Cardio workouts can be a powerful tool to help you lose weight and get lean. In addition, doing these workouts helps you to improve your cardiovascular health, reduce stress, improve circulation, and many other bodily functions. I happen to love cardio so I may be a bit impartial but I just don’t agree with some of the current notions that cardio is not effective. If done right, there are plenty of cardio workouts that burn fat and lots of it.
The question is how to maximize the fat burning effect you get from cardio. This can be done with a number of ways:
1. Choose the most effective workouts – Not all cardio exercises are created equal. Some burn more calories and some less. At least on average. If you want to get the best results for your time, you should focus your efforts on those workouts that give you the best value for your time. Further down this page, I’ll go over some of my favorite aerobic exercises.
2. Change up your workouts - Your body can get used to things pretty quickly. If you run 5 miles each and every day, you will soon grow accustomed to it. Spicing up your workout routine to make it more diverse will help you to challenge your body in a variety of ways and to keep yourself motivated to keep going.
3. Do high intensity interval training - This is a workout method (that can be done with any cardio exercise) in which you change the speed and intensity of your workout every few minutes. This allows you to work your body in a variety of intensities and burn more calories in less time.
For example: you can start running on the treadmill at a speed of 9 miles per hour. Do that for 3 minutes and then do 1 minute of running at 8 MPH. Then, go down to 6.5 MPH for 2 minutes, go up to 8.5 for 1 minute, and so on and so forth. High intensity interval training works so use it.
4. Use a cardio workout system that delivers results – I am in favor of using systems to get the best effect of your workout. For cardio, I recommend the Weight Loss Cardio system.
This is a video training system that shows you how to maximize your fat loss results with various cardio workouts. You can read more about it here: Weight Loss Cardio Review. The creator of this program is Dr. Kareem Samhouri, an acclaimed fitness expert, so this is a high quality program.
In addition, there are things you can do for specific workouts to help you get a massive fat loss as we shall soon see…
Effective Cardio Exercises To Lose Fat
Here are some of my favorite cardiovascular workouts that burn body fat fast:
Running
No surprise here, running is one of the most popular workouts in the world and for good reason. Running helps to train your entire body as nearly all your muscle groups are involved in the running motion. This is a highly intensive workout that can burn fat very quickly if you do it seriously.
Some tips for better running:
- Run at an incline part of the way. This works your legs at a different angle and can be much more intensive. Even a small incline can prove to be a massive difference.
- Do some sprinting. If you’re looking to get strong abs, sprinting is awesome. When you spring your abs are super-tight which also works your abdominals.
- Try to run on a soft surface like grass or dirt and not on asphalt to reduce impact on your joints.
Rowing
The reason why I love rowing is that it’s an awesome back exercise. If you’re trying to lose back fat and tone your upper back, rowing can be like killing two birds in one stone: you’re burning a lot of body fat and working your back at the same time.
Rowing can be done in water or it can be done with a rowing machine. If you’re using a machine, I recommend to change up the resistance level you’re using every few minutes during your workout to boost the interval effect.
Kickboxing
Kickboxing is not a traditional aerobic workout but it can certainly deliver massive results. First, this is not a repetitive workout where you do the same movement over and over again. This will bring your body into a whole new range of motion.
Second, it works your entire body and can be quite intensive so you can expect to burn a lot of calories with it.
This workout is also a lot of fun so you will probably enjoy it and stick to it for a long time. This is also a chance to meet some people and maybe get a workout buddy to help you remain motivated and focused on achieving your long term fat loss goals.
Cycling
Cycling is also a good cardio workout to lose weight with. Outdoor cycling or riding an upright bike is much more effective than using a recumbent bike. However, all of these can help you to burn more calories.
You should change your pace during your workout regularly (interval training, remember), and make sure to include some uphill cycling to really get a strength workout out of this as well.
One thing you should be aware of is that cycling often takes a lot of time. I know people who go out for a 3, 4, sometimes even 8 hours long ride. If you’re looking to do short workouts, this may not be what you’re looking for.
Swimming
Swimming is another cardio + strength workout that can prove to be very effective. I favor using the freestyle and breast stroke in order to achieve the greatest effect, myself, but choose the style you prefer or, better yet, change them up from time to time.
You may find that you’re developing a killer upper body with swimming, not to mention the fat burning effects.
In Conclusion
There are plenty more cardio workouts like walking, jumping rope, taking aerobic classes and so on that I left out. I could have gone on and on.The important thing to remember is that you need to do intensive cardio workouts to lose fat and you need to do them regularly. Use the tips I’ve given you and do a variety of cardio exercises to burn the most fat you can.
