Image of fitness squat
courtesy of Rachel Cosgrove
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Question: Any idea what green exercise is both great for your body and the environment?
Answer: Strength Training
Surprised? It all comes down to energy. Energy is an essential component when it comes to both your workout and the environment. Difference is: You want to use energy up while working out. You want to conserve energy when it comes to the environment. Fat = stored energy. What's the most efficient way to burn stored energy long term? Strength training.
How Does Muscle Burn Fat?
Rachel Cosgrove, Author of "The Female Body Breakthrough" (Rodale, November 2009) and owner of Results Fitness explains that strength training not only burns this stored energy during your workout but also boosts your metabolism to burn more stored energy for the next 24-48 hours. More than boosting your metabolism, building lean muscle mass requires more ongoing energy from your body to keep it up. Lean muscle mass not only makes you look tone and strong, it is metabolically active. Translation: the more lean body mass you have, the faster your metabolism is, the more calories you will burn when doing absolutely nothing at all. When it comes to long-term calorie burn, strength training give you the biggest bang for your buck. As far as the environment, weight training requires weights. That's it. No electricity needed--just a set of dumbbells and your own energy. Now, how green is that?!
What About Cardio?
When it comes to cardio, like yoga and running, both very green exercise activities, yes, absolutely you will experience a steady calorie burn while working out. But that burn stops as soon as your feet stop paving that pavement. Your metabolism is not affected long-term. Environmentally, lots of cardio enthusiasts opt out of an outdoor run and instead trudge along on a treadmill at the gym using precious energy from electricity, which means that you will be using less of your own stored energy (calorie burning)- that's right, those machines do a lot of the work for you. Your energy burn goes down as the environment's energy burn goes up.
Try this body weight circuit to get your metabolism going and burn some calories using only your own stored energy.
Perform the following 8 exercises in a row, one after the other with only 10-15 seconds between each one. At the end rest for 2-3 minutes and repeat. Perform 2-3 rounds.
1. Body Weight Squats
Start: Feet shoulder width apart with your arms at your sides.
Movement: Squat until your thighs are at or below parallel, return to starting position and repeat. Keep your knees tracking over your toes and your heels down the entire time.
2. Mountain Climbers
Start: In a push up position
Movement: Drive one knee up toward your chest at a time. Alternate your legs as fast as possible
3. Side Shuffles
Start: Standing with feet wider than shoulder width and knees bent as if about to jump.
Movement: Step out to the side with one foot keeping your foot facing front and quickly shuffle your other foot to meet it and then step out again and continue shuffling in one direction for 5-10 repetitions then switch directions. The entire time keep your knees bent staying low but eyes up looking at the horizon.
4. Alternating Body weight Lunges
Start: Stand with feet shoulder width apart.
Movement: Step forward with one foot into a lunge keeping your body upright and core tight. Drive off that foot and return to the start position. Repeat with the opposite leg alternating lunging with one foot and then the other.
5. Jump Squats
Start: Standing with feet wider than shoulder width bend into a squat keeping your knees over your toes and heels down.
Movement: Then drive up from the bottom of the squat into a jump as high as you can in the air. As you land bend into a squat again. Repeat.
6. Plank with alternating hand step ups
Start: On your elbows and toes with your back in a straight line and abdominals drawn in tight keeping you stable
Movement: No movement. This is a static exercise in which you will hold this position without letting your back arch as you keep your abdominals tight.
7. Lateral Lunges alternating
Start: Standing with your feet together.
Movement: Step out to the right with your right left and bend that leg as you reach your hands to floor while lowering your hips with most of your weight on that right leg. Push off that leg and return to the start position. Repeat on the opposite side.
8. Split Jacks
Start: From a standing position with arms at side.
Movement: Jump and land with one foot in front, one foot behind. With straight arms swing the opposite arm forward to the leg that is forward. This is very similar to a jumping jack motion except it is front to back instead of out to the sides.
Rest 2-3 minutes
Repeat
More Content on Resistance Training:
Can Low Impact Resistance Training Save You From A Heart Attack?
How to Go Green: Workouts
Get in Shape Without Leaving Home
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