High intensity workouts are not for the faint of heart. If you’re serious about burning calories and want to see some serious results right away, using high intensity workouts can be one fast shortcut to your destination.

Using high intensity workouts requires concentration and determination. Your muscles, lungs and heart are going to be screaming for you to stop, but you need to keep going anyway.

Here’s how to use high intensity workouts to blast some calories off your body in a single exercise session.

Start with Stretching and Warm-Up

A lot of people consider stretching and warming up optional. If you plan on doing high intensity workouts, however, these two steps cannot be optional at all.

The risk of injury without stretching and warming up are quite high. Also, you won’t be able to work out as hard if you’re not properly warmed up beforehand.

Start by stretching your entire body for 3-5 minutes. Then get on the treadmill or stationary bike and exercise at a moderate pace for 7 minutes.

This will get your blood pumping and your body ready for your high intensity workout.

Go at 90% of Maximum Heart Rate

High intensity workouts typically involve going at about 90% of your maximum heart rate. Use the heart rate monitor on your gym’s workout machines or your own heart rate monitor to gauge how hard you’re working out.

How long should you go for? The goal is to push your body until your body is so tired that it’ll need the entire rest of the day to recover from the workout.

This gets your body into a state called EPOC or “Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.” In other words, you’ll be burning weight for the entire rest of the day.

In the beginning, your ability to push yourself hard might not be that high. However, as you get more practice with high intensity training, you’ll be able to go longer and longer periods of time at this 90% heart rate.

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A Few Exercises You Can Try

What kinds of exercises are well suited for high intensity training?

Running and cycling are two of the most popular choices. These two choices are easy to perform and easily get your heart rate up. A lot of people also find them to be the most enjoyable exercise for them.

On the other hand, you’ve got more fringe exercises that also work quite well.

Boxers find that jump ropes work great for high intensity training. You can push yourself very far using just a single jump rope.

Another possibility is rowing. Rowing equipment is underused in most gyms, but it really works out your cardiovascular system along with many major muscle groups.

Again, high intensity workouts aren’t for everyone. They get results and they get results fast, but you need some serious determination to even attempt these kinds of workouts.