Time to Warm-Up!

With Thanksgiving over and Christmas just around the corner, the temperature is finally beginning to drop while the panic of the holiday and finals week is only rising. During this season of the year, we get stressed, distracted and tired, making it all too tempting to skip the exercise our body needs. "I don't have the time" or pushing exercise off until "tomorrow" are excuses all of us, myself included, have used. Luckily, there's a way to schedule in exercise this holiday season, and it only takes 10 to 20 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. It's called burst training and according to Dr. Axe, it's an easy, safe and efficient way to lose weight and burn fat.

Because of these reasons, burst training or HIIT (high intensity interval training) has been growing in popularity. In the words of Dr.Axe, HIIT "involves exercising at 90-100 percent of your maximum heart rate for 30-60 seconds followed by 30-60 seconds of lower intensity exercise or resting."

One of the great aspects of burst training is how accessible it is. Many of the exercises don't require equipment, so it's not neccessary to have a gym membership. All you need is some open space. Seems simple enough, but what kind of exercises are part of burst training? Dr. Axe gives a few examples such as running in place, jumping jacks and jumping rope. Squat pulses and high jumps are also good burst exercises.


These are only a few burst training exercises. Some exercises that I find work well for burst training are burpees, jumping squats, push ups and bicycle abs. Exercises like these are a great way to get your heart rate up and burn fat. Here's one of Dr. Axe's burst training videos!