Cardio Exercises at Home

Cardio exercises is an abbreviation used for cardiovascular exercises. These are exercises which will help to lift the heart rate and keep it elevated for a certain period of time after you have stopped doing the exercise. These exercises can also be called aerobic exercises. There are many benefits of cardio exercises. The first and most important is that it helps to strengthen the heart muscle and lungs. Weight loss is the next important benefit and it also maximizes the amount of oxygen our body takes in and also improves blood circulation. The immune system of the body is stimulated with these exercise. To do cardio exercises, you do not have to shell out a large amount of money. Doing cardio exercises at home is certainly possible, you will only have to spare some time to do these exercises. Having said that, let's see which are some of the cardio exercises that can be practiced without equipment.

Cardio Exercises to do At Home

There are two schools of thought as far as cardio exercises go. The first school of thought is the slow and steady cardio workout, where the duration of the exercise is usually 45 minutes to an hour. Low intensity exercises are practiced and it is said that it burns more fat and not carbohydrates and helps in taking care of the joints. The next school of thought is high intensity cardio workout. In this the duration of exercise is 20 to 30 minutes and they are high intensity cardio workouts. It burns a lot of calories and revs up the metabolism throughout the day. It is however recommended you choose a cardio exercise depending on your health condition after consultation with your health care professional.

Bicycling
Outdoor cycling or indoor cycling is a great cardio workout. It will also help to protect the knees, as you use all the power in your legs and at the same time it will also increase endurance, as you burn a lot of calories. The number of calories burned will depend on how fast do you cycle and how high resistance do you use when you are cycling.

Elliptical Trainer
This is a great exercise to build endurance, as you also protect aching joints from high impact exercises. If you use your arms while using the elliptical trainer, the impact it will give you is similar to cross-country skiing. If you are runner and would want to give running on the sidewalk a break, then this is the exercise which you would like to take up. The number of calories burned by a person weighing 145 lbs after 30 minutes of training on the elliptical machine is about 300.

Step Aerobics
Although step aerobics was introduced a long ago in the gyms, it has not lost its luster yet among exercise freaks. This exercise is a difficult exercise which targets the legs, butt and hips while it burns as many as 400 calories per 30 minutes when high intensity step aerobics is practiced. It may seem to be difficult to learn, however, you can certainly learn them with the help of an exercise video.

Walking
Many people underestimate the benefits of walking exercise. If you walk fast, you can burn as many as 180 calories per 30 minutes of exercise, yet it is a low impact exercise. You can also add walking uphill, sprints or even jogging and running for some time will increase the number of calories burned. However, the most important part is that you walk as though you are about to catch a bus, which is about to leave and also keep your head up, back straight as you swing your arms, when you walk.

Jumping Jacks
This is a traditional exercise which is recommended if you want a intense cardio exercise. It may seem very easy, but is very challenging an exercise for most of the people. With this exercise, you will condition your body and also increase total body endurance.

Jumping Rope
Do you remember jumping rope as a child? Although one of the most simplest, it is also the most effective of the cardio exercises to do at home. All you will need to spend is 15 to 20 minutes for an unparalleled total body workout. It is an ideal exercise for cardiovascular endurance, which also helps in eye-hand coordination, lateral movement, foot and hand speed and agility.

So that you do not get bored of doing cardio exercises and also so that you continue to reap benefits from them, you can chalk out cardio workouts. You can do one of the exercise for 4 to 5 weeks before you change the exercise. However, if you experience pain in any part of the body, stop the physical activity and contact your physician immediately.