What is The Best Cardio Exercise to Lose Weight?

With the help of a fitness expert, we discover the cardio exercises that help you lose the most weight and, above all, how to practice them to make fat loss faster and more effective. Discover HIIT training now.

When we talk about losing weight by exercising, we are referring to losing fat. And this often does not translate immediately on the scale because the same person who weighs 60 kilos may have less fat than another who weighs the same.

Having clarified this, on a metabolic level, your body begins to consume lipids as an energy source when you take 25-20 minutes of continuous exercise.

However, science has shown that you can burn fat in less time by practicing interval training or HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), consisting of interspersing high-intensity exercise with low intensity.

What effect does HIIT have? When you practice high-intensity exercise, you increase insulin tolerance, thereby burning glucose from carbohydrates more quickly. And once glucose is consumed, the next thing the body does is consume fat as an energy source.

Taking these premises into account, Jordi Notario, technician and trainer of the DiR Academy, advises us on cardio exercises (those that by definition increase heart rate ) effective for losing weight and how to get the most out of them.

1. Run in HIIT format

If you like to go jogging or running on the gym treadmill, cycling, or any other cardio activity, an effective way to help you lose weight is to perform in HIIT format:

• To get started, warm-up for 10 minutes at a gentle intensity.
• Then perform 30 seconds of high intensity. It would help if you felt that you are hyperventilating, that is, that you need oxygen.
• Then do 1 minute of moderate or low intensity.
• Repeat this interval at least 5 or 6 times (30 seconds at high intensity and 1 minute at moderate low).

Running 20 minutes in this way, you start burning fat sooner than if you do it continuously.

2. Burpee

This exercise activates a large amount of muscle mass because it involves the legs, abdomen, arms, and back so that cardiovascular work is elevated quickly.

• Stand with your feet slightly apart. From this position, bring your hands to the ground.
• Once on the floor, bring your legs back until your body is parallel to the floor, and you are in plank or plank position.
• Drop your chest to the ground, and then return to the starting position with a small jump to your feet.

To perform the burpee in HIIT format and thus increase fat burning, you must do 15 repetitions quickly and without stopping in 1 minute.

Once you have finished the 15 repetitions, the time that you have left until you complete the minute is the one that you can rest.

• Repeat the series 5 or 6 times to practice 5 or 6 minutes of exercise.
• If you are a beginner, you will surely start with 5 or 10 repetitions, whatever you can, and every three days, you should increase until you reach 15.

3. Squat jump

It is a jumping squat, and together with the burpee, it is one of the best cardio fat burning exercises to practice at home or in the gym since, by doing it fast and including the jump, the heart rate is significantly increased.

• Stand with your legs open shoulder-width apart. With your back straight, lower your glutes back as if you were going to sit in an imaginary chair. The knees mustn’t exceed the tips of the fingers.
• From this position, jump to the ceiling and return to the 90º position (sitting in the imaginary chair).

You can practice the squat jump 20 or 30 times very quickly, rest the rest of the minute and repeat five times.

• Another option is to do 4 or 5 sets of 45 seconds without stopping and 15 seconds of rest.
• Remember that you will do fewer repetitions if you are a beginner, and you should gradually increase.

4. Skipping and jumping jack

The skipping is running without leaving the site.

And jumping juck is a prevalent jumping exercise that consists of jumping by opening the legs and raising the arms to jump again by closing the legs and bringing the arms to the body.

Both exercises can be practiced in HIIT format following the squat jump pattern, and they are great cardiovascular exercises.

5. Your fat-burning cardio exercise chart

With these four exercises (burpees, squat jump, skipping, and jumping juck), you can practice an active 20 or 30-minute cardio table with a 10-minute warm-up to help you lose weight.

Of course, you must be consistent and accompany the exercise of a balanced hypocaloric diet supervised by a specialist. Remember that the two pillars for losing weight are diet and exercise, and they must go hand in hand.

6. Interval cardio exercise that adapts to your fitness

HIIT exercise intersperses periods of activity with periods of rest. And these periods will vary depending on the physical form of each person.

A beginner who is not used to exercising should rest twice as long as he works. For example, if you do 30 seconds of exercise, you should rest 1 minute.

An intermediate person should rest at the same time that he works. An advanced person rests half the time they work.