When it comes to weight loss everyone knows cardio exercise is paramount. For those of us who may be a bit on the older side of things, losing weight is much harder than it was when we were young. That’s just a fact of life, but it does not mean healthy aging and losing weight is not possible. In fact, it has become easier these days to be healthy at any age, then it has just a few decades ago. These days, the individual has access to so much knowledge on diet, health, good eating habits and exercise then ever before.
Typically a good healthy lifestyle involves two things; eating right and exercise. This article will cover some basic cardio exercises that are easily done and can be fun.
Bicycling
Cycling is one of the best cardio exercises because you are using all of your leg power. You build endurance and burn calories simultaneously which causes less fatigue throughout the day and more energy overall. depending on your body weight Cycling approximately 10-12 mph can burn between 375-525 calories per hour, cycling greater than 20mph can burn 1000-1400 calories per hour, and stationary cycling generally burns 300-450 calories per hour.
Running
Running is arguably the best cardio exercise. This heart pounding intensity frees your body of stale toxins, strengthens blood circulation, and if done on a consistent basis, adds years to your life! To see the best results you should choose routes that include incline, decline, and sprinting. To give you a good example a 150lb person could burn close to 320 calories every 30 minutes.
Swimming
Another HUGE workout, but one of the last choices you probably think of is swimming. Running, cycling, hiking things of that nature are the most obvious fat burners, but swimming is just as effective. Swimming is a full body workout which translates to more calories being burned. An hour of swimming can burn up to 800 calories depending on your weight. The best part is you’ll never have a high impact injury on your joints, which is why most physicians and trainers recommend swimming to injured and rehabilitating patients.
Elliptical
Looking for something new? The next time your at the gym try hopping on the elliptical machine. This is a full body work out and like swimming you are putting low pressure on your joints. This gives you a good chance to really train your breathing without the constant “pounding” of running. This low impact high result exercise makes it easy for over weight people to get in shape.
Many of these exercises can be turned into fun activities. Finding new areas to run with friends can be a great way to break up the monotony of running on a treadmill at the gym. Swimming at the pool is fun, but what about finding a local lake or swimming hole?!