Cardio is short for cardiovascular fitness. Pairing cardio exercise with weight training, can help you build muscle mass, while burning body fat. It’s a form of exercise that boosts your heart rate allowing you to increase the functional capacity of your heart, enhancing your respiratory system, lowers cholesterol levels and releases feel-good hormones that alleviate stress levels. Cardio is highly effective in keeping your body fit and toned. 

Let’s explore a few benefits of cardio exercise that has great impact on our health. 

Health Benefits of doing Cardio Exercise:

Cardio provides us with numerous health benefits. Some of them are listed as below:

1. Improved Heart Health:

Cardio helps in reducing blood pressure and also lowers the risk of heart diseases that leads to improved heart health. 

2. Longevity:

Cardiovascular exercises can help in prolonged longevity since it improves heart health by making your lungs and heart stronger, enabling the body’s ability to deal with stress effectively. 

3. Mental Health:

Due to rigorous exercises, there is an improved blood flow throughout the system. This helps in enhancing cognitive functions and also releases endorphins that make you feel good. 

4. Weight Loss:

Since cardio is extensive and requires you to burn a lot of calories and fats, a long term regular cardio exercise program helps you to lose weight effectively. 

5. Improved Sleep:

Cardio puts your body through extensive physical exertion resulting in the body to experience intense fatigue. The exertion during crossfit helps you to fall asleep quickly leading to a more restful and uninterrupted sleep cycle.

Now that you know the kind of benefits that cardio has on our body, let’s look at some cardio exercises that can be performed in order to boost your heart health. 

Top Cardio Workout for Men:

1. Running:

This is the go-to exercise for everyone and it also proves to be effective in burning calories. A 10 minute (per km) pace helps you to burn 10 calories per minute. 

2. Skipping:

Skipping burns 13 calories per minute when done in a mild to moderate pace of upto 100 to 120 skips per minute. Jumping ropes makes use of more muscle groups while challenging your balance and co-ordination. 

3. Jump Squats:

It is an exercise where you squat and then jump as high as you can and land on your feet with your knees and hips bent. This works the entire body and increases strength. 

4. Box Step Ups:

Here ‍you stand in front of a box or any other sturdy elevator platform with your feet shoulder-width apart. Put your left leg on top of the box, followed by the right leg. Take a pause for a few seconds before reverting to your original stance. They work the glutes, quads and hamstrings to the fullest but also helps burn fat effectively.

5. Jumping Jacks:

They are the best warm-up exercise to get the blood pumping throughout your body. Here you stand in attention and then jump while spreading your legs and keeping your hands above your head. A good 15-20 repetitions are enough to get the blood in your body pumping. 

Now that we have an idea of top cardio exercises for men to boost heart health, let’s have a look at a few cardio exercises for women.

Top Cardio Exercise for Women:

Women tend to do more cardio exercises compared to strength training to achieve a leaner body. It helps you burn the maximum amount of calories by keeping your body fully engaged. To support their fitness goals, protein powder for women can be beneficial, providing the necessary nutrients for muscle recovery and overall health.

1. Burpees:

It’s an excellent classic workout if you want to engage your whole body. To do this exercise, stand up straight and take a high jump, then drop immediately on the ground. Take your feet back and place your hands on the floor in a high plank position. Do a push-up and then jump back to stand straight. Repeat.

2. High Knees:

It’s an effective alternative for those who do not like to run or do not have open spaces to workout. In order to do this exercise stand straight, join your knees and hold your arms steady at both sides. Lift your one knee up to your chest and take a jump. Start repeating the same with alternative legs.

3. Mountain Climbers:

Mountain climbers are effective in targeting your abdominal muscles, shoulders, arms, chest and thighs. It helps to increase your core strength, agility and endurance. You can do this exercise by starting with a high plank position, keeping your arms and legs straight. Then move your right leg forwards and outwards, while doing so try to take your knee as close as possible to the right elbow. Keep your body straight and return to a high plank position. Repeat the same with your left leg. 

4. Star Jumps:

Star jumps are a great exercise to pump blood in your muscles. It helps in increasing your stamina and trains your body to move oxygen and blood to your muscles more efficiently. To do star jumps start with standing straight while keeping your feet shoulder-width apart. Now slightly bend your knees and jump, while jumping create the letter ‘X’ in the air. Do a 2-3 set of 10 repetitions.

5. Squat Jumps:

Similar to Squats, squat jumps are where you jump and land in a squat position rather than landing in a standing position. In order to do squat jumps, start in a squat position. Then explosively jump up while extending your hips and knees, and land back in a squat position with soft knees to absorb the impact. Be mindful while landing so as to not injure your knees. 

Conclusion:

In short, incorporating cardiovascular exercise into your fitness regimen helps you in enhancing your overall health and well-being. It not only helps you achieve significant health benefits, but it also improves overall mental health. You can mix a number of exercises like running, jumping rope, or performing high-intensity interval training, that allow you to keep your routine exciting and effective. By implicating these exercises you can not only achieve improved heart health, but also build muscle mass while burning body fat. These exercises help you stay rejuvenated and energized throughout the day.