration as well as a challenge. Fitness bands have also become a rage since they can be synced with smartphones and provide a step by step record of movements, workouts, speed, calories burnt, heart rate, etc.

Choose one of the exercise routines given above and arm yourself with gadgets if these provide the motivation that most of us lack. However, even if you do not want to do any of the routines outlined above, do make it a point to be physically active. You will gain good health and you will look good.

Visual courtesy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/