5 Best Cardio Exercises for Fat Loss

Cardio exercises make your heart beat faster. These workouts are essential for fat loss because the faster your heart beats, the more fat you burn.

You need up to 300 minutes of moderate physical activity a week to lose weight or keep it off. That takes about an hour a day, five days a week, on average.

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Best Cardio Exercises for Fat Loss

Check out these five best cardio exercises to aid you in your fat loss journey.

1) Sprinting

Sprints are a great way to burn the most calories in the shortest amount of time. You can do them outside, on a treadmill, or even upstairs or bleachers. You don't need much in the way of equipment to do this workout, and you can do them just about anywhere.

Sprinting is easy, and it burns a lot of calories. If you want to lose weight, it's the best thing to do. Running or jogging at a steady pace burns a lot of calories, but increasing your speed and intensity can really help.

Here's how to do it:

• Try sprinting one lap and jogging another if you're outside on a track. Repeat that as many times as you can.
• If you're on a treadmill, sprint hard for 20 to 30 seconds. Slow down the belt, and jog for a minute or so before doing it again.
• At a stadium or on a flight of stairs, run as fast as you can to the top, and jog or walk down.
• Running down stairs or bleachers is never a good idea, so use the part that goes down for your active rests.
• Lift your knees up high to work your glutes well and build sprinter power quickly.

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2) Swimming

Swimming is a workout for the entire body and starts as soon as you put your feet in the water.

You're basically fighting gravity, so your muscles have to work harder to keep you afloat till you get out of water. In fact, you can burn 14 calories in just one minute of brisk swimming.

Don't forget that the type of stroke matters too. The butterfly burns more calories than the breast stroke, so make sure to train with different strokes.

Here's how to do swimming for fat loss:

• To burn calories in water, an easy way is to tread water. You can do a few laps; take a break to tread water, and do it again.
• If you can swim well, swim as fast for as long as you can.
• If you're not a strong swimmer, try swimming in short bursts: Swim as fast as you can down the length of the pool and back, and swim slower for the same distance.
• You should switch between these intervals throughout your workout.

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3) Jump Rope

Jumping rope at a moderate pace (100 to 120 skips per minute) burns about 13 calories per minute.

This cardio exercise uses more muscle groups than jogging and challenges your balance and coordination, especially if you do drills that require more hand and foot skills.

The jump rope is an important part of athletic training for a good reason: it's cheap, easy to do, speeds up the feet, and burns a lot of calories. Jumping rope not only improves footwork, shoulder strength, and coordination, but it also makes you feel like you're sprinting so that you can burn up to 500 calories in 30 minutes.

Here's how to do this cardio exercise:

• Few people can jump rope for 30 minutes straight, so the best way to keep going is to alternate between fast and slow jumps.
• Not very good at that? For one minute, jump as fast as you can, and take a 20-30 second break. Repeat till you're done.
• If you travel a lot, pack a jump rope in your bag so that you can get a great workout without leaving your hotel room.

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4) Rowing

Rowing is on this list, as it's a great way to work the upper and lower body at the same time without putting too much stress on the joints and ligaments. It's also a great way to strengthen the back muscles.

If a 180-pound man rows at a moderate pace, he can burn up to 800 calories per hour. However, if he adds short sprints to his workout, he can quickly burn more than 1,000 calories per hour.

Here's the best way to do this cardio exercise:

• When you row, keep your chest up, and use your entire body.
• Don't let your arms do all the work; try moving with your legs.
• Set a timer for 20 minutes, and row 250 metres as fast as you can. Take a one-minute break, and do it again.

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5) Cycling

The greater the intensity with which you do this exercise, greater is the number of calories you burn. You must be ready to move very quickly.

A 180-pound man may burn about 1,150 calories per hour during a vigorous indoor cycling or spin class but only about 675 calories per hour during a more moderate ride.

Here's the best way to do this cardio exercise:

• Intervals on a stationary bike are a great way to burn as many calories as possible in as little time as possible.
• Keep the intensity of the intervals high for a few minutes, and slow down for a minute or so. Keep doing these intervals as long as you can.

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Takeaway

Include the aforementioned cardio exercises in your routine. If doing one of them gets boring, you can always switch things up. Cardio exercises help you lose a lot of calories and also strengthen your heart.