20 Best Cardio Exercises for Weight Loss

Cardio is the most common form of weight loss exercise. It is effective, increases heart rate and metabolism too which are key elements for weight loss. 

Try out these different cardio exercises along with your weight loss program to add that zing to your workout routine. Here are 20 best cardio exercises for weight loss and fitness.

What is cardio?
Arnav Sarkar explains how cardio is beneficial for weight loss, "The simplest explanation of a cardio workout would be any workout/exercise that gets your heart rate up, and keeps it elevated for a significant amount of time." If you're a first timer with cardio, look to starting with 20-minutes-a-day cardio workouts, and increase the duration and intensity of exercise to improve your stamina and reach your weight loss targets.

Precautions for cardio workouts
Before you start huffing and puffing, did you know there are limits and precautions when you practice your cardio workouts? Arnav explains what you should keep in mind for cardio workouts, "Don't overdo it, especially the slow and long duration type. Good cardio training has a lot of benefits to offer, but overdoing it, which is very common, can soon lead to problems like aching knees, muscle loss, slower metabolism, etc. For most people, 10-20 minutes of intense cardio, and 25-45 minutes of low intensity cardio seems to work best without causing any overuse injuries."

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT sessions are only 20 minutes long if you minus the warming up and warming down session. For best results, you should go for HIIT training every second to third day. This is because whenever you do reps, you perform them with greater intensity. But don't fool yourself into trimming down in a day and performing this workout every day as this workout is known to burn energy from your muscle system which calls for at least a day's time to rest and recover.

Kettlebell
"The basic exercises that are done with a Kettlebell are whole body exercises," explains Arnav. "This means that they make your body work hard and burn a lot more calories than what the basic isolation exercises like crunches, curls, etc do. Also because these basic exercises burn a lot more calories with each rep, the workouts are rarely very long. For most, a basic 30-45 minute workout will be enough to get the job done."

Circuit training
Simply put, circuit training is a bunch of aerobic exercises mixed up with resistance training to deliver a high intensity workout. These exercises are performed one after the other - in a circuit - with minimal rest in-between. Circuit training involves both aerobic and anaerobic exercises but this method of training is so flexible, you can create your very own routine in a matter of minutes with a little bit of research and help from your friendly neighbourhood fitness blog or website like healthmeup.com

Plyometrics
Plyometric contractions—or the stretch shortening cycle, as it is often referred to—involves a process whereby the muscle undergoes a period of rapid lengthening movement, followed by a brief transition time where there is no change in muscle length, followed by an explosive shortening movement that in turn enables related muscles to produce maximum force without necessarily increasing maximum strength.
Stair training
Stair exercises will help you increase your cardiovascular stamina and will also tone your lower body. It might be a little tiring at the beginning but with persistence, soon you will not feel pooped easily and you will notice that you can perform several other tasks with gusto and improve your day's performance. Staircase exercise is a great out of gym cardio training. You can also incorporate stair exercise in your interval training and circuit training routines.

Swimming
Swimming, freestyle (or with the butterfly or breast stroke) can burn up to 350 calories per 30 minutes. But this is with respect to rigorous swimming, and not leisurely swimming, which burns a mere 200-250 calories per 30 minutes. If you add this for an hour, you're burning 400 to 700 calories an hour, which is pretty good.

Outdoor cycling
As compared to indoor static cycling, outdoor forms can do a lot more for your overall fitness levels as it challenges you with different terrains and difficult routes. The amount of calories burnt in cycling usually depends on your speed and the resistance of the route used. On an average, cycling at less than 10mph can burn up to 372 calories, at moderate levels (12-13.9 mph) up to 745 calories and above 20 mph around 1117 calories. Although, this form of fitness programme does not help much in terms of upper body workout, it can be a great way to tone your lower limb muscles.
Jumping ropes or skipping rope
Simple yet effective; jumping rope for a few minutes can do wonders for your body weight. What's more; it works for your entire body and helps you achieve hand-eye coordination. As you gradually master the basics of this activity, you can challenge yourself further by using different patterns like side steps, speed steps and cross mode. At moderate levels, you can lose as much as 931 calories by performing this activity for an hour.

Jogging
Jogging is another ideal way to work every part of your body and shed some unwanted calories. In order to achieve the best calorie-burning potential, attempt working above 8 mph. You can also offer resistance to motion using rugged, rough terrains and hilly inclined areas.
Tennis
Here's a fun game that will provide you a great opportunity to burn some extra calories while improving your speed, strength and reaction time. A continuous workout of tennis for one hour will help you burn around 600-900 calories of body fat.

Hiking
Hiking is a good recreational activity, but it can make you sweat and keep you active. Hiking also helps to improve muscular fitness, reduce depression, maintains healthy weight and lubricates your joints well.

Zumba
At its core, Zumba proposes to offer a large calorie burn through high-tempo aerobic activity coupled with interval training. Based on various factors such as body weight, gender, fitness level and other physical factors, you can burn up to 400 to 600 calories per hour.

CrossFit
According to International Crossfit coach Denise Thomas, "Crossfit is functional movement, constantly varied and executed at high intensity. Crossfit is the way to go, if you want to be stronger, faster, lose a lot of weight, Crossfit will do that for you. It prepares your general physical skills and uses every part of your body."

Kickboxing
Kickboxing is primarily known for developing great cardiovascular fitness, and unlike running, cycling and other popular cardio activities, it works the whole body while hitting the core muscles hard too! In terms of calorie burning it outdoes the regular jogging/walking workout anyday, while being more fun as you do a lot of different moves compared to doing just one movement continuously for an hour.

Basketball
Playing a game of basketball is an easy and effective way to improve your flexibility, endurance level and cardio-respiratory health. The running and the quick alteration in directions while playing the game will also help you tone your muscles while dropping a few calories. On an average, you lose around 600-900 calories while playing basketball for an hour.

Body combat workout
Body combat is an empowering cardio workout, which is fiercely energetic and is inspired by martial arts. It draws from a wide array of disciplines such as karate, boxing, taekwondo, tai chi and muay thai. Supported by music, you strike, punch, and kick your way through calories in an enjoyable cardio fitness workout.

Core Power Yoga
Core power yoga is performed in a heated room and the postures surround cardiovascular exercises. But it has to be done at a fast pace. Core power yoga strengthens your abdomen and the back. It involves muscle toning postures too. Core power yoga also strengthens the hip and pelvis. You can expect to improve strength, stamina, endurance, improve concentration and reduce stress.

Belly dancing
Anyone can learn belly dancing and it's both a sexy and fun way to keep in shape. Belly dancing will not only make you feel sexy about yourself but will also help to improve your body posture, aid in weight loss and help to burn great amount of fat and calories.