Exercise improves everything about your overall health. It effects how well you sleep, burn fat, your overall mood, energy levels and of course how fast and how many calories you burn. Generally, a fitness routine should promote a balance of both health benefits and healthy weight loss and maintenance.  This comes from incorporating both cardio and strength exercises into your routine. For anyone who has set a fitness goal for themselves well knows, putting in the time to burn the calories and target the right muscle groups to reach those goals can be taxing.  Not only physically, but mentally.  And most are much quicker to quit because of mental limitations during a workout, or sometimes boredom, than actually physical limitations of the body.  This is where the saying, ‘mind over matter’ really comes into play.  The question is how can you trick yourself into burning more calories without feeling like you are?

Here are some tips on making your workout work for you.  That is, burning the most amount of calories without the mental fatigue that comes from watching the calorie counter on the treadmill. Doing something that captures, or stimulates your mind, can help you burn calories without even realizing it. 

Here are some of our best suggestions:

·       Make a workout playlist: Music is a mind’s escape, but it can also bring your workout to new heights.  Listening to music can help you zone out during a run, or track your pace, or help you to focus on something other than the burn in your thighs.  Fast music can help to mentally pump you up to perform more intense workouts.  Similarly a lower tempo playlist can help you get through stretching or flexibility work outs that might have your thoughts racing otherwise.

·       Take advantage of a beach vacation: a lot of people take a break from their work out during vacations to maximize rest and relaxation.  Instead of taking a break use a beach vacation to take advantage of the change of weather and the beach.  Running on the sand boosts your calorie burn rate because it makes your body have to work twice as hard to get over it. You expend at least 150% more energy and burn more calories running on sand than on hard surfaces—and it actually makes you faster.

·       Take a hike:  The physical exertion it takes to hike a mountain trail is much more than you think.  Trekking through the different types of terrain and changes in elevation is an intense, calorie burning workout for your body.  But don’t worry, the exploration and adventure of a hiking trail will definitely keep your mind from realizing what is really happening. Changing up your routine, and getting outdoors and keep working out fun and challenging for you.