Top 10 Bodyweight Cardio Exercises & Workout
Are you tired of going for a run? Or do you want to try & learn about different ways to do cardio?
This article will provide you with the 10 best bodyweight cardio exercises and an at-home workout that will get you in shape fast.
As a basic guideline, cardio exercises should work on at least one major muscle group, to make it challenging. Doing biceps curls, for example, wouldn't be the best cardio exercise since it is an isolation exercise.
Functional bodyweight strength exercises, such as Burpees, Mountain climbers, etc., on the other hand, are better for cardio workouts since they work out multiple large muscles simultaneously.
So let's get into the exercises straight away!
Burpees
The burpee can be divided into multiple phases:
- Standing up tall
- Get into Push-up Position
- (Optional) Perform a Push-up)
- Get into a low squat
- Perform a Jump
It is a full-body exercise, which is why the exercise gets you out of breath quite fast. Almost every single muscle in your body is going to work when doing burpees.
Rope Skipping
Another excellent warm-up and cardio exercise is rope skipping. Rope skipping can be a quite fun activity since there are different skills to master.
At the same time, it warms-up your entire body and is an excellent way to prepare for a strength workout.
Mountain Climbers
Start in a push-up position, then bring one leg at a time towards your chest and then get back into the starting position. Do the same thing with the other leg and try to do it at a fast pace.
Since your abs, shoulders & major leg muscles work at the same time, your heart rate will go up quickly when doing mountain climbers.
Step-up Jumps
If you want to work your quads, hamstrings, glutes & hip flexors at the same time while burning fat, you should consider doing step-up jumps.
Find a box at a height, that you can comfortably step up without tilting your body in any direction. Then put one foot onto the box and push yourself off from that leg to perform a jump.
Switch legs while in the air so that now the other leg is on top of the box/object and keep doing the exercise.
After less than a minute, you are going to feel a burn throughout your entire legs & your heart rate should be up, which makes it a quite intense cardio exercise.
Tuck Jumps
Since jumping trains almost every single muscle group except for your arms, it is probably one of the best forms of movement if you want to have very intense cardio sessions.
The tuck jump adds a significant element of core strength into regular jumps and is an element out of gymnastics.
Perform a jumping squat, but bring your legs as far up to your chest as you can. If you want to, you can grab your legs in the air.
In case you have access to a mat/sand, you can do the same exercise there since it makes it more difficult to jump.
Jumping Jacks
Another full-body cardio exercise are Jumping Jacks; begin in a regular stance with your feet at shoulder-width apart. Now jump up into the air while bringing your legs apart from each other and your arms up towards the sky/ceiling. Now your legs should be relatively far apart, and your arms should be out; from this position, you jump again and bring your legs back together and your arms to your body. Note that your arms & legs should be straight in the air.
Running Stairs
Another quite intense & fun exercise is to run stairs. It is going to be a lot more challenging for your legs & abs than regular running, which enables you to do shorter cardio sessions while burning a similar amount of fat. Be aware that your knees shouldn't go inwards while running stairs while maintaining a straight posture, to make the exercise more effective.
Jumping Stairs
Alternatively, you can also jump upstairs. When performing a jump, your arms should be behind your body, and your legs should be slightly less bent than 90 degrees. Bring your arms forward while pushing as hard as possible with your legs. Keep doing the jumps until you reached the end of the stairs or are exhausted, then walk down and start over again.
Side to Side Jumps
Another jumping exercise that targets the muscles around the sides of your legs and your obliques are sides to side jumps. Place a relatively low object at the side of you. (the height depends on your explosivity & endurance). Face the object sideways and jump over it, while not tilting your upper body to either side. Then hop over it from the other side and keep doing the jumps.
Bunny Hops
Find a low bench, and stand on either side of it, then place both your hands onto the bench. Similar to doing side to side jumps you are going to hop over it, but this time you should keep contact with your arms the entire time. Also use your arms to push besides your legs to make the exercise more challenging for your arms.
Crawling
If you're looking for a challenging but unusual full-body exercise, you should try crawling. Focus on maintaining a good posture, whereas your bottom should stay as low as possible to the ground.
If you're advanced, you can make the exercise even harder by adding a staggered push-up with every step.
Note that crawling can be quite intensive on your wrists, which is why you should warm them up, with dynamic stretching.
Other than that, crawling will engage your core, back, shoulders and legs simultaneously.
Crab Walking
Another form of regular crawling that works more on your glutes, hip flexors & hamstrings is crab walking. Start by sitting with your arms slightly behind you and your fingers pointing towards your feet. Then lift your ass off the ground and bring it up until there is a straight line from your quads all the way to your core muscles.
Then start walking in this position, while keeping your hips up at all times.
Workouts:
With all the workouts, you should focus on doing short breaks (30-60 seconds) while doing the exercise for 15-30 seconds. This type of training is also known as HIIT, which is one of the most effective forms of cardio.
It involves short but quite intensive workouts, which have been shown to burn more fat than running for far more extended periods. In case you seriously want to start with HIIT, I recommend reading my review of "Anabolic Running" which is the program that got me in shape fast!
Beginner
- 1 min Rope Skipping - 30-sec break
- 15-sec Burpees - 45-sec break
- 30-sec Jumping Jacks - 30-sec break
- 30 sec Crab Walking - 30-sec break
Repeat 3x times
Intermediate
- 2 min Rope Skipping - 30-sec break
- 30 sec of Step up Jumps (above Knee height) 30-sec break
- 1 min Crawling - 30-sec break
- 30 sec of Tuck Jumps 30-sec break
Repeat 3x times
Advanced
- 30 sec of Burpees - 30-sec break
- 30 sec of Jumping Stairs - 30-sec break
- 30 sec of Crawling Downstairs - 30-sec break
- 1 min of Mountain Climbers - 30-sec break
Repeat three times
Conclusion:
If you have any questions, doubts or suggestions about exercises, please leave a comment! I'd also love to know if anybody tries the workouts below and appreciate any feedback.
Share this article with your friends, and find a partner to train with, since it makes it easier to stay motivated!
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