Doing cardio exercise regularly burns body fat and promotes weight loss. However, not all cardiovascular workouts have the same results. The American Heart Association recommends healthy adults walk briskly for 30 minutes per day. This type of workout supports cardiovascular health but does not burn enough calories for you to lose body fat quickly. To lose body fat and keep it off, adopt a daily, vigorous aerobic workout regimen of at least one hour.
Running
Running burns more calories than walking, jogging, dancing, martial arts, swimming and other popular cardio exercises. The faster you run, the more body fat you burn. Jogging at a 12-minute mile pace burns between 580 and 870 calories per hour, depending upon your fitness and how much you weigh. Running at a 7.5-minute mile pace burns 985 to 1,470 calories per hour. If you run six days per week, you can lose between 1 and 2 pounds of body fat every week.
Swimming
While high-impact cardio burns body fat quickly, some lower-impact workouts also offer effective fat-burning. Swimming laps burns 510 to 765 calories per hour. Choose a more vigorous stroke, such as butterfly or freestyle, to maximize the calories you burn. In addition, the water provides a gentle resistance to your body, preventing shock while also building muscle. Adding lean muscle tissue replaces your body fat and boosts your metabolism so you burn more calories even while at rest.
Combination Workouts
Cardio workouts that have you quickly and fluidly changing between vigorous movement and resistance exercises keep your heart rate high while building fat-burning muscle. Boot camp, functional fitness, power yoga and circuit training involve full-body calisthenics, stretches and compound exercises that target multiple muscle groups at the same time. The rapid pace keeps your heart rate high, so avoid resting between exercises.
Speed Intervals
Performing speed intervals burns more body fat than exercising at a consistent pace. During your cardio routine, alternate between vigorous but sustainable movement to short, intense bursts of speed. Beginners may spend 30 seconds of every five minutes sprinting, doing jumping jacks, doing plyometrics or skipping rope. More advanced athletes evenly divide their time between vigorous cardio and speed intervals. After doing a speed interval, spend up to 30 seconds at a slower pace to recover, but avoid stopping, which lowers your heart rate dramatically.
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