Cardio for Weight Loss

Cardio refers to cardiovascular exercises. Exercise that increases your heart rate and maintains it there for a long time is called cardio. As you start to breathe more quickly and deeply, your respiratory system will start to work harder. Your body will release natural painkillers and your blood vessels will dilate to allow more oxygen to reach your muscles (endorphins).

Doing cardio makes your body lose fat quickly and effectively. It is important to do regular cardio for around 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your stamina. Cardio also helps you boost your stamina and improve your overall fitness. Although, it is important to note that doing cardio is as important as controlling your diet. You must follow a calorie-deficit diet to continue the fat loss. There are various benefits to cardio. Let us discuss some of the main benefits for our bodies.

Benefits of Cardio

1. Boosts mood

Exercise of any kind helps your mental health and boosts your mood. Similarly, cardio training enables you to improve your mood and contributes to other good habits that support mental well-being. Due to the physical exercise schedule, you sleep better and can focus on your work more.

2. Burns calories and fat

Cardio and strength training helps in burning calories. This happens when you give your body the regular workout needed. It also helps the body increase its metabolic rate. This helps you burn more calories and fat efficiently throughout the day.

3. Builds strength and muscle

During cardio, you might sometimes feel some soft pain in your muscles. This happens due to the tearing of old muscles. You don’t have to worry about it. This is the way our body strengthens. The old muscles need to tear out gradually to form new, stronger muscles.

4. Improves endurance

Cardio exercises improve endurance and help reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems. This is because plenty of oxygen is pumped and circulated throughout the body while exercising. More on improving endurance can be understood by the study by NCBI.

5. Keeps your body stronger even after aging

As we age, our body becomes weak. It is said that in old age the body is the result of how you treated it at a young age. It is advised to exercise every day and lead a healthy life so that the body becomes strong. The stronger you make your body, the better it will remain as you age. It will help you keep a good body posture and provide the strength to walk as you grow old.

Effective Cardio exercises

Knowing what exercises you can perform daily to maintain the weight loss journey is important. Normally it is important to understand that exercises like running, rope jumping, power walking, organized sports, and dancing, all come under cardio. Weight training is also considered cardio if you do it at a constant pace and intensity. You can choose your workout according to your interest. The important thing is to keep it interesting so you follow it every day.

If you find normal exercise boring, you can switch it with your favorite outdoor sport, or dance. It is completely up to you, and your choice. You can also mix it up by doing exercises one day and dancing the next. Prepare your schedule as you prefer. The only important thing is to stick with it and do cardio for one hour every day.

Here we have a list of some common cardio exercises that you may include in your workout routine.

1. Mountain Climbers

If you are an active person, you might already know about this exercise. This is widely practiced in gyms and is a very helpful exercise. It not only improves the hip muscles but also helps improve the core muscles. This can be done as a part of cardio in your daily workout session. The instructions you need to follow for the exercise are as follows.

Lie down straight on the ground on your belly side.
Place the palms parallel to your shoulders on the ground.
Lift your body to form a parallel with the ground.
And come up to your toes.
You need to make sure that your elbows and knees are straight.
Now bring your right knee towards your right elbow.
Try to bring the leg as close as possible, keeping your feet in the air.
Bring back the right leg, with the toes on the floor.
Do this for the left side as well.
Repeat this for 15 counts.

2. Jump Lunge exercise

Lunges are performed in the standing position. In a simple lunge, we just take our leg forward, bend down and go back up. We continue this for both sides. For a jump lunge exercise, we need to jump every time we come back up. Follow the below steps to properly carry out this exercise.

Keep your palms on your waist. This helps you keep balance.
Take your right leg forward.
Bend down to form a 90-degree on the right knee, keeping the left leg straight.
After bending down, while getting back up you need to push your body upwards.
Take a jump and swap your legs while in the air.
Now repeat the same for the left side.
Repeat this exercise for 10 counts each.

3. Jumping Squat

Just like we do squats, jumping squats is a more advanced version of the exercise. Follow the given steps for this exercise.

Stand straight, keeping your feet at shoulder length to each other.
Join your palms in front of you, this helps you keep the balance
Bend your knees keeping the upper body straight
Move to a position where your knees are at a 90-degree
Push your feet downwards and jump on your feet.
Right after the jump, bend your knees for the next squat.
Keep your upper body straight in the complete process.
Repeat this for 15 counts.

4. Pullup

This activity helps you improve your strength in the pulling action. It helps you improve your arm strength. The steps for this exercise are as follows.

Make sure you have a horizontal rod one-hand distance above your head.
Hold the rod with your palms and shift your weight from your foot to your arms.
Fold your knees a little so your feet are not touching the ground.
Pull your body upwards with your arms, while engaging your core.
Pull up till your shoulders come to the rod level.
Then gradually release your body and go downwards.
Repeat this for 15 reps, 3 sets every day, increasing it gradually.

5. Deadlift

This is the most basic move, which is picking up something from the ground. For the deadlift, you need to keep some weight that you will pick. Follow the given instructions.

Stand straight keeping your legs shoulder-length apart.
Squat down, keeping your back straight.
Reach out and grab the weights
Pull the weight along with your body.
Make sure you keep your upper body straight.
Repeat this action for 15 counts, 3 sets every day, increasing it gradually.

Note:

Exercises like running, rope jumping, power walking, organized sports, and dancing comes under cardio. Weight training is also considered cardio if you do it at a constant pace and intensity. Regular cardio should be performed for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your stamina. Mountain climbers, jump lunge exercises, jumping squats, pullups, and deadlift exercises can also be included in your daily workout.

Conclusion

Cardio is a type of exercise where our heart rate increases for a more extended period before coming to normal. Regular cardio should be performed for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your stamina. Cardiovascular exercise also increases your endurance and enhances your general fitness. Cardio activities have various health advantages besides just helping people lose weight. Improving your mood, adding muscle and strength, enhancing endurance and stamina, and maintaining a fit and healthy body in later life are just a few of the health advantages. Cardio also increases the body's metabolic rate, which lowers the risk of developing cardiovascular or heart disease. It helps maintain blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels.

However, it's crucial to remember that maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly go hand in hand. To continue losing fat, you must stick to a diet with a regulated diet. Try to take a calorie deficit diet. It will help you lose weight faster. We have also mentioned a few cardio exercises that you can add to your workout routine. These exercises are mountain climbers, jump lunge exercises, jumping squats, pullups, and deadlifts. Perform these exercises every day to get the desired result.