Top Five Fastest Ways to Burn Calories Without Ever Leaving Your Home

In today's busy world time is a precious commodity. Whether it's an intimidating boss breathing down your neck, a couple of screaming kids, or just simply the spoils of modern life, many people will tell you that they just don't have time for exercise. I understand how busy life can get, especially for people with children, so I have put together this list of the top five fastest ways to burn calories quickly without leaving your home to help all of you. In fact, you won't even need expensive equipment to complete these exercises. This way if you ever find yourself with even 15 minutes to spare (like between making dinner and eating it), you can ensure that the exercises you are doing will maximize your calorie burning potential.

Because the science of calculating how many calories are burned during exercises is not exact, and the fact there are many different body types, the data presented below has been averaged. Please understand that your results will likely vary. With that said, my research has uncovered five of the most calorie burning activities that you can perform in your spare time at home.

No, this exercise isn't exactly what it sounds like. It is, however, a great exercise to work your quadriceps - the largest muscle in your body. The exercise is performed by starting from a standing position with your feet pointed forward about shoulder width apart. Next, squat down until your thighs are approximately parallel to the floor. Make sure that your knees do not go past the tips of toes and that your back is straight. After you have reached this position you can return to the starting position. Congratulations, you have performed 1 squat. Now all you have to do is perform as many squats as you can for as long as you can to get a great workout.

Squats burn about 0.096 calories per pound of body weight per minute. So a 150lb person squatting continuously (and rapidly) for 15 minutes would burn about 216 calories. That is quite a bit of calories for such a short period of time. Even 5 minutes of this exercise will burn loads of calories while giving your metabolism a quick boost.

Rope Jumping (or is it Jumping Rope?) is a fantastic cardio-vascular workout that can be used to melt the fat right off of your body in no time flat. A vigorous and skilled rope jumper weighing in at 150lbs can easily burned more than 211 calories in a fifteen minute period. Not only is this a great exercise, it is easy to do and only requires a small piece of equipment to perform. If you don't have a jump rope handy, you can always perform the exercise with out one. In the end the calorie burn and health benefits are essentially the same.

If you have a hallway at your home (or even a large living room) with 40 to 50ft of space then you can perform this awesome exercise. Hallway sprints are just like the wind sprints that you probably did in your High School Physical Education Class except that you are running in your house instead of at a gym or a football field. Start this exercise by standing at the end of the hallway in a runner's position. Next, use your body to explode off of the starting line to reach your fastest physical speed in the shortest possible time. Be sure to slow down just before you reach the end of your hallway or you may have to call a repairman and an ambulance. Once you've reached the end of the hall, quickly turn around and repeat the sprint. A 150lb person can burn up to 189 calories doing hallway sprints in just a fifteen minute period.

If you're lucky enough to be the proud owner of stairs in your house, then you should be happy to know that these structures can actually double as a great piece of exercise equipment. Simply running up and down stairs for a short period of time can easily burn enough calories to offset the donuts that you found in the break room this morning. Stair climbing is such a great exercise that a 150lb person can easily burn more than 166 calories in a fifteen minute period. When you're done with this exercise I bet you will feel like a million bucks. You'll probably regret eating those donuts as well.

Shadow boxing is an easy way to burn calories quickly. This exercise engages your entire body and only requires a small room to adequately complete it. All you need to do is assume a fighter's stance and begin throwing out as many punches and kicks as you can. If you're not sure what a fighter's stance is you should probably go watch some Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris movies. In the end, the secret to making this exercise effective is to imagine that you are fighting a strong opponent and that your punches and kicks are connecting with them in targeted locations. Be sure to perform blocks, ducks, and other moves that normal fighters do in the ring as well. It's also important to keep moving around the room as you fight. This will add some realism to your shadow boxing while ensuring that you heart rate stays up for the fight. If performed vigorously, a 150lb person can easily burn more than 139 calories while shadow boxing for fifteen minutes.

Below is a table that summarizes the exercises in this article and the amount of calories burned for a variety of human sizes. The calories listed in the table are for performing the exercise or activity for a fifteen minute period without stopping. Please understand that these numbers are averaged and that your results may vary.

^{FitDay. How Many Calories Burned? May 1, 2013. <http://www.fitday.com/webfit/burned/calories_burned_Swimming_crawl_slow_50_yards_per_min_moderate_or_light_effort.html>}

^{Free Dieting: The Weight Loss Guide. Calories Burned - Activity Calculator. May 1, 2013 <http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm>}

^{NutriStrategy. Calories Burned During Exercise, Activities, Sports and Work. May 1, 2013. <http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm>}

^{The Mayo Clinic: Exercise for Weight Loss: Calories Burned in 1 Hour. December 1, 2011 <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109>}