Shape Up: The Metabolism Boosting Workout

If you’ve ever had one of those morning workouts that makes you feel like you continue to burn calories throughout the entire day, you know what a great feeling it is. You’re energized, alert, healthy, and have a great appetite at meal times. For the longest time, I didn’t know why certain workouts of mine made me feel like this and others didn’t. So, I finally hit the books (I mean, internet) and researched what factors make your workout one that boosts your metabolism.

What I found was that the trick to doing a fat burning workout is having high-intensity bursts of cardio in between your sets of strength training moves. This not only increases your calorie burn during your workout, but helps your body to continue to burn all day long. It also tricks your body, which is ideal when you’re exercising: Just when you’re getting used to the cardio, it’s time to switch back to the weights. With this in mind, I put together a tried-and-tested metabolism boosting workout. This sequence is one of my favorites, and it will tone your entire body.

All you need is a pair of running shoes and some weights. Ready? Here we go…

The Metabolism Boosting Workout

1. Warm up: jog at 5.0 speed (5 minutes)
2. Strength Training

Round the world lunges (20)
Tricep dips (15)
Bicep curls with 5lb weights (15)

3. Cardio:

Burpees (20)
Jump-change lunges with 5 lb weights (20)
Sprint at 8.0-10.0 speed (1 minute)

{Repeat three times!

4. Abs:

Plank (1 minute)
50 crunches
50 bicycle crunches

{Repeat three times!}

Total time: 45 minutes

Here are a few things to know about this workout

Make sure you stretch before and after doing this workout to prevent an injury.
You will repeat the strength training cardio workout three times. Make sure you are doing 5 minutes of jogging first thing, then after each sprint, and at the end again as your cool down.
I recommend sprinting at a speed between 8.0 and 10.0 on the treadmill, but if that feels too fast for you, work up to what feels like a sprint. Every person is different, so do what’s right for you. As you do this workout more often, you will find that your sprint speed becomes faster!
This is one of the longer workouts we’ve shared here on LaurenConrad.com, so make sure to leave 45 minutes to an hour for it. If you’re in a time crunch, simply decrease the number of times you repeat each set.
Don’t forget to eat a lean, healthy protein right after working out to maximize your energy and rebuild those muscles. Click here for some yummy snack ideas.

And here’s how to do each strength-training move in case you’re not sure: