Cardio Exercises are exercises that can help you in increasing your heart rate. While doing this exercise, your whole body is forced to stay in motion. Our muscles must also be kept in motion as much as possible, so as to help them stay in proper shape. Since the muscles are in motion, they are able to attain enough strength. As your muscle strength grows, it will help in keeping your body much more healthy and efficient. These exercises also play a major role in helping individuals lose their weight and improve the immunity levels in their body.
Following are some of the cardio exercises that can be performed by individuals to help them lose weight and also grow their muscles healthy and strong.
1. Standing Leg Raise:
Standing Leg Raise is one of the remarkable cardio exercises that actually works and enhances the strength of your hip muscles. By doing this exercise, you are able to improve your lower body strength by placing more stress on your glutes as well as hamstrings. You can also try to do standing leg raises as a warm up exercise before starting your workout.
Equipment Required:
• No equipment is required for doing this exercise.
How to do this exercise?
• Start by standing straight and keep the feet at shoulder width distance. Keep your hands onto your waist.
• Now, start raising your right leg directly to your back. Keep your buttocks squeezed when you are at the top of the motion and subsequently lower your leg.
• Now, lift the right leg and lower it again and come back to the original position.
• You can try and do at least 10-15 standing leg raises on one side and then switch over to the other side.
2. Lateral Shuffle:
The lateral shuffle is one of the well-known cardio exercises that is simple and are performed by fitness athletes belonging to various levels. This exercise can help individuals to improve their balance and co-ordination effectively. Individuals engaged in sports activities such as football and tennis that require them to move aggressively in different directions can greatly benefit from doing this exercise. Moreover, it also boosts your metabolism and helps you burn more calories at the time of exercise.
Equipment Required:
• No equipment is required for doing this exercise.
How to do this exercise?
• You can start off by placing your feet hip distance apart.
• Now, begin to bend towards your front at the hips. Bend your knees and start looking to your front. Lift your chest and keep your spine neutral.
• The hands must be held in loose fists right before your chest.
• Now, start moving to the right by taking small quick shuffle steps for a specified time period as decided by you.
• Similarly, you can repeat the same movement on the other side.
• You can try to shuffle on both sides for a specified number of reps.
You can also try and do as many reps as possible for a minute, in order to finish one set.
3. Jumping Jacks:
This cardio exercise involves movements that are repetitive in nature and is a great form of cardio workout for individuals. This is a great cardio exercise for individuals who are trying to lose weight. By doing this exercise regularly, excess calories can be burnt easily and it also helps raise the blood circulation to the entire body and even helps in controlling blood pressure, thereby protecting individuals against the occurrence of any heart attack or stroke.
Equipment Required:
• No Equipment is required for doing this exercise.
How to do this exercise?
• You can start off by standing straight by keeping the feet hip-width apart. Keep your arms at your side and the palms must be kept facing each other.
• Now, jump a bit and start broadening your legs on both your sides.
• Keep your arms raised to the top over your head. Make sure not to bend your arms in the process. The arms as well as the legs should be moving simultaneously.
• Now, jump a little once again and bring back both your hands and legs on to the starting position.
• You have completed one rep.
You can try and do at least 3 sets comprising of 30 reps each.
4. Speed Skater:
Speed Skater is an excellent cardio exercise for individuals that focus on their cardiovascular system. This is one of the exercises, wherein, individuals would be jumping from side to side and they would end up standing on one leg and subsequently placing their leg on the ground. By training for such movements, an individual’s lower body muscles are challenged, apart from their hips, glutes and quads, including their entire cardiovascular system as a whole. In this way, the glutes, quads and hamstrings are strengthened. Moreover, it also helps in providing greater stability for your knees and hips. Moreover, you would also not be requiring much space for doing this exercise and it helps in enhancing your lower body strength.
Equipment Required:
• No equipment is required for doing this exercise.
How to do this exercise?
• Start by getting yourself on to a standing position and keep the feet at hip width apart.
• Now, begin to bend a little at the hip and your knees, so that you come on to a quarter squat position. Your weight must be shifted to your right leg and then lift the left leg out of the floor.
• Laterally bound on your left side by pushing out using your right foot.
• Now, you must try and land gently on to your left leg, which is in the same way to the starting position and allow the right leg to cross behind you. The right arm must be allowed to cross just in front of you.
• After landing, you must pause for a short period in order to get some stability as well as control and then jump in the opposite direction. This time you will start moving off by using your left leg.
You can continue to do these movements for the desired number of reps as you feel comfortable.
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Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
