What’s the Best Cardio for Fat Loss?

Last Updated 3 years ago

Cardiovascular exercise, or cardio for short, is every type of exercise that raises your heart rate to high till vigorous levels for at least 10 minutes.

Walking, running, jogging, swimming and jumping rope are some of the most well-known cardio exercises.

Since our bodies are made to move, it is only natural that cardiovascular exercises have multiple benefits for our body. When it comes to fitness though, you have to choose carefully what type of cardio to include in your workout routine, to have the optimum results for your goal. In this article, we will refer to the benefits of cardio exercises and explore the best cardio exercises for fat loss.

Without further ado, let’s see some of the cardio health benefits.

Health Benefits of Cardio Exercises

1. Cardio Loves your Heart

The heart is a muscular organ, and, like a muscle, it needs exercise to keep in shape and function properly. Cardiovascular exercises, or commonly known as aerobic exercises, is the way to keep this muscle in shape. Hence, doctors usually recommend at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. As your cardiovascular system gets stronger, more oxygen will be delivered to your cells and body muscles through your capillaries, which will eventually result in more balanced blood pressure, reduced blood sugar, less anxiety and stress and lower risk of forming blood clots.

2. The Cardio and the Brain

Including cardio to your workout routine has positive effects on your brain, too. It is known that cardiovascular exercises improve memory and safeguard your thinking skills. This fact can prove to be lifesaving not only for elderly people but for students that need more focus during exam periods. In fact, research has shown that cardio exercises can maximize your abilities to remember when performed in close proximity to the day you are exposed to the information needed to remember. What is more, exercise helps you sleep better, a key factor for good mental health.

3. Cardio – an Energy Refill

Endorphins, chemicals produced in the brain that cause a feeling of euphoria, are released after an hour of cardio exercise. Cardio also increases the release of hormones that boost your moods, such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. A better mood combined with less stress, a sharpened memory, and more stamina, and you have the perfect cocktail to skyrocket your energy levels. This impact might not be obvious right from the very first sessions, especially if you are a beginner, but it is certain you will feel the euphoria of cardio as you get stronger.

4. Cardio – a Metabolism Benefactor

There are plenty of scientific studies pointing to the fact that cardio exercise, no matter the type, is beneficial for metabolism. One of these studies, conducted in 2014, showed that short-term aerobic exercise on a regular basis can improve significantly glucose and lipid metabolism, even if weight loss has not yet taken place. This is probably the result of the increased production of FGF21, a hormone with many positive effects on metabolism.

An increased metabolic rate means more burned calories, while it also suppresses your appetite temporarily as well.

5. It Helps Reach an Ideal Weight for Your Body

All types of cardiovascular exercises (running, walking, swimming, jogging, etc) help you burn calories and lose weight. Still, the results differ per type of cardio exercise, depending on various factors, such as the person’s age, weight, duration and number of sessions per week, the intensity of the workout and the person’s gender.

In some cases, it is most effective to combine different types of cardio exercises to drive the desirable results, because, this way, more muscle groups are motivated and thus, more calories burned.

A combined workout routine can also help you not to lose interest easily, as is usually the case with a repetitive cycle of the same exercises over and over again. Some cardio exercises you can include in your fitness program are jumping rope, cycling, and HIIT.

6. Cardio Makes you Strong, Inside-out

A workout routine that includes cardio results not only in a healthier cardiovascular system but a stronger immune system as well. In fact, according to a recent study, cardiovascular exercise helped a group of sedentary older adults stay protected from influenza virus since it extended the effects of the vaccination by 24 weeks. The positive effects of moderate cardio exercise to our immune system is a relatively new finding, with most studies conducted in the last decade, and more are yet to be discovered.

Different Types of Cardio Exercise and Weight Loss

Now that you have a brief of the multiple health benefits of Cardio, let’s focus on weight loss and how it can be accomplished through the different types of cardio exercise.

Though there are plenty of cardio types out there, we will focus on the following 4 types, which are the most popular and classic cardio exercises: Walking, Running, Swimming and HIIT exercises. We will have a look at how many calories you can burn with each one of these exercises, pros and cons, and in which cases they are best recommended.

Walking for fat loss

At a Glance:

Calories: 300 – 400 per hour

Best for: Obese or injured

In the past, walking was the most recommended exercise for losing weight. In truth, it is the ideal exercise for someone who doesn’t have an exercise routine at all and it is the safest way to get you started with cardio and other aerobic exercises.

Yet, after losing the first few kilos in a snap, most people get to a steady phase where they do not see any change, and they quickly become disappointed and give up trying. If you are in a state like the above, it is time to include something more intense to your workout routine to spice things up and move to the next level. You can always contact a personal trainer to guide you through your workout experience and create a program tailored for you if you are a beginner.

On the other hand, walking is an excellent way to keep your shape or maintain a healthy cardiovascular system or help you recover from an injury since it has the lowest impact on your joints than any other type of cardio exercise.

Running for fat loss

At a Glance:

Calories: about 600 per hour

Best for: People who have a workout routine already

Running, walking’s faster cousin, is another popular exercise when it comes to weight loss.

Running helps all your lower body muscles get toned, your hip flexors, your quadriceps, calves and hamstrings, and some of your upper body (mainly arms).

While it does better than walking in burning calories, your body gets eventually used to your running pace, and your weight loss can reach a plateau.  Furthermore, the intensity of the workout is considerably higher than walking, so it is not recommended for beginners to start with high-intensity running without supervision, as it is more likely to face an unwanted injury.

Swimming for fat loss

At a Glance:

Calories: about 600 per hour

Best for: People who like water activities

Swimming can help you burn as many calories as running, as it is another high-intensity cardio exercise. As a matter of fact, with the appropriate speed and types of swimming, you could skyrocket your calorie consumption to 800 calories per hour! 

Another advantage of swimming over running is the fact that swimming is getting easy on our joints since it is done in the weightless environment of water. This means that the possibility of getting injured is far less in water than on road. A swimming routine can also help you obtain a good posture since it is ideal for your spine.

Yet, swimming is not ideal for people who are not acquainted with water or do not swim well. If you do choose swimming while you are not a good swimmer, you must have your first swimming session supervised by a coach, who will help you swim the right way. In that period, you will not see a significant change in your scale.

Weight loss in swimming is obvious after incorporating high-speed exercises to your routine.

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) Cardio

At a Glance:

Calories: about 300 per 20 minutes

Best for: Athletes, Losing weight fast

HIIT Cardio is a set of intense sprinting, riding, cycling or other aerobic exercises. In essence, it’s a high-speed exercise with a slow period to recover, and then repeating the pattern.

Due to the level of difficulty and intensity, HIIT is not ideal for beginners neither for people with a workout routine but without a trainer to supervise them. The risk of injury is high, but – when done correctly – the results are amazing.

Bottom Line

Every type of cardio exercise is good for weight loss, yet the ideal exercise rests upon factors different for each person. If you are a beginner start slow, consult a trainer and follow your routine. If you are advanced, incorporate a HIIT session once a week, always following your coach instructions. Last, but not least, experiment with every type of cardio, and stick with what you like best.

It is the consistency that brings out the best in you.