I think we all can agree on one thing that staying fit is really important. The easiest way to stay healthy is through everyday exercise. But taking time out of our busy schedule for the gym requires a lot of energy and motivation.
How will you feel if you can do simple exercises at home and still get to lose your extra fats? Sounds fun, right? With the best cardio workouts at home, everything is possible. You do not need a large space or heavy equipment to perform these workouts. Yet you can easily burn your calories and build muscles with these workouts.
In this article, you will get to know everything about the cardio workouts, including the list of best cardio exercises. If you are looking for simple but effective workouts, then this is the piece you must read.
What is a cardio workout?
I guess you will hardly find any health enthusiasts who do know about cardio workouts. This is the basic exercise you need to do, whether you want to lose weight, build muscle, or just want to stay healthy. So, what does this cardio exercise mean anyway?
The cardio workout is actually a set of rhythmic activities. You can increase your heart rate to a targeted zone where your extra body fats will get burned. Let’s take a look at the benefits of the cardio workouts.
The benefits of cardio workouts:
- The exercises offer relaxation and relief from anxiety, stress, and depression.
- You can burn your fat and calories through the best cardio workouts.
- The workouts reduce the chance of heart attack, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetics.
- Your lung capacity will increase by practicing cardio exercises.
- If you face trouble sleeping, then these exercises can be your solution.
Top cardio workouts at home
Cardio workouts are easier to perform at home than you can imagine. All you will need are some small equipment to do the exercises. In this section, I will talk about those cardio workouts you can perform at home.
Jog in place
This cardio exercise indicates to the state when you do jogging in a stationary position or without changing the place. Jog in place is a simple workout that can increase your heartbeat rate. To perform this exercise, you will just need a good pair of shoes, and you are all set to jog.
Most people do this cardio exercise as a warmup. You can start by marching and then start jogging in one place. It helps to prepare your body for the upcoming intense workouts. You can alternate this workout with the cardio circuit exercises, such as marching, jumping ropes, dips, push-ups, etc. Also, if you want to use your break time to improve your health, jog in place is the best way to do that.
Though jog in place is not as intense as jogging outside, it is one of the best cardio workouts. For those who find this exercise boring, try bringing variation by combining sidekicks, high knees, or butt kicks.
Squat jumps
I know it takes a lot of practice to perform the perfect squat. So, even if the squat jump sounds a bit intense, I assure you, it is not. The jumps are simple, and you will not require any superior skills to do that.
For burning calories, and building strong leg muscles, the squat jumps are the best. Start this exercise with the squat position, jump, and land on the squat position. Yes, it is that simple. While jumping, use your whole foot, not just the toe. Also, do not land with all your strength. Keep it as soft as you can.
Experts suggest adding this exercise to the regular cardio workout. You will get a fantastic outcome if you use the squat jumps in your lower body workouts or high-intensity interval training.
The squat jumps are not for everyone. This is a high impact and intense plyometric exercise. So, practice this if only you have strong knee joints and a strong heart. You can modify the workouts with prison or froggy jumps, once you master the basics of squat jumps.
Jump rope
We all have played jumping ropes in our childhood. This is one of the most simple and best cardio workouts you can do at home. Why am I stating this as the most simple workout? All you have to do is jump with a chanting rhythm over a rope while turning it with a handle.
The jumping rope is simple yet effective in weight loss. You can lose over 220 calories over 20 minutes of this workout. Here is one thing. Some people do the rope turning in a wrong way. Use your wrist instead of arms while turning the ropes.
You may need a lot of practice to perform jumping ropes perfectly. Once you learn the trick, keep practicing jumping with one foot, cross feet, alternative feet. Adding this workout in your cardio circuit or strength training can benefit you in many ways.
Cardio workout to lose belly fat
It is possible to lose your weight and tone your stomach with cardio workouts. Many people question the effectiveness of cardio in weight loss. But these workouts work fine, and you can see the results once you start practicing them.
Aerobics
Aerobics is the best cardio to burn belly fat. Most of the aerobic moves focus on the leg and glutes. And those big muscles cause fat burning by making you sweat a lot. You can burn up to 400 calories in just 30 minutes of intense aerobics.
The aerobics requires proper moves to work effectively. If you haven’t done this exercise before, learn, and practice first. Then you can modify different moves and make it more intense.
HIIT
This training is a type of cardio. This exercise can burn your fat and increase your metabolism within 24 hours. Some of the HIIT workouts are:
- Jump rope interval
- Band resistance finisher
- Burpee interval workout
Experts claim that the HIIT can burn 500 to 1500 calories per hour for a 140lb man. This is the main thing about the HIIT, you spend less time but get more effective results.
Full-body cardio workout
To look toned and tighter, you do not need to head to the gym anymore. With the regular full-body cardio workouts, you can easily get your dream health. These are simple but more effective than many intense workouts.
Skydiver lounge
Doing sky diving is always adventurous and exciting. Do you know the skydivers have to fall, maintaining a specific position? That particular pose can be the full body cardio exercise for you.
For this workout, first, lie on the mat at the bottom of a pushup position. Do a pushup, and then fully lower yourself on the ground. Let your belly rest on the floor. After that, raise your legs and arm up in the air like skydivers do when they fall. Hold the position for a few seconds. Lower your hands and legs and do a pushup again.
Swimming
Swimming is one of the best cardio workouts. You can do this in your back pool. This is very effective and is full body cardio.
While swimming, you fight with gravity and move your muscles hard to stay afloat. All these things make this exercise so intense. Experts claim that you can burn more than 14 calories in one minute swimming. However, the fat burning factor can vary on the swimming style. For example, the breaststrokes can burn fewer calories than the butterfly one.
Cardio circuit training
Let’s talk about the most popular form of exercise, the cardio circuit training. Generally, by circuit training, we understand a set of exercises with resistance that anyone has to perform with a little or no break. When the training involves the cardio workouts, we call it cardio circuit training.
Here is a list of workouts you can add to your cardio circuit training.
- Setups: 40 reps in 2 minutes
- Dumbbell curls: 24 reps (12 on each side) in 90 seconds
- Setups: 40 reps in 2 minutes
- Dumbbell twist lounges: 20 reps (10 on each side) 90 seconds
- Setups: 40 reps in 2 minutes
- Dumbbell lateral raises: 10 reps in 90 seconds
- Setups: 40 reps in 2 minutes
- Dumbbell squats: 20 in 2 minutes
Now take rest for 2 minutes and then repeat the whole workouts. Try completing the full set once or twice at the beginning level. You can add weights or increase the number of reps or circuits after getting used to the training. Do not forget to do warmups at the beginning.
More cardio workouts
There are many more cardio workouts that are available that you can try. For your convenience, here is a list of cardio exercises:
- Rowing
- Sprinting
- Cycling
- Stairclimber
- Jumping jack
- Crossover jack
- Boomerangs
- Mountain climbers
- Chest flies
- Kickboxing
- Planks heel kick with froggy jumps
If you only follow the best cardio workouts without maintaining your diet, then the whole thing will go in vain. So, besides your regular cardio, maintain a healthy diet. Instead of eating junk foods, add more veggies and fruits to the meal plan. And soon you will get a healthy and fit body.
Related : The Best Back Workouts For Power And Muscle Building