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10 Best Cardio Workouts that Actually Helps in Weight Loss

Cardiovascular or cardio exercises are considered the most reliable way to speed up your weight loss journey and get in shape quickly. Cardio increases your heart rate, which eventually helps you build muscles and lose those excess pounds.

If the keto or the Mediterranean diet isn’t showing any results in reducing your weight, you should definitely give cardio exercises a shot.

When combined with a weight loss plan and a healthy lifestyle, cardio exercises can help you achieve your weight goals faster.

Cardio doesn’t just help you lose weight, but this set of moderate to intense exercises can reduce stress and emotional exhaustion. It’s good for your overall well-being.

Note: Everybody responds differently to cardio. Some might notice no change to their muscle, i.e., they’ll neither lose nor gain muscles. Others might notice toned muscles, especially those practicing cardio with weight training.

Table of Contents

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 cardio exercises for weight loss

 

1. Jumping Rope

Most of us have tried jumping rope exercises as kids. But do you know this exercise has a lot more to do with your body strength and weight than just being a source of entertainment?

Jumping rope is part of a boxer’s training routine because of two reasons—it improves your foot speed and helps burn calories.

You can burn up to 500 calories in just 30 minutes of this exercise. You also gain shoulder strength and build muscle mass with regular practice.

Jumping for 30 minutes straight, however, is not a piece of cake. You can jump fast continuously for a minute and take 30 seconds rest, or you can take intervals of fast and slow jumps (whatever sounds good).

2. Incline walking

You don’t necessarily have to step out of home for cardio. Incline walking is a great way to practice running at home while having minimal impact on your body.

Incline walking helps you burn just as many calories as you would with regular running. This cardio workout includes your calf muscles, hamstrings, and glutes—all of which help you burn calories and keep your weight in check.

Beginners can start by running at a slow pace and gradually increasing the speed. Inclined walking encourages you to take smaller strides that put enough weight on your lower legs but without putting extreme pressure on the rest of your body.

It’s also the easiest exercise one can practice toning their lower legs. Just one hour of inclined walking can burn up to 300 calories.

3. Stair Climber

Stair climber requires move leg movement and higher lifts, putting a lot of stress on your lower legs. This makes it better and more effective than walking. It can help you lose up to 600 calories an hour (double the calories you lose from incline walking).

However, the stair climber isn’t safe for people with bad knees, as the exercise puts a lot of pressure on your joints. In addition to burning calories, stair climber improves your leg endurance, which makes running, walking, and hiking easier and more enjoyable for you.

You can unleash the benefits of this leg training on hiking trails. Maintaining the correct posture is key to practicing stair climbing successfully.

You just need 10-15 rounds of stair climbing exercise every day to get a toned and fit body. That’s more than enough to burn the required number of calories a day.

But make sure you incorporate short breaks during the procedure to avoid physical and mental exhaustion after practice. 1-2 minutes of breaks after every round will suffice.

 4. Swimming

If you want whole-body exercise while keeping your cardio session fun and interesting, swimming is your best bet. It’s also a perfect way to improve your swimming skills.

Besides, who doesn’t like some time in the water? If you are a water baby with weight loss goals, you should definitely give swimming a shot.

Just 1 minute of fast swimming will help you burn up to 14 calories. Swimming is more effective when you include multiple strokes in this exercise.

A butterfly stroke is the best of all. You can also alternate the fast and slow swimming sessions based on your strength and ability to swim.

5. Cycling

An intense workout session and cardio for weight loss include cycling, which can burn up to 1,150 calories per hour, i.e., the best a cardio exercise can offer. However, that requires a serious workout session.

You can’t scroll your Instagram while pedaling. Your full focus must be on cycling and your lower feet.

Note that a moderate cycling pace isn’t very effective. It burns half the calories that you’d otherwise burn easily with a fast-paced cycling session.

If you don’t go to the gym or have cycling equipment at home, you can cycle to work. Or, you can practice cycling outdoors in the morning or whenever you get time. You can take short breaks to avoid exhaustion.

6. Rowing

If you are looking for a low-impact, high-intensity, full-body workout, you should definitely consider getting a rowing machine at home. Rowing involves your upper and lower body.

In fact, rowing for an hour alone is quite efficient in helping you burn 800 calories per hour. If you can do it with more strength and quickly, you can burn up to a thousand calories.

Usually, rowing requires a great arm’s strength so that you can keep the machine going, but it’s equally important that you use your lower legs. You should take intervals every 20 minutes.

You should continue rowing for 250 meters, take a short break (1-2 minutes) and then repeat the process for the next 20 minutes. That will count as one session.

Rowing won’t build your muscle strength magically, but practicing it continuously can help bring perfect coordination between your arms and legs.

7. Weight Training

Weight training is the fastest and most efficient way (of all methods listed above) to shed those extra pounds quickly. The best part about weight training is that you get peace of mind knowing that you are losing your body fat instead of muscle mass.

The number of calories you can burn in weight training can vary depending on the length of the session and the total weight you are carrying.

Ideally, you can burn up to 1000 calories per hour of an intense weight training session. However, weight training puts immense pressure on your upper and lower body.

You must be careful with these types of intense workout sessions, especially if you are a beginner. You must do it under a trainer’s supervision.

8. Running

Running might not be the best way to build your muscles, but it’s definitely quite effective in helping you shed the extra pounds. It also doesn’t put much pressure on your body, which makes it a low-impact cardio routine for weight loss.

You can run on the treadmill or outside (whatever is doable for you).

Running at a moderate pace, i.e., 8.5 minutes per mile, can help build your muscle strength and burn around 940 calories per hour.

It’s also the easiest cardio exercise for beginners who don’t want to lift weights or practice an intense exercise that puts too much pressure on their upper and lower bodies.

For those using the treadmill for running, an incline of 2-3% is ideal. This is what your running pace is when you run outside. This weight-loss, low-impact exercise becomes much more interesting when you run in groups.

You can join the local running community in your neighborhood or try different routes every day to keep up the interest.

9. Boxing

The exercises mentioned above are all for increasing your lower body endurance. If you are looking for a sophisticated way to lose weight while improving your upper body strength, you need to incorporate boxing into your cardio routine for weight loss.

If running on a treadmill doesn’t seem a viable option, you can try boxing. One hour of intense boxing sessions can burn up to 800 calories quickly and effortlessly.

If you are new to this, join boxing classes to learn the basics of using your upper body strength for this cardio workout. You can also try kickboxing to involve your lower body while learning the basic defense methods.

10. Kettlebells

Kettlebell isn’t a weight-loss-specific exercise, but it’s known for its excellent calorie-burning power that makes Kettlebells the best exercise for people on a weight loss journey.

It’s a blend of strength training and cardio. Most cardio exercises do little to your muscles. They can only help burn calories but don’t help you gain or lose muscle mass.

Kettlebells are an exception. An average person can burn up to 600 calories in just 30 minutes with kettlebells.

Bottom Line of Cardio Exercise for Weight Loss

Cardio workouts are great for people with weight loss goals. However, these exercises alone might not help deliver the best results.

You need to watch your diet and follow a healthy lifestyle to get better results. Start slowly with whatever exercise you choose and increase the duration over time.

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2 Comments

  1. Hey. I liked the steps mentioned to improve cardio health. My best workout is Running. It boost energy and is good for your heart. Also, swimming is best for overall body exercise. But considering winter season now, running is the best option. Thanks Wellness Mantra.

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