9 Tips to Reach Your Fitness Goals This Year

Bust Out of Your Cardio Rut

Feel like a zombie as you plod through your daily 30-minute jog on the treadmill? "Short, explosive workouts can double your fitness level," says Kara I. Gallagher, PhD, an assistant professor of exercise physiology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Result: You'll be able to burn more calories in any aerobic workout that you do (and that's motivation aplenty!). Try the following 15-minute sprint session, developed by trainer Deb Feairheller of West Chester, Pennsylvania, three times a week in addition to your regular workout. Do each move for 30 seconds, taking 15 seconds to recover in between. Repeat three times through. After two weeks, you'll see a noticeable difference in your performance.

1. Air boxing: Stand with knees slightly bent, hands in fists under chin. Rapidly punch directly in front of you, alternating sides.
2. Jump up and down two stairs.
3. Run up and down the stairs.
4. Step lunge, skipping every other step, to the top of stairs. Holding railing, carefully descend backward, skipping every other step.
5. Squat jumps: Squat down. Place hands on floor and hop legs back to push-up position. Do a push-up, then hop back to squat and jump up. Rest for 90 seconds; repeat.