Cardio exercises that you love and will perform consistenly, produce the best, most efficient calorie burn. The key is to choose a variety of cardio exercises that you enjoy doing in order to keep your workout fresh and exciting. This training approach, Interval Cardio Training is simply a way of rotating from one exercise to another in pre-set time intervals.
Example: you could exercise on the elliptical trainer for 15 min., then jump on a bicycle for another 15 min. and end with sprinting on the treadmill for at least another 15 min. Interval training is a great way to bust through plateaus and continue your fitness progress.
There are 2 main approaches when it comes to cardio training styles – Slow & Steady Cardio and High Intensity Cardio. For the most efficient cardio program and resulting calorie burn, try a combination for at least 6 weeks and make sure to monitor your progress with weekly photos of yourself and by having your body fat % assessed to see if you are truly attacking your particular fat zones.
The two main cardio training styles breakdown like this:
Slow & Steady Cardio (Steady State)
— Long duration (45 minutes – 60 minutes)
— Low intensity cardio
— Burns fat and no carbohydrate burn
— Less impact on joints
1. Rock Climbing – Yep, it’s a cardio exercise and it also build arm and leg strength and power. Rock Climbing burns up to 380 calories in 30 minutes.
2. Cross-Country Skiing – Whether you are on a machine or outdoors on snow, this is an incredible cardio exercise because it involves both upper and lower body. A average size person can burn about 330 calories in 30 minutes.
3. Running – Running is an amazing cardio exercise because all you need is a pair of good running shoes and a impact resistant surface (think grass not concrete). Running burns serious amounts of calories. You can easily burn 300 calories in 30 minutes.
4. Elliptical Trainer – One of the best machine cardio exercises to build endurance. Low-impact and burns about 300 calories in 30 minutes.
5. Rowing – Pulls double-duty as an amazing cardio exercise as well as giving your arms an incredible strength workout. Most folks can burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes.
6. Walking – Swift walking is a much less strenuous form of cardio exercise. Walking burns up to 180 calories in 30 minutes. Walking intensity can be progressed with sprinting or adding hills to increase calories burned.
7. Aerobics (Step) – At favorite cardio exercises preferred by women. Mainly targets the lower body – legs, hips and glutes. Burns approx. 400 calories in 30 minutes.
8. Bicycling – Stationary bicycling indoors or outdoors are great cardio choices. Depending on resistance and speed, bicycling can burn 250 to 500 calories in 30 minutes.
9. Swimming – Swimming is an excellent cardio exercise as it is a full body activity. Swimming is great for cross-training for other cardio activities. The breast stroke burns approx. 400 calories in 30 minutes.
10. Racquetball and Tennis – The side-to-side sprinting makes racquetball and tennis excellent cardio activities. An average person can burn over 400 calories in 30 minutes.
High Intensity Cardio (Interval Training)
— Short durations (15 minutes – 30 minutes)
— High intensity (interval training)
— Burns huge amounts of calories & revs up your metabolism
— Explosive movements (sprinting, etc)
For athletic people who love High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T training), below is a list of the top 4 cardio exercise that provide absolutely huge calorie burning results!
1. Sprinting – Sprinting not only burns HUGE amounts of calories, it also keeps your metabolism supercharged for days after. Sprinting, when combined with running and jogging can bring awesome results
2. Jumping Rope – One of the simplest and most effective exercises you can do. In just 15 to 20 minutes, jumping rope will give you an unequalled total body workout. Jumping rope is great for cardiovascular endurance and strengthens the performance of any sport such as soccer, basketball, skiing, volleyball, football, etc.. This amazingly simple exercise is also great for improving lateral movement, hand-eye coordination as well as speed and agility.
3. Spinning – Spinning is a high-intensity workout set to music and simulates a challenging bike ride, complete with hills, valleys and varying intensity and speeds.
4. Fitness Boot Camp – Fitness boot camp is the best of all interval training methods and burns gargantuan amounts of calories. Sprinting, agiity exercises, plyometric training (explosive exercises), strength training and resistance training (weights) combine to challenge your body in so many ways that homeostasis (getting used to an exercise program and becoming less efficient) does not have a chance to set in. In a 60 minute boot camp session an average persona can burn 400-500 fat calories. Unbelievable!