“Losing Fat” is way harder than just saying it. There’s no magic pill that makes you shed fat. For burning calories, you must shed more calories than you are consuming. Cardio works are really effective in keeping your body’s weight in control while strengthening your muscles while regulating your overall health. Following are the cardio workouts that help in keeping your body’s weight in control.
Other Benefits of Cardio Workouts
As mentioned earlier, cardio workout is the most effective way of burning fat. Besides this, incorporating these exercises in your daily regimen gives the following benefits.
Regulate the heart health: Elevating your heart rate, helps in making your heart muscles strong while decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases & different problematic conditions. American Heart Association suggests at least 150-minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week.
Boosts the mood: Cardio exercises enable the brain to produce endorphins, (feel-good hormones) they are responsible for balancing the mood & keeping your depressive thoughts at lowest.
Boosts the Immunity: Cardio workouts strengthen your immune system, help you in reducing the body’s risk of getting bacterial infection & prevent diseases.
Helps the blood Circulation: Cardiovascular workouts improve the blood circulation, which enables the body to get rid of toxins while keeping you healthy.
1) Cycling
Most of the time you will find stationary bikes unoccupied in the gyms. There’s a reason behind it that most people do not wait to use it. You have to use it at a higher and intense weight, that involves without any distraction and diversion. Performing the indoor cycling/spin class, at an average of 180-lb. Can make you burn upto 1,150 calories in an hour, a moderate ride will make you burn only half of that amount which is upto 675 calories in an hour. Performing intervals on the stationary bike is an effective and amazing way of maximizing the calorie burn in a very limited time. You must keep its intensity high during the intervals for a few minutes, then slow down for a short period of time. Keep on repeating as long as you can. This workout is very helpful in burning calories and strengthening your lower body.
2) Heavy Bag Workout
It’s a cardio workout mainly done by boxers, they do it for hiking up their boxing game. In this exercise, you are required to punch the boxing bag after wearing your boxing gloves hanging at your front as hard as you can at higher intensity, as long as you possibly can. It’s a high intensity interval training workout that actively engages your core, and upper body. Few minutes of heavy bag workout helps alot with defining your core and torso muscle. Also builds strength and improves endurance.
3) Swimming
It’s a full-body aquatic activity that starts with you treading in water. In this activity you fight gravity and the muscles work harder for keeping you afloat. Without a second of break as long you are inside the water. A minute of swimming helps in burning 14 calories. Each stroke you do in water creates a difference. You can incorporate different kinds of strokes depending upon your preference and the intensity you want to perform it. Simple treading in water is one of the most effective ways. You can also perform a few laps, followed by a water-treading interval, and repeating the same sequence. If you are capable of swimming at a higher level, make sure you swim as fast as possible. You don’t necessarily have to be a super swimmer to perform the intervals, you can swim deep down into the pool & back, then slow swim at the same distance.
4) Burpees
Start this workout by getting into the squat position with both of the knees bent, your back straight & feet opened at your shoulder-distance apart. Then lower the hands closer towards the floor at your front, in a way that they come in between your feet. Then with your whole weight placed on the hands, try kicking the feet back so that the hands & toes come in the pushup position. By keeping your whole body aligned in a single line from your head to toe perform a pushup. Keep in mind that the back does not sag and butt does not stick up in the air. Then perform a frog kick, jump on the feet back to getting back into the position you started. After that stand & reach both of your arms over the head. Do a quick Jump in the air and land back where you started from. While landing, get into the squat position & perform another rep.
5) Jumping rope
Jumping rope exercise is not tricky, it is as simple as you used to perform it during your childhood. Here are a few details to it that you should know. Start this workout by grabbing the handle with each of your hands, with hanging the rope at your back at the level of your heels. For moving the rope, start by gently rotating your forearms into the forward position & then twisting your wrists for generating the momentum & swing it overhead. While the rope swings over your head, bend both of your knees a little. Once rope has passed the shins, take a small jump by springing the toes. Then move towards mastering the timing of this exercise. Once you are done with getting the few jumps down, you will know how you can jump up naturally. While you hop, make sure you land back on your feet. It will keep you quick & nimble. As the calves get tired quickly.
6) Sprinting
Performing sprints outside, on the treadmill, or in the stairs works amazingly well for burning most of your calories in very less amount of time. You do not need any additional equipment; it can be done almost anywhere. Sprinting is a very simple activity; it helps in burning extra calories. While steady running or jogging enable you to burn loads of calories, increased speed & intensity will also pay off. Best thing about this exercise is it doesn’t leave any of your muscles unscathed. If you are performing them outside you can keep a lap of jogging. Keep on repeating it as long as you can do it easily. If you are running on the treadmill, consider performing the sprints upto 20-30 minutes. After that, slow down for a few minutes before repeating. Make sure you run as fast as you can during the sprints followed by short slowing breaks. Running down the stairs isn’t a good idea, you can use your going down periods as rest periods.
7) Kettlebells
This kettlebell exercise is not a cardio-only workout, it’s calorie-burning effects are high which made this exercise to this list. Kettlebell exercises lie at a junction which features the best of both worlds. Strengthening training & cardio. Recent research regarding calorie-burning such exercises states that you should perform it for at least 20 minutes. It’s a high aerobic activity. With maximized calorie expenditure. Only a number of cardio workouts build your muscle and this particular workout is an exception. You can burn upto 400-600 calories in just 30-minutes.
If you are enabled to perform a movement upto 40 to 50 reps, there’s a probability that the kettlebell workout is not too heavy on you. You shouldn’t go too lightly either. An effective approach to performing kettlebell workout is maximizing calorie burn by performing a moment for 30-40 secs. And then repeating the same cycle followed by the rest periods in between.