Benefits of cardio exercise – workouts for beginners | Make it fun

When it comes to the cardio, the benefits most people are searching for are related to burning fat, weight loss, heart health, and well being.

benefits-of-cardio

In this article we are going to discuss all of the following cardio topics:

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Can you lose weight by walking?

Let me start with the benefits of cardio:

  1. Allows you to hit your caloric goals much easier.
  2. LISS cardio is easier on the joints and easy to recover from.
  3. HIIT cardio allows you to burn a lot of calories while training for performance.
  4. Improves heart health.
  5. Can be done with little to no equipment.

It’s a common thing to see people saying that cardio is boring. People in general hate to do cardio and simply want to lift weights even though most do it wrong anyways. But that’s a whole other topic.

I myself used to hate doing cardio but it wasn’t because it was boring but because I had decided to enter a fat loss program designed by a non experienced non educated social media influencer that had achieved a pro status via the help of another coach and not in a natural manner.

Today, I do not have that problem as I have found a much more healthier way to not only get lean but maintain the progress I made. The first time I got shredded, meaning I was 3.2% body fat according to an underwater body fat test, I had a huge rebound about 4-6 weeks later. This is the importance of doing things right.

How much cardio is too much and how much cardio should you do per week?

Let me start by saying that you can do as much cardio as you wish. This will depend on what you’re doing cardio for. If you’re training to run a marathon then you’re going to be performing hours of cardio per day. If you’re simply trying to get shredded or lean, you do not need that much cardio unless you like to eat a lot like I do.

Before I tell you what’s too much or how many times per week, I need you to understand that when you lift weights or do hiit workouts, you are doing cardio! If your heart rate is going up you’re doing cardio. The difference lies in how high does your heart rate go and how constant it is at a certain beats per minute. This is where you get into the HIIT vs LISS debate.

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Traning. LISS stands for Lower Intensity Steady State. I’m not going to get into all the details about the muscle and strength benefits of HIIT or the muscular endurance and heart health benefits of LISS. I’m going to boil it down to a simple formula.

The cardio weight loss formula:

The amount of calories you burn in a day including all your workouts, cardio sessions, and natural metabolic daily rate called BMR minus the amount of calories that you consume per day, will yield how many pounds of fat you either lose, gain, or if you maintain your weight. Nowadays, there is no excuse as to why you can’t figure out these numbers. Smart watches and heart rate monitors give very accurate data on the amount of calories you burn per day in total. Apps like myfitnesspal allow you to track your foods and very accurately tells you the amount of calories you consume as long as you weigh your food and enter the right servings.

With that said, in my opinion, if you’re forcing yourself to lose more then a pound of fat per week you are being too aggressive. Most of the people I’ve trained and followed during competitions have had one of two outcomes. They maintained their results or they had huge rebounds. Guess who usually had the huge rebounds? The winners of competitions or those who were too aggressive.

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Body fat percentage 3.2%

I myself, when I want to get shredded, I go on 500-600 calorie deficit until I reach my bodyfat goal. With one workout per day, whether I lift weights for two hours or do a 60 minute HIIT Circuit training session, I burn around 2800-3200 calories per day. If I add an extra 45-60 minutes of cardio I end up around 3500-3700 calories burned per day. My ideal body shape BMR is around 2000 calories per day. As long as I don’t eat less then that I’m okay. If I eat 2500 calories per day I will have a minimum 300 calorie deficit per day and up to 1200 calorie deficit in a day. I usually go with a 2700 calorie deficit and go with a high calorie burn per day 3x’s per week and a smaller deficit 2-3x per week and 1-2xs per week I eat and exercise for maintenance. If I’m not focusing on getting lean, I up my calories to about 3000 calories or more and try to stay at maintenance. If I have a high output day then I’ll either eat more to make up or stay at a tiny deficit.

In conclusion, if you’re creating a deficit bigger then 1000 calories per day 7x’s per week, eating less then your ideal BMR, you are destroying your body and in the end you will due possibly irreversible damage. It’s not how many hours is too much or the frequency per week, it’s how much body fat are you losing per week, if more then 1, you’re over doing it. If you’re eating too little, any amount of cardio is too much.

Want me to develop a customized program for you with everything I discussed here? Check out my online fitness coaching packages:

How much cardio to burn fat and how much cardio to see abs?

These two topics are very related. How much to burn fat is very related to the how much cardio is too much topic. I gave you the cardio weight loss formula. In essence, losing weight is about burning fat. Typically, every pound of body fat you lose yields a higher weight loss number on the scale. This is because you also lose water weight. It’ll be the exact same thing when you gain fat. The gain in water weight will be reflected on the scale.

If you are in a caloric deficit you are burning fat. How big your caloric deficit is will dictate how much body fat you lose and in turn how much weight you lose. One pound of body fat is made up of 3500 calories which is the measure of energy. You must burn 3500 calories worth of energy to lose one pound of body fat.

When will you see abs?

You will see abs when you get to about 12% body fat for men and about 18% body fat for women. See my Perfect Body Shape Formula for more information and a simple 4 step program to create the perfect fitness program based on how you want to look.

What are some cardio workouts for beginners you can do from home without running?

As I said, cardio is not just getting on a machine for an hour or two. If you lift weights in a circuit training type routine you can get a great cardio workout in. Cardio is all about getting your heart rate up. How you go about it is up to you. When you keep your heart rate at about 65-70% of your max Heart Rate this is considered LISS training. Walking for most and jogging for more fit individuals will keep your heart rate in a LISS range. When your heart rate exceeds 80% of your Max HR you enter the HIIT range.

If you perform circuit training workout sessions with dumbbells, how high your heart rate goes will depend on the intensity you create. The heavier the dumbbells the higher your intensity will go. With circuit training you also experience muscular failure from which you have to recover. The heavier you lift the more time you need to recover, with that said, the less your rest the higher perceived effort and the higher your heart rate.

You will most likely burn more calories doing exercises like walking or jogging on a treadmill for an hour the a circuit training workout. The advantage of weights however off set that deficit in calories burned. Weight lifting increases bone density, increases strength, and also increases your Basal Metabolic Rate. Increasing your BMR means you will burn more calories per day naturally doing every day things not including your workout.

Check out my Gymming at Home with Fitness Adaptations YouTube Channel to experience my HIIT routines that are beginner and advanced friendly. There is no running, you can do them from the comfort of your own home, and you can join others striving to be their best just like you!

What’s a good list of cardio exercises?

  1. Walking on the treadmill. Put on your headphones, watch your favorite YouTube videos, and just go. On rest days perform LISS sessions and on strength days you can perform HIIT routines. Keep reading to get more ideas. Most treadmills also come with with programs such as iFIT that make cardio fun, engaging, and challenging. Check out my Proform treadmill review.
  2. Circuit training workouts – Go to my YouTube channel.
  3. MMA class. These can include Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai.
  4. Group training at your local gym which can include circuit training classes, bootcamps, spinning, pilates, yoga.
  5. Any activity that is not sitting at a desk. Go for a jog or brisk walk outside. The intensity you use depends on how recovered you are or what the next day’s workout may entail. Program accordingly.

Making cardio fun?

Whether I’m on a treadmill, an elliptical, or a bike, I try to separate the intensity into 3 different levels. Let’s say for example I plan on doing 30 minutes of cardio or even 40 minutes. I do 5 minute intervals of three intensities.

The first interval is a medium intensity where I work but it’s not extremely demanding.

I do this usually for two minutes and then I raise either the incline or resistance or speed. So from the 2nd minute to the third or third and a half, I make sure it’s tough high intensity effort. By the time the minute goes by or minute and a half, I am out of breath. Then I take anywhere from a minute to a minute and half to recover.

That right there is a five minute interval and I repeat this 6 to 8 times.

If I go outside to run, I speed walk for about 10 minutes and then I jog for 10 minutes. I do this twice and that right there is 40 minutes of cardio. You can also do it in five minute intervals.

Ok, so let me give you an example of what I’d do on a day I use the treadmill:

I’ll start an incline 10 and a speed of 3.5 miles per hour for two minutes.

From minute 2 to minute 3:30 I maintain the incline and I increase speed to 5.0 miles per hour.

Then I recover keeping the same incline, going back to 3.5 mph, and during my recovery I hold on to the treadmill leaning back to level out the incline. When you hold on and lean back a little the effect is that of basically an incline of 0.

Then I repeat for as many intervals as I wish to do.

Before I know it my 30 minutes are gone.

Please note that at 5mph you will jog. You do not have to go this high. You can go up to 4.0 miles per hour and just speed walk. Especially if you have bad knees or are extremely overweight, obese, or just out of shape.

Useful training posts to maximize your results:

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Need a coach? Check out free and paid online personal trainer packages. If you thinking of competing, see my contest prep articles that includes information about how to go about a bodybuilding contest prep program, amount of cardio, programming, and more.

Do you want to become a personal trainer? Check out my how to become a personal trainer where I give you advice, tips, and resources to get you started.

Build your body step by step with the Perfect Body Shape Formula. First figure out, how much should I weigh for my height? and use these other sub steps included in the process:

Related steps:

Step 2, find your body fat by using this how to calculate body fat percentage article (this will be used to calculate current body fat mass and current lean mass).

Learn to control your calories, hunger, and making nutrition a lifestyle by learning about 96 hour fast, low carb diets such as ketogenic, what is keto for beginners, and mix that up with carbs using the Fat Cycling Method, Fat Cycling Diet? Keto ish Weight loss system.

Once your nutrition is programmed, then learn to workout. How should you be working out to get your ideal body type? How heavy? How many reps? How much rest? If you want to workout from home check out Gymming at Home – Essential Equipment to get my recommendations for tools, equipment, and workout schedule for my YouTube workouts. Make sure you check out my proform and norditrack treadmill reviews if you are interested in starting off your journey by walking or jogging the weight off. I give you tips and guidelines to get the best results.

Make sure you compliment your nutrition plan with a full supplementation guide:

Order your overall health, performance, fat burners, and protein powder from here: dotFit Customized Supplementation Program

One of the most important tools to help you on your journey are tools that will help you track your daily goals, best fitness tracker with heart rate monitor, whether it’s the Fitbit Charge 4, Whoop Strap 3.0, or calorie intake app. After your workout, make sure you clean up. Want to make it easy? Check out the Microfiber Duster Mop Slippers Review.

Check out these other topics and books that I highly recommend: (My article and purchase)

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