Below are some of the best home cardio workouts that you can do based on your fitness level and listed in the order of calories burnt per 30 mins from least to most.
From bodyweight only and low impact all the way to dumbbells and treadmill circuit combos to challenge those who are more advanced and ready to go hard and drown in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Want to burn the greatest number of calories in the shortest amount of time and you need to do your cardio exercises home based? This article is for you.
I have outlined the best styles of home cardio workouts for you that will have you burn fat like an athlete. I have taken into consideration all fitness levels so that you can choose a style of workout that works best for you and work with what you have at home.
Cardio exercise is an important component of a well-rounded fitness routine. It helps to improve cardiovascular health, boost energy levels, and burn calories. While it’s often thought of as something that must be done at a gym or outdoors, there are many ways to do cardio at home.
Let’s dive into various workout styles you can do at home whether you have no equipment, dumbbells only, treadmill, or combination circuits of both free weights and treadmill.
Of course, there are many more ways you can do cardio and improve your cardiovascular health as well as burn fat, but I have outlined 5 of the most convenient and most popular types of cardio exercises home based or gym based.
These are the styles of cardio I often incorporate in my client’s programs for my online and personal training clients for over 12 years now, to help them achieve their goals of building muscles while getting leaner in the quickest possible time.
LOW-IMPACT HOME CARDIO WORKOUTS;
1) Home cardio workouts without equipment, low impact circuit (not HIIT).
Recommended for beginner level or great when you are tired to do an intense workout, but want to get some movement in daily, also great when you travel.
Can burn between 150-200 calories in 30 minutes.
Benefits and drawbacks of doing home cardio workouts without equipment.
Benefits
- No equipment required.
- Can be done in a small space, outdoors, apartment or hotel.
- Low impact means no jumping.
- No timer/stop watch required, as you can just approximate your work/rest ration based on how you feel.
- Can improve muscle tone for beginners
- When done as a circuit, allows plenty of time to rest a muscle group for longer before hitting it again.
Drawbacks
- If you have been working out for a while, this style of workout will not challenge you very much and therefore will not help you progress, it will purely be a maintenance workout, just to keep the fitness and movement up.
- Once you are past the beginner level of strength and fitness these exercises may not elevate your heart rate as much as they did when you were a beginner therefore not improving your cardio vascular health or fat burn beyond your current level.
- Can get a bit boring if you do this for more than 3 months consistently.
Why is this style of workout not considered HIIT is firstly it will not push the heart rate beyond 80% of the maximum heart rate for most people unless you work fast and a complete beginner, then it may. Secondly, the work/rest intervals are not properly timed which is required for proper HIIT training.
If you are finding this style of cardio too easy then it’s time to level up.
2) Home cardio workouts with dumbbells, full body circuit, low impact.
Recommended for beginner to intermediate level. I also recommend this style of workout if you are short on time and want to combine strength and cardio into one to save yourself doing it separately. Doing this style of workout 3-4 times a week can help you see body decomposition over time as long as you progressively challenge yourself.
Can burn between 200-250 calories in 30 minutes.
I created my Strong & Sculpted 12-Week Home Training Program around this principle.
Benefits and drawbacks of doing home cardio workouts with dumbbells.
Benefits
- More challenging than bodyweight workouts only.
- Definitely very beneficial and effective for toning and sculpting muscles whilst improving cardio vascular health and burning fat all at the same time.
- Requires minimal equipment and very easy to obtain inexpensively.
- Gives much more variety to your training.
- Can be done in a small space or outdoors.
Drawbacks
- If the form is not learnt properly injury can occur.
- Can be difficult to decide what weight is best to use for different exercises.
- May need multiple sets of dumbbells or if using adjustable might need to change weight frequently between exercises or plan a circuit that can be done with the same weight so you will need to put a bit more thought into your workouts.
- Difficult to take with you if you travel as they can be heavy.
You could probably turn it into a HIIT workout if you time your intervals and if you push yourself to at least 80% of your maximum heart rate so you would need some type of device to track your heart rate like Apple watch or another brand.
If you are thinking of getting a few basic affordable pieces of training equipment for your home like dumbbells, bands, and suspension trainers you can check out my blog article on Home Gym Must Have’s for Beginners. If you have no equipment at home this is a good place to start without spending a fortune.
HIIT HOME CARDIO WORKOUTS;
Now let’s talk about HIIT training and why it has become so popular not only among athletes, but regular folks who just want to get fit and burn fat.
- It can improve cardiovascular fitness: HIIT training can increase the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles, which can be beneficial for endurance athletes.
- It can increase muscle strength: HIIT workouts often involve exercises that use multiple muscle groups, which can help to build strength and power.
- It can improve speed and agility: The short bursts of intense activity in HIIT workouts can help athletes to improve their quickness and agility on the field or court.
- It can increase calorie burn: HIIT workouts tend to be more intense than other types of workouts, so they can help athletes to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time.
- And one of the key benefits which sets HIIT apart from other styles of cardio training; the afterburn effect, which refers to the increased metabolism and calorie burn that occurs after the workout is completed. This effect can last for up to 24-48 hours after the workout, depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise. The afterburn effect is thought to be due to the increased demand for oxygen during HIIT, which leads to an increase in the production of enzymes and hormones that help to burn fat and calories. As a result, HIIT is an effective way to boost metabolism and increase fat loss.
3) HIIT home cardio workouts without equipment, high impact, timed intervals.
Recommended for intermediate to advanced levels of fitness and those who do not suffer with knee, hip or ankle joint pain or pelvic floor weakness.
Can burn between 240-300 calories in 30 minutes.
Benefits and drawbacks of HIIT home cardio workouts without equipment.
Benefits
- No equipment is needed.
- Can be done anywhere.
- Exercises like burpees or jumping can improve agility and bone density.
- Burns calories even after the workout are completed for a few hours.
- Can help improve explosive power and athletic abilities.
Drawbacks
- Difficult to push yourself very hard as there is nothing to push or challenge you aside from yourself.
- To get the heart rate high enough jumping or burpees may be necessary especially if you are already fairly fit, which could be an issue if you have problems with joints, arthritic pain, or pelvic floor weakness.
4) HIIT home cardio workouts using a treadmill.
Recommended for intermediate to advanced levels of fitness or for those who want to improve their running speed, athletic ability, agility and balance.
You can try one of the two following ways to use treadmill for HIIT.
Method 1; Interval fast sprints on 0 incline with a complete stop in between to rest.
Warning; be careful and do your intervals slowly at the start, you can increase speed on your work intervals with each round as you get more familiar and more comfortable getting on and off the belt while it’s still moving.
This style of HIIT circuit is performed by starting with a 5 min jog on speed 6 or 7, with no incline. Then you will perform 30 seconds of running between the speeds of 8-15 depending on what you are comfortable with, once you complete the 30-second sprint you would jump off the belt by firmly placing your hands on the sidebars and then moving your feed to the non-moving sides of the treadmill, the belt will continue moving at the same speed, but you will stand on the sides taking a 20-30 second rest before jumping back on again holding tight on to the sidebars with both hands, then releasing hands for the 30 seconds of the sprint. You can repeat this 10-20 times.
This style of workout can be slightly fear-inducing I am not going to lie, so you have to be careful and increase those sprint interval speeds gradually.
I normally start with a 5 min jog on level 7, then start my circuit with my 1st sprint on speed 8 and then increase by 1 for each circuit until I reach level 12 or 14 and continue for 20 rounds, finishing with a 5 min walk to cool down. Around 30 mins in total.
This of course can be done with any elliptical machine as well like, a cross trainer, rower, or spin bike. It’s a really fun and challenging way to get some really good sweat sess. going.
Method 2; Increasing incline to very high, but still a walking speed.
If sprinting at such high speeds as mentioned above while trying to jump on the running belt is a bit too scary then you can try a different way to increase your heart rate up to 80% of the maximum heart rate.
By increasing incline instead of speed, so you can walk the entire time and manually press the button for your rest periods to decline the machine and incline again to level 12 or higher for your high-intensity portion of the interval circuit and repeat this for a minute on the minute. So, 1 min high incline 12 walk at a slightly higher speed around 5-6 then drop the speed to rest pace at around 4 and drop the incline to either completely flat (0) or around 2-3. You can play around with walking speeds and incline and keep an eye out on your heart rate to see if you are reaching above 130-150bpm, best to have a wearable heart rate monitor such as a fitness watch.
Alternatively, if you have a good treadmill that has built-in interval workouts that you can choose from then you can just select a workout you like and not worry about having to manually adjust it. Check out my recent review on one of my favourite treadmills that are suitable for this. Endurance Spirit Treadmill – Review.
Can burn between 270-340 calories in 30 minutes.
Benefits and drawbacks of HIIT home cardio on a treadmill.
Benefits
- Once you set the pace the treadmill will force you to work hard and push yourself.
- You can opt for an increase in elevation which can elevate your heart rate high enough without having to run or sprint.
- Can help you improve athletic performance and speed if you plan on participating in marathons in the future.
- A fantastic option for those who enjoy running, and want to get better at running.
- Allows you to workout at your preferred intensity regardless of the weather outside.
- Having a treadmill means you can just go for a walk any time you like no matter the weather outside.
Drawbacks
- Needs a bit of space to fit it into
- Can be a pricey investment
- Can’t be moved around easily from room to room like dumbbells
5) HIIT home cardio workouts using free weights and treadmill intervals.
Recommended for intermediate to advanced levels of fitness and those who do not suffer from knee, hip, or ankle joint pain or pelvic floor weakness.
An example of such a home cardio workout would be;
- 30 seconds of mountain climbers
- 30 seconds rest
- 30 seconds sprint on the treadmill at speed 12
- 30 seconds rest
- 30 seconds of squat and overhead dumbbell press
- 30 seconds rest
- 30 seconds sprint on the treadmill at speed 12
- 30 seconds rest
- 30 seconds of renegade rows with dumbbells (see clip below for how to do it)
- 30 seconds rest
- 30 seconds sprint on the treadmill at speed 12
- 30 seconds rest
Repeat circuit 4-5 rounds of the above
You can take up to 90 seconds of rest before starting each round, as this workout isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Can burn between 240-300 calories in 30 minutes.
Benefits and drawbacks of HIIT home cardio workouts with free weights and treadmill.
Benefits
- A fun way to level up your fitness and cardiovascular health.
- Allows you to work full body while burning calories.
- Can improve overall athleticism and many other aspects of fitness if you are incorporating various movements.
- The treadmill portion can help improve your speed.
- A great way to challenge yourself.
Drawbacks
- Requires various equipment such as treadmill and free weights or even skipping rope.
- Requires good skill in various movements to avoid injury.
- Requires a lot of energy and motivation as it is a fairly intense workout style.
- The cost involved in purchasing equipment.
