One of the easiest and most accurate ways to increase your work out intensity while still training at a safe level is to monitor your heart rate during exercise. In order for this method to be effective you must first determine your max heart rate (220-age= MHR), the intensity in which you exercise is determined by a percentage of this number.

50%-60% of MHR for the average person is considered a warm up, but depending on your body composition and fitness level you may want to stay in this zone longer, you will come back down to this heart rate during your cool down as well.

70%-80% of MHR would be considered your training zone, this is where you want to be for the bulk of your cardio work out, depending on your training level you can last here for 15-40 minutes (longer for athletes.)

80%-90% of MHR is usually accomplished during interval training , this is when we exercise at a lower intensity for a set amount of time and then increase intensity for a set time then back and forth between the two. This is one of the most effective training methods, numerous studies have shown that exercisers using this method have lost more weight and burn more calories through out the rest of the day then those who exercise at a set intensity for a longer amount of time. Those new to fitness should first build up some cardiovascular endurance before beginning an interval training program as it can be a bit of a shock to the system.

Its important to know your heart rate so that you know whether or not you are over exerting yourself or not during exercise, this can be done by either pausing during activity and taking your pulse for 10 seconds and multiplying that number by 6, or more effectively with a heart rate monitor worn on the wrist.

1. Add lemon juice to your water, studies have shown 500 milligrams of ascorbic acid (found in lemon juice) can increase your metabolism by 33%.

2. Incorporate interval training into your workout routine, according to the American College of Sports Medicine you can burn more calories by performing higher intensity activities for a shorter period of time rather than lower intensity activities over a longer duration. What this means is rather than jogging for 40 minutes you could sprint for 2 minutes followed by 2 minutes of speed walking for a 30 minute time period and still burn more calories. Please note that a specific program should be tailored for your own fitness level by a qualified professional.

3. Eat Breakfast, essentially when you wake your taking your body out of an 8 hour or sometimes longer fast, by eating breakfast you jumpstart your system and enter an energy burning mode, while waiting too long to eat can trigger “starvation mode” and cause your body to store calories as fat. Make breakfast your largest meal of the day and try to eat within an hour of waking, its been proven over and over that people who lose weight are most successful at keeping it off when they eat breakfast.

4. Don’t cut too many calories, when you decreases your caloric intake to anywhere below 1200 calories you are more or less telling your body “I’m short on food” signalling it to store any extra calories as a fat reserve, always remember that we are still working with the body of caveman and this is the bodies natural response to starvation.

5. Eat foods that take more energy to digest, there are certain foods such as celery, cucumbers, zucchini, cauliflower, and cabbage (plus many more) that actually take more calories to digest than they actually contain, adding these foods to your meals not only beefs up the fibre to make you more full but actually creates a calorie deficit plus you are adding much needed vitamins and minerals to your diet.

6. Go in a sauna, research has shown that going in an infrared sauna can actually increase your metabolism by 20% throughout the rest of your day.