Top 10 Cardio Exercises for Weight Loss

Losing weight is a lot of hard work that requires a proper diet alongside a combination of strength training and cardio. Are you planning to shed some pounds? Then, take a look at this curated list of cardio exercises for weight loss.

Keep scrolling to find the best exercises and tips to lose weight the right way.

Rather than spending bucks on gym equipment, you can find ways of doing cardio for weight loss. Moreover, cardio exercises make the process of losing weight much more fun.

Here are some forms of cardio that you can try:

1. Walking

It is a simple and convenient form of cardio exercise to burn calories. Though it is a low-impact activity, walking can keep an individual active and fit. It also strengthens one’s muscles and bones.

Moreover, to make walking effective for weight loss, one needs to increase the pace. Brisk walking or fast walking can do the job. In addition, walking prevents an individual from various medical conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.

An individual who walks fast and frequently will notice a significant loss in his/her weight. Furthermore, you can walk on a treadmill or go hiking.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings or evenings
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoor or treadmill
• Duration: 30 minutes of brisk walking can reduce 150 calories a day

2. Jumping Ropes

Jumping rope is also a part of cardio exercises. A plyometric workout, this cardio increases the heartbeats leading to significant calorie reduction.

In addition, jumping ropes is a fun way of breaking the monotony while working out. One can include exercises like split jumps, jumping jacks, and box jumps into his/her routine. This will make cardio more effective.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings or evenings
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoors. You can also jump ropes at your home if you have the space.
• Duration: 20 minutes of jumping rope helps reduce about 200 calories a day.

3. Climbing Stairs

Climbing stairs is one of the popular forms of cardio exercise for weight loss. This involves using the complete body. As climbing stairs involves lifting the legs with every step, this activity strengthens your legs and core muscles.

So, consider taking the stairs instead of an elevator. However, this exercise can strain one’s joints and put pressure on his/her knees. Therefore, older individuals or the ones with bone-related issues should seek professional advice before they begin climbing stairs as a cardio workout.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Whatever time suits you
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoors and indoors
• Duration:To burn 500 calories in a day, an individual needs to climb about 30 flights of stairs.

4. Burpees

This is one of the best exercises to lose fat as it combines jumps, squats and pushups. Moreover, an individual needs to involve all the body parts to perform burpees. In addition,  the muscle groups in one’s legs, chest, and core are trained in the process.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings (to improve sleep cycle)
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoor and indoor
• Duration: To burn 50 calories, one needs to perform 100 burpees.

5. High-intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

This form of cardio forces an individual to give maximum effort. Unlike regular exercises, an individual needs to work hard for 20-30 seconds with 10-20 seconds of rest interval in between. Therefore, it involves a quick and intense set of exercises followed by short recovery periods.

Usually, cardio increases the heart rate, which leads to burning more fat in less time. HIIT workouts condition and train the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems of the body. It also improves the cardiovascular fitness level of an individual.

You can also include cycling, running, elliptical machines, swimming, and weights in your HIIT regime.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings (to improve sleep cycle)
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoors as well as indoors
• Duration: To burn calories, 30-40 minutes of HIIT with a heart rate above 90% is suggested.

6. Cycling

This low-impact exercise strengthens the leg muscle and improves heart health. In addition, outdoor cycling can help an individual in burning calories. It also improves blood circulation requirements. Therefore, individuals who are uncomfortable cycling outdoors can invest in an indoor bicycle.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Morning (to improve sleep cycle)
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoors and indoors
• Duration: An individual can burn about 300 calories with 60 minutes of cycling.

7. Kettlebells

A kettlebell can be used to perform higher intensity workouts. In fact, kettlebell workouts are an effective way of weight reduction. By using this canon-shaped ball, an individual can combine strength training with cardio. Furthermore, kettlebell training supports an individual’s cardiovascular endurance while enhancing body balance, muscle strength, and flexibility.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings or evenings
• Best Place for This Exercise: Indoors
• Duration: One burns approximately 100 calories from 100 kettlebell swings.

8. Swimming

Swimming is also a cardio workout that affects your entire body. While swimming, one tries to remain afloat or break out of the water, forcing the whole body to react.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings or evenings
• Best Place for This Exercise: Indoors or outdoors, depending upon the location of a pool
• Duration: An individual can start with 15 to 20 minutes of swimming sessions every day. Eventually, one can increase this duration to 30 minutes.

9. Rowing

Rowing is a full-body exercise that works on triceps, glutes, biceps, shoulders, quads, back, and hamstrings. In addition, it helps in strength training, which is an added advantage. 

• Best Time for This Exercise: Morning (to improve sleep cycle)
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoors
• Duration: One should complete at least 30–50 minutes of rowing 5-6 times a week for best results.

10. Sprinting

Sprinting is an excellent exercise that aids weight loss. As this intense workout requires the involvement of the whole body, the results are quick. Moreover, it burns huge amounts of calories in the least amount of time.

• Best Time for This Exercise: Mornings or evenings
• Best Place for This Exercise: Outdoors or indoors (on a treadmill)
• Duration: Sprinting in a session of 20 minutes thrice a week helps reduce nearly 4 pounds or 1.9 kg of body fat in 12 weeks.

Practising cardio exercise for weight loss elevates your heart rate. This increased heart rate indicates that the body is burning excess fat. Certain individuals prefer a high-intensity cardio workout as it is the quickest way to burn calories through physical training. 

A form of aerobic exercise, it relies on the body’s ability to control oxygen reaching the muscle to burn energy and fat. Hence, in order to lose weight and maintain it, one needs to include cardio exercises into their workout regime for at least 300 minutes a week.

Moreover, it is imperative to set a target or weight goal. In this regard, one can follow the Body Mass Index or BMI results and plan an exercise schedule. In addition, considering the body shape and existing medical conditions is also essential before starting cardio.

In some cases, a trainer may suggest going for high-intensity workouts, which support muscle strength and allow you to shed weight. That said, following this suggestion blindly can be harmful to one’s health. Instead, an individual can start from low-intensity exercises and gradually move to more intense ones.

Some of the additional benefits of cardio exercises are:

• Healthy Heart: Cardio exercises increase your heart rate. This keeps the heart active, healthy, and strong. As the overall cardiovascular health is improved, the risk of cardiac issues is lowered.
• Boosts Your Mood: Cardiovascular exercise makes the brain release the feel-good chemicals known as endorphins. As a result, a cardio workout uplifts the mood of an individual. In addition, these exercises improve one’s mental health.
• Strengthens Immunity: Cardio exercise also supports the immune system. Furthermore, it reduces the chances of bacterial infection by keeping the body active. 
• Improves Blood Circulation: These exercises improve blood circulation, which helps the body to eliminate toxins. Generally, poor blood circulation can lead to serious health complications, such as cardiovascular disease.

Cardio exercises for weight loss, such as brisk walking and jogging, are safe for most individuals and help in losing weight.

However, doctors restrict an individual from performing cardio exercises if they have medical conditions like:

• Heart Disease
• Kidney Issues
• Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes
• Arthritis
• High or Low Blood Pressure
• Cancer-Related Treatment 

Additionally, beginners in this exercise should begin moderate level cardio to avoid severe body aches or injuries.

Now that you know about cardio exercise, consider giving it a try. However, do not forget to include a healthy diet and 8 hours of sleep to achieve this goal. Moreover, combining your cardio regime with strength training will help you burn unwanted fat easily and quickly.