Stay fit and burn fat with any of these at home cardio workout videos that can fit into any busy schedule for a variety of fitness levels.
I know that as a busy mom you are trying to workout as efficiently as possible.
You may feel like you need to spend at least X amount of time working out to get results. Or maybe you feel like you need to work at maximum capacity otherwise the workout wasn’t effective.
How hard or how long your workouts need to be are totally dependent on your goals!
Are you trying to lose fat? Do you want to maintain your cardio as you build muscle? Are you trying to improve your endurance?
Regardless of your answer, duration and intensity are inversley related. The duration of your workouts will be determined on the intensity of that cardio workout.
You can’t perform at maximum effort for an hour but a 15 minute walk probably won’t serve you many benefits.
So if you are going to do a high intensity cardio workout you will be limited in length to maintain that intensity and gain the benefits. And if you are going to workout at a moderate to low intensity, you will want to train for a longer duration to improve endurance and burn enough fat and calories.
But can you do any of this while working out at home? Absolutely, and you don’t need a fancy shmancy treadmill, stair stepper, or fan bike to do that either!
Is cardio at home effective?
You can get just as good of results with cardio a home as you can at the gym. You don’t need any equipment to get in a killer cardio session, just a well designed workout based on your available time, current fitness level, and goals.
Just like at the gym, your results reflect the effort you put in. So if you push yourself and adhere to the intention of the workout, it will be effective.
How long should a cardio workout be?
Cardio workouts should be between 20 to 60 minutes long, with a bare minimum of 10 minutes for total beginners.
The length of your cardio workout will depend on your desired intensity, goal, and current fitness level. Generally, the shorter the workout, the more intense it should be and the longer the cardio workout, the less intense it should be.
If you are doing a HIIT workout, I recommend it be from 10-25 minutes long. If you are doing low-moderate steady state cardio, it should be 30-60 minutes long.
High intensity (typically HIIT* style) | 20 Minutes or less |
Moderate intensity (about 75% effort**) | 25-40 minutes |
Low intensity (50% effort or endurance workouts) | 40-60 minutes |
*work intervals should be 30 seconds max with a minimum of 1:1 work:rest ratio. **work intervals should be 3 minutes max. ***steady state, continuous work time or over 3 minutes of work at a time
Regardless if you are looking to lose, maintain, or gain weight, let’s discuss what type of conditioning you are looking for. If you want to improve your endurance, opt for moderate to low intensity cardio workouts of 30 minutes or longer most often.
However, to improve your endurance you will still want to incorporate high intensity training. HIIT cardio workouts will improve your maximum oxygen consumption.
Basically, that is the amount of oxygen you breathe in for use during exercise. The higher your consumption threshold is, the higher your work capacity is.
Therefore, high intensity workouts are effective at making your body more efficient at working for endurance.
If you are trying to improve your conditioning (i.e. higher intensity training or athletic training) you will most definitely be adding in those shorter HIIT cardio workouts.
But, I also want you to consider something else. When you are trying to improve your strength, power, or conditioning you need to give your body ample recovery. And those long duration (think over 30 minutes), low intensity cardio workouts are great for active recovery.
They are effective at improving aerobic capacity without putting your body under high stress. Helping you to avoid burnout.
Incorporating a variety of intensities and durations are a great way to improve your cardio while minimizing burnout.
If you have made it this far you should realize that there is no “one size fits all” to your length of workout. There is no set time that your body says, “Okay, 33 minutes! I have worked long enough to burn belly fat.” It is totally dependent on you, your goal, and your intensity.
But if you want the most EFFECTIVE workouts, you need to mix it up!!!! Give yourself a variety of long, medium, and short duration workouts for the best results. But here are the general guidelines based on intensity:
How long should you do cardio to burn fat?
Opt for a low to moderate intensity steady state cardio workout of 30-60 minutes to burn fat. Although a lower calorie burning method, your body will use energy from fat stores as a fuel source.
If you are looking to lose weight, you need to establish what that exactly means. Are you trying to lose actual fat but maintain your muscle? Do you just need to lose some pounds because the doctor said so? Maybe both? As far as losing weight goes, it comes down to burning more calories than consumed at the very end of the day.
Exercise burns calories, or stored energy. But the intensity of the exercise changes what energy system is used.
When we are working at a very high intensity that we cannot maintain for more than short bursts (around 2 minutes or less), then we are mostly burning carbs for fuel. And we can only work at a intensity like that for so long before our conditioning fatigues, our intensity drops, and we are now shifting in energy use.
Low intensity exercise that is sustained for long bouts uses mostly fats for fuel. Keep in mind though, we are never burning JUST carbs or JUST fats.
Now you may think that because you want to lose fat, you should do low intensity and long duration, but those high intensity workouts burn more calories at a time. So which one is better?
You can reduce total body fat with shorter HIIT workouts that will burn more calories within a session and boost metabolism, making weight loss easier by calorie deficit.
Remember when I said more calories burned than consumed gets you weight loss? High intensity workouts are great for burning a lot of calories, but also harder to maintain at a regular frequency because they are so taxing on the body.
If you are looking for weight loss you want to be able to stay consistent, so opt for whatever method keeps you motivated and coming back for more. That can be either, or both!
Having variety in your workout routine helps to “confuse” your body, preventing your body from a plateau and encourages sustained results.
Is 30 minutes of cardio a day enough?
Yes, 30 minutes of cardio a day can meet the Department of Health and Human Services recommended amount of 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week (Edward R. Laskowski, M.D. 2023).
To avoid a plateau, I recommend you vary your intensity and/or duration over time to continue to stimulate your body and see results.
At Home Cardio Workout Videos
Implement any of these at home cardio workout videos into your fitness routine to get a well-designed aerobic workout in using minimal equipment!
30 minute cardio workout at home
Join me for this 30 Minute Cardio Workout At Home. Get your full body cardio in with this all level workout. Burn lots of calories, boost aerobic fitness, and improve agility in just 30 minutes. All from home with no equipment needed while standing the whole time!
20 minute cardio workout
Join me for this Intense Cardio Workout At Home. Take your fitness to the next level with this very intense cardio home workout. True high intensity interval training format for a quick 20 minute cardio workout. Using athletic bodyweight exercises to increase speed, agility, and coordination while improving aerobic capacity with intervals of active recovery.
10 minute cardio workout
Join me for this killer HIIT Cardio Core Workout | Quick 10 Minutes. This workout will push your aerobic fitness with full body exercises that focus on core strength and control. Short work and rest intervals make for the perfect 10 minute workout that you can squeeze into any day or finish with a burner. It’s tough and not for the weak minded.
Low impact cardio workout at home
No need to go outside with my Walking Workout At Home | Low Impact Cardio | All level. Burn fat with this low-impact cardio workout. You only need these 25 minutes to boost your aerobic fitness. Walking workouts are fantastic ways to get in cardio at home with no equipment and minimal space.
Can walking count as cardio? Walking is a very effective, low-impact way to get in cardio exercise. And if you can’t go outside, you can join me for this at home walking cardio workout!
Boxing cardio workout at home
Boost aerobic fitness at homw with this athletic Extreme Boxing Cardio Workout. Burn out your arms and shoulders in under 30 minutes with this boxing cardio workout. No equipment is needed to do this workout at home while you build a sweat and improve aerobic fitness and metabolic conditioning. High intensity boxing combined with calisthenics to provide a fun and challenging workout.
Kettlebell cardio workout
Kick up you fitness with my Cardio & Core Kettlebell Workout | Circuit Training. Boost your cardio and jump in for this effective core kettlebell workout. Using circuit training we will cycle through 7 core focused kettlebell exercises that will get your heart rate up with long work and short rest breaks for a high repititon workout.