Best Cardio Workouts

Fat loss is a big goal for many people nowadays. A lot of people go for popular diet programs to get rid of unwanted body fat. However, for optimal results in fat loss you also need to follow an exercise routine. This is where the best cardio workouts come in. Performing cardiovascular exercise is not only good for your heart and lungs, it will also burn away more calories and as a result of this, more body fat.

There are many greats forms of exercise you can do for a cardio workout. The most popular are running or jogging, biking, and elliptical machine workouts. Performing boxing or kickboxing style workouts will also give you a great cardio workout. If you compete in sports that involve a lot of movement you'll also get a nice fat burning workout.

The best cardio workouts should be done for 30 to 45 minutes three to five times weekly. Performing cardiovascular exercise for this amount of time will burn a nice amount of extra calories and boost our metabolic rate. It is possible to do too much cardio and burn away muscle tissue along with fat. You'll want to avoid doing this because having less muscle will lower your metabolism.

If you do some bursts of high intensity training during the best cardio workouts you can give your self a bigger metabolism boost and shorten your workouts. You can do some faster training to do this. For instance, when you jog try doing a sprint every few minutes.

The best cardio workouts can be done just about anywhere - in a gym, outdoors, or at home. If you want to do cardio at home you can find many reasonably priced machines you can keep in your home so you can exercise with the privacy you desire.

Once you start performing the best cardio workouts you'll almost certainly see much more fat melt off your body as long as you don't consume too many calories.

Some of the best cardio workouts are made up of running or jogging. It's great for boosting your metabolic rate so you burn extra calories. The great thing about running is that you can do just about anywhere at any time. Running also allows for a lot of variety since you can run as slow or fast as you want to and run on an incline to get a more intense workout. In fact, doing a running workout where you run at a medium pace and do some all out sprints every few minutes may be the best way to go. This will shorten your workouts will still allowing you to get all of the fat burning benefits of this great cardiovascular workout. The downside to running is that it can be hard on your joints. Make sure to stretch thoroughly and wrm up the muscles before you start a running workout.

You can run outdoors or on a treadmill in a gym or at home. Of course, running outside is great, but running on a treadmill may be preferable during the winter months or if you like exercising in private. A good treadmill will allow you to set the speed and incline of the machine quickly and easily. You can find many reasobly priced ones if you want to exercise where you live.

You can also bike for the best cardio workouts. You won't put as much stress on your ankles when you bike as when you run. Not only is biking great for doing a cardiovascular workout, it's also great for your quadriceps and hamstring muscles.

You can bike outside or on a stationary at home or in a gym. Biking outdoors is great exercise, but it may not be possible during the winter depending on where you live. If you decide to purchase a stationary bike for your home or apartment, get one that will allow you to easy change speed. You can also find stationary bikes that have handles that move back and forth for an even better cardio workout.

One of the best cardiovascular workouts can be done on an elliptical machine. These machines allow for a smooth, non-jolting movement so you'll spare your joints as compared to other forms of cardio. When you work out on an elliptical machine, you can set your own pace and raise and lower the level of intensity any time you want.

Just about every gym has elliptical machines and you can find some good deals on them if you want one at home. Some have fixed handles so you only work your legs. The best ellipticals have handles that move back and forth to get your upper body involved.

Boxing workouts involving heavy bag work, speed bag work, and jump roping are a great way to get away from the boredom of many other forms of cardio exercise. Boxing is the best cardio workout for the upper body muscles with all of the punching movements involved. Some jogging and jump roping should be part of a boxing workout as well, so you will hit your legs. Abdominal training is another essential part of a great boxing workout. Your shoulder and arm muscles will take a beating from hitting the heavy and speed bags and jump roping so be careful to avoid over training them if you follow a weight training exercise routine.

As far as hitting heavy and speed bags goes, it's best to do 3 minutes 'rounds' on both of them. Try 3 rounds on the heavy bag and 2 on the speed bag. You may not be able to do much jump roping at first, but of you keep at it you should be able to work to workouts that last 15 to 20 minutes or even more. If you add in some ab work, you will have a complete boxing workout.

Training with weights isn't really considered cardiovascular exercise, but if you do it a certain way, it can be like it. If it gets your heart pumping for a prolonged period of time, it basically becomes cardio.

The main way to turn weight training into cardio is to circuit train. Circuit training is done by going from exercise to exercise while weight training without much rest between each movement. The easiest way to do this is with weight machines. Since in most gyms all of the weight machines will be in one room, you can start at one end and work your way to the other - going from machine to machine.

You can also do high repetition sets on weight training exercises with very low rest periods between each set. While you do this you can stick with the same muscle group or even exercise - doing a lot of reps and resting only a small amount of time.

If you work out at a gym there are likely other machines you can use for the best cardio workouts. One of the most popular is the StairMaster. Rowers also allow for great cardiovascular workouts. There are also some great cardio machines you can purchase for your home if you like working out in private.

Playing sports that involve a lot of running and other movement can give you a great cardiovascular workouts. Some of the best sports for this include basketball, racquetball, and soccer. If you find regular cardio too boring, participating in a sport is the best option for you.