15 Best Cardio Workouts for Weight Loss (From a Trainer)

Yes. Cardio can burn fat. Cardio activity can be defined as any movement that increases your heart and breathing activity.

It may be termed aerobic exercise because it requires oxygen to maintain your body's ability to perform and keep up at a specific time.

This type of workout may be the most effective to sustain weight loss as it focuses on a target heart rate or THR (which depends on age and weight).

When you exercise at a target heart rate, it will allow your body to burn more fat. It may range from 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate or MHR [1].

Yes, cardio intensity influences fat burn, and here's how it works.

You may expect that a high-intensity workout can burn you more calories than other cardio intensities.

But, research suggests that having a mix of cardio to burn fat can help you employ the three energy systems of your body to structure fun, creative, and safe workouts (3).

Creating a personal cardio program that includes cardio-burning techniques at different intensities can help you strip off body fat.

Walking is a simple, cost-effective way to burn fat and improve body composition without posing much stress on the body.

This free cardio fitness regimen can improve mobility and movement flexibility.

You can start with 15 minutes a day if you're a beginner, then climb up to 30 and 45 to 60 minutes a day.

Jogging in place is a convenient and effective exercise to burn calories and pump up your heart rate.

You can start with 10 minutes of bouncing lightly from one foot to another, then gradually building up the duration to 15 or 20 minutes.

Low impact jumping jacks are like regular jumping jacks minus the jumping.

To start, step out your right foot while bringing your arms over your head, keeping your weight on the extended foot.

Stand back to the starting position, then switch to your left foot. You can extend your arm movements further to get your heart pumping and burning calories.

Single-Leg Stand is a low-intensity cardio workout that can effectively burn fat.

Standing burns about 30 to 50 calories per hour more than sitting [5]. And standing on one leg increases the charge and may burn another 20 to 30 more calories on top of the regular calorie burn.

You can maintain this position for more than 20 seconds or take the lift higher to increase difficulty.

Arm circling is another low-intensity cardio with a low-calorie burn.

Again, you can do this in a seated position, but doing it from the standing position may increase the calorie burn.

It may be acting upon a limited group of muscles, but devoting more time and repetitions to the exercise can increase the fat burn.

Basic lunge can work as moderate-intensity cardio by giving medium effort to get your heart pumping.

It kickstarts your metabolism and works on large muscle tissue groups in your lower body to enable you to burn excess calories and reduce body fat.

Step-ups is a classic fat-trimming cardio workout, and adjusting the intensity level of this exercise is easy.

You can either put the step on the floor to lower the intensity or raise the step higher to increase it.

Step-ups are joint-friendly, boost heart health, and strengthen muscles while reducing body fat.

Skipping with jumping ropes is considered a moderate-intensity cardio activity.

Adjusting your jump speed makes all the difference. As you jump faster, your heart rate and breathing will follow.

Some people consider jumping with ropes as the best way to burn fat.

You can jump rope for 30 minutes straight or jump as fast as you can for one minute. It's definitely up to you.

A stair climber is another moderate-intensity cardio that can help you burn fat.

However, like climbing stairs that use more muscles than walking, stair climbers can add more pressure on your joints, making it harder for people with weak knees.

Doing stair climbers every day can burn calories, about 65 in 15 minutes [7].

You can up the intensity to burn more calories by going faster or carrying heavy items.

An elliptical or cross-trainer is a low to moderate aerobic exercise to blast those fats off.

Depending on your ability level, you can increase the resistance to get a higher intensity workout.

Elliptical machines can be an excellent way to burn fat and excess calories without wearing out your joints.

In addition, you can up the intensity by adding a high incline to challenge more muscle growth in your legs and glutes.

Related: Do Ellipticals Burn Belly Fat?

High-Intensity Interval Training is a popular workout with a combination of quick, vigorous bursts of cardio exercise followed by equal or more extended rest periods.

It can burn calories for hours even after the workout. So it is practical if you're short on time.

In addition, the intense burst of activities elevates your heart and guarantees calorie burn and fat loss.

It is apparent that HIIT workouts burn fat and one good point is you can mix it with other weight training workouts, so you get a good cardio and build muscle mass simultaneously.

Related: HIIT vs Cardio

Burpees are high-intensity cardio with a combination of squats, jumps, and pushes. These exercises may help you burn fat faster if done regularly.

Burpees are excellent fat-blasting cardio that also helps strengthen muscles and boost metabolism.

It utilizes full-body movements that target overall body fat, making it one of the most effective cardio to get your heart pumping and burn calories even after the workout.

You can up the difficulty by using special exercise equipment like Bosu ball and Medicine ball.

Mountain climbers are a high-intensity exercise mix of cardio and muscle training.

It is an advanced full-body exercise that has the power of burning fat in no time.

It helps in building perfectly sculpted abdominals and tones your butt and thigh muscles.

Inchworm is often a part of HIIT workouts that increase strength and improve flexibility and mobility in the body.

This move requires no equipment and uses different muscle groups to work on your core, arms, and chest simultaneously to burn more calories.

In addition, you can maximize this exercise by leveling up your movement speed which helps pump your heart rate up even more.

The bear crawl is a full-body all-in-one exercise that challenges your core.

It is a high-intensity cardio that works on all major muscle groups to sure-fire way to lose weight.

In addition, it can strengthen muscles and fire up your metabolism to blast those body fats.