[asdff]

What about a ladder workout? We did these in track and field and it was a brutal burn that would send people puking by the fence by the end and not being able to walk up stairs for a few days after. You'd run a 100m, short rest, 200m, rest, 300m, rest, 400m, rest, 300m, rest, 200m, rest, 100m, then you are simply cooked. Two weeks of this though and you are whipped back into shape for track season.

[edanm]

I don't have exact figures, but the amount of calories burned in very strenuous activity is about 3 times "light" activity like walking (I think - would love a legit reference though!)

So let's say you do the ladder routine. I don't have any idea how fast people typically sprint, but let's take 2 minutes per sprint - we have 100 twice, 200 twice, 300 twice, and 400, for a total of 7 sprints - so we'll say 14 minutes (and I think I'm exaggerating up?) In terms of calories burned, this is the "same" as a 45 minute walk.

I assume, by the way you describe it (people can't walk up stairs for a few days, people puking) that this is very hard on people. They're probably not doing this every day.

As opposed to walking 45 minutes, which is incredibly easy and won't make anyone feel bad, and you can definitely do every day.

Of course, I'm only talking calories burned here - for health and for improving conditioning, of course you need something more strenuous!