CREDIT: CHRIS CLINTON / DIGITALVISION / THINKSTOCK
Stability ball exercises are a great way to challenge your balance and strengthen your core muscles.

No matter what exercise or routine you are on, there are several ways you can amplify the total calorie burn. Here are six ways to do just that.

1. A full range of motion at the joints may be difficult, but it will ignite the intensity in no time. As long as your flexibility allows it and you are able to control the load or weight you are lifting without swinging or jerking, you can then take your movement a bit further. For example, lower your hips more when you squat but maintain form with knees behind toes.

2. Add more weight or resistance. Once you have made the intensity too easy by increasing the range of motion, add weight or resistance in small increments. An extra two to five pounds on your bar or dumbbells will help make you stronger and so will increasing the resistance on your cardio machine. If you’ve been on the same routine of exercises, then try increasing resistance or weight at the five-week mark or when the exercise becomes too easy.

3. Add power to your movements. This has to be done carefully and is not right for every exercise. You need to be in control of the movement. A good way to do this is to think of a slingshot; part of the move is executed slowly to build anticipation and also use full strength and range of motion and the second part is to let go and quickly release the movement. It’s best to try most power moves without any weight first, but there are many exercises you can do with kettle bells, dumbbells, weighted vests, etc. These kind of movements help improve your speed, agility and coordination.

4. Change the angle that you are exercising on. This can include bench adjustments, the cardio machine ramp adjustments or moving your body in a different way against gravity. For example, try push ups with your feet elevated on a step or take your run on a route with hills.

5. Challenge your balance and stability. Many movements in yoga can be transferred into other exercises in the weight room in order to improve your balance. It will help to strengthen all the muscles that stabilize the joints and help you perform the exercise or make improvements. You can try an offset grip bench press, a single leg deadlift, single leg squat, side planks, etc. You can also use tools such as a stability ball, bosu ball or wobble board.

6. Try circuit training or rapidly moving from one exercise to the next. Generally you still want to work from large muscle groups to small, so you can do multiple sets of an exercise, but your rest intervals should be filled with an exercise for the core muscles or with using a cardio machine or short aerobic exercise, such as jogging up and down a step. The idea is to keep moving and to rest one body part while working another.

Some people are afraid of reducing muscle size if they increase overall calorie burn. You just need to choose wisely and the results can still be great muscle gains with substantial fat loss. Consult with a trainer at the fitness centre to help find what the best routine is for you.