You Don’t Have to Enjoy Running to Get a Good Cardio Workout – Different Types of Cardio Exercise

Jogging/Running

Millions of people around the world jog or run for fun and fitness. One of the reasons for the popularity of this type of exercise is that it’s really easy to do and anyone can do it. All you need is a pair of shoes and a place to run. And the good news is that you can run in a number of places, inside and out, and it's great as a cardio exercise.

You can run or jog:

• On trails
• On an indoor track
• On an outdoor track
• On the sidewalk in your community
• On a treadmill in your home or in a fitness center

You can run for fun or competitively or both. You can run by yourself or with a group. You can run short distances or long distances. And you can run as part of a varied exercise program. Running burns calories, too.

A 200-pound person can burn more than 500 calories in an hour of jogging. Jog for an hour a day without changing your diet and that’s one pound lost each week. Change your diet and the weight loss increases significantly.

Some studies have also indicated that running increases your longevity. The Copenhagen City Heart Study followed 20,000 Danes for 35 years and found that joggers lived an average of five years longer than non-joggers.

Race Walking

If you have joint problems or just don’t like to jog or run, then consider speed walking or race walking. You can maintain a pretty fast pace when you walk and burn almost as many or more calories.

Race walking uses your upper body to increase momentum; therefore a 200-pound person who race walks for an hour can burn almost 700 calories. It can take some time to learn the form for race walking but you’ll be able to burn as you learn. And you can race walk indoors on a treadmill as well as outside.

Cross Country Skiing

While most people can’t cross country ski outside year round, you can use an indoor machine and enjoy similar benefits. In fact, cross-country skiing is considered the top calorie burning exercise.

An hour of moderate effort on cross country skis or on an indoor machine, like a Nordic Track, can burn almost 800 calories for a 200-pound person. It’s because you use both your arms and your legs for this fun and low impact movement.