5 Cardio Workouts That Help To Lose Weight

Are you having a hard time burning fat? Today’s article will explain how cardio exercises can boost your results during your fitness journey. You will understand cardiovascular exercises, their benefits, how to do them, and good options to start doing aerobic exercises.

Here are 5 cardio workouts that help to lose weight and, more important than that, improve your health and quality of life.

Read more fitness topics below:

• How To Create A Workout Plan
• The Importance of Stretching
• How Much Water You Should Be Drinking Daily
• What are Macronutrients? Starting a Healthy Diet
• 8 Steps to Stick to a Healthy Diet
• How Much Water You Should Be Drinking Daily

What Are Cardio Exercises?

First, you need to understand the concept of aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercises are those that use oxygen in the process of generating energy in the muscles. Because it engages many muscle groups simultaneously, aerobic exercise is an excellent option to maintain fitness and burn extra calories.

Therefore, cardiovascular exercises are aerobic activities that aim to increase your heart rate. In other words, cardio exercises work with variations in intensity for an extended period of time, causing your heart rate to go up, making you burn extra calories.

Some of the popular cardio workouts are: running, jump rope, cycling, swimming, burpee, and others.

Benefits Of Cardio Exercises

Although many people think that cardiovascular exercise is only good for weight loss, there are other benefits. Check out some of them below:

• Improves sleep quality: According to a study by Sleep Med, aerobic exercises with sleep hygiene education can enhance sleep quality, mood, and quality of life in adults with chronic insomnia.
• Decreases stress levels and promote well-being: Exercises reduce adrenaline and cortisol levels – both body stress hormones. In addition, the workout stimulates the production of endorphins, which are mood elevators with powerful analgesic action – the body’s natural painkillers.
• Reduces the risk of several deseases and health issues: heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and other serious illnesses.

How To Do Cardio Exercises

According to the American Heart Association, you can do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, increasing to 300 minutes overtime. Still, it’s important to pay attention to your body and start slowly.

You can start doing aerobic exercise for a short time, worrying about progressing after your body gets used to it. It’s also important to organize your routine to be consistent. Set a time and define the days of the week to exercise and try to follow the plan regularly.

If you’ve just come out of a sedentary lifestyle, don’t push your body and set realistic goals. By achieving minor goals, you will feel more confident and, therefore, you will be more consistent. Don’t forget to reward yourself for making it happen!

Note: If you suffer from heart problems or any health condition that could be aggravated by the cardiovascular exercise, it is essential that you consult a doctor before starting your exercise routine. Remember: nothing is more important than your health.

5 Cardio Workouts That Help To Lose Weight

Several exercises are great for burning fat, so we will recommend 5 cardio workouts, focusing on low-impact activities that do not overload your joints. Here we go:

1. Cycling

Cycling is an excellent low-impact cardio exercise. It’s an accessible exercise, that can easily be included in your routine. It doesn’t harm your joints and you can use it as transport to work, to the groceries shop, or any other activity. If you don’t want to cycle outside, there is always the option of using a stationary bike.

2. Swimming

Swimming is one of the most complete exercises you can do. When swimming, the heart rate increases – being a good option for a cardio workout, but you also strength different muscle groups (back, chest, legs and arms). This means you can burn extra calories and build muscle at the same time.

3. Elliptical

Ellipticals are stationary exercise machines that copy the movement of running, removing all the impact on your joints. They have great potential to increase your heart rate by moving your legs and arms simultaneously. You can still work some of your core during the activity since you do the exercise standing up.

4. Running

Running is an excellent option for one simple fact: it’s totally free, and anyone can do it. If you came from a sedentary period, start walking and progress over time. Walking buss fewer calories than running, but you can still achieve results if you increase the difficulty, by including hills and variations in intensity.

If you increase your heart rate, you can burn extra calories. Try to improve until you can run longer distances!

5. Rowing

Rowing is a great cardiovascular workout that, like swimming, work your legs, arms, and back. It helps to burn fat, improve your endurance and build muscle mass. Most gyms have a rowing machine, and this activity can be great for varying your cardio workout.

How To Be Consistent With the Cardiovascular Exercises

While cardiovascular exercise is the fastest way to lose weight and burn fat, it can still be quite dull. Sometimes you are not in the mood and it’s just boring cycling or running for 30 minutes looking at the wall. Therefore, you need to find ways to make the activity more enjoyable!

Start by choosing a good song. Take your earbuds with you and choose something that motivates you and give you the right mood! Choose a lively song or even a video that will keep you entertained. It has to be something that works for you!

Record your progress! Taking pictures of your body is essential to understand how you are progressing. Sometimes our weight doesn’t change, and it may be because it’s possible to build muscle mass while burning fat. Take pictures of yourself at least once every 15 days, and make sure you record your progress at the same time of the day so that you are as accurate as possible.

Try to constantly progress. If you’ve just started running and you’re already holding 15 minutes, try 20 next week. If you can’t handle it, increase the duration or the intensity of the exercise. Try to keep your heart rate up!