Burn More Calories by Cutting Back at the Gym

An excuse to go to the gym less? Yes, please.
An excuse to go to the gym less? Yes, please.

We're all for eating right and working out to stay fit. But when scientists tell us we can slack a little…yeah, we're not going to say no to that.

By Korin Miller

That's why we were amped to read a new study that found you can burn up to 200 extra calories a day after working out for just 2.5 minutes. Yup, you read that right.

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For the study, researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Colorado tracked how much energy participants burned on two different days. On one day, they did a sprint interval workout on a stationary bike; on the other day, they didn't work out.

Related: How to Find Your Ideal Weight

Scientists discovered that participants had a big uptick in calorie burning on the workout day, even though they only did intense sprint intervals for five 30-second periods with four minutes of slow pedaling with little resistance in between. After their short workout, the participants mostly hung out, watching movies and socializing-and they still burned extra calories.

It's still important to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day, but, if you're pressed for time at the gym, follow our motto: Go big or go home. Your bod will thank you later.

Read more at Cosmopolitan.com!

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