Cardio Workouts and Exercises for All Fitness Levels Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Fitness Cardio Workouts Reviewed Verywell Fit articles are reviewed by nutrition and exercise professionals. Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Tara Laferrara, CPT Reviewed by Tara Laferrara, CPT Tara Laferrara is a certified NASM personal trainer, yoga teacher, and fitness coach. She also created her own online training program, the TL Method. Learn about our Review Board Updated on April 13, 2022 Fact checked Verywell Fit content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. We rely on the most current and reputable sources, which are cited in the text and listed at the bottom of each article. Content is fact checked after it has been edited and before publication. Learn more. by Rich Scherr Fact checked by Rich Scherr Rich Scherr is a seasoned journalist who has covered technology, finance, sports, and lifestyle. Learn about our editorial process Cardiovascular exercise, or “cardio,” is a pillar of a balanced exercise regimen. The word gets thrown around a lot, but it’s a short way of saying aerobic exercise. “Aerobic” refers to the requirement for oxygen. In fitness, cardio refers to physical exercises that increase your breathing rate as your body’s need for oxygen increases. It also gets your heart and blood plumping. Classic examples of cardio exercise include walking, running, jump roping, swimming, and cycling. They can be low- or high-intensity, so most fitness routines can easily incorporate a style of cardio exercise. Frequently Asked Questions How can you increase your cardio endurance? Endurance is the ability to ensure physical exercise or withstand physical exertion for a prolonged period of time. Improved endurance is a benefit of cardio exercise. Many aerobic athletes want to increase their endurance, such as running or swimming longer distances. Over time, your endurance will naturally improve. Some ways to actively work on this include incorporating intervals like sprints, decreasing your recovery time, and keeping your routine varied. Learn More: How to Improve Cardiovascular Endurance for Sports Should you do cardio before or after strength training? If your routine contains both cardio and strength training, you may wonder which to do first on the same day. There is no right answer to this age-old question. One way to figure out which works best for you is to determine your goals. If your goal is to build strength, consider strength training before cardio. If your goal is to improve your overall performance, consider doing cardio before strength training. Learn More: Cardio and Strength Training for Weight Loss: Why You Should Do Both How long should a cardio workout be? Roughly 150 minutes of cardio exercise per week is recommended for most people. If you exercise five times per week, each cardio workout would be about 30 minutes. If you exercise three times per week, this would be about 50 minutes per workout. However, your 30 or 50 minutes of cardio exercise don’t have to be performed in succession. You can split them up, such as doing a 15- or 25-minute walk or jog in the morning followed by a 15- or 25-minute bike ride or swim in the evening. Learn More: Everything You Need to Know About Cardio What should your heart rate be during cardio? Your heart rate should be higher during exercise than at rest. However, it shouldn’t be too high. Here is how to determine your target heart zone and the maximum your heart rate should be. Your target heart rate should be 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. The American Heart Association has a helpful chart based on age. Learn More: Resting Heart Rate and Fitness What does cardio do for your body? Cardio directly affects your heart health. It makes it stronger and reduces the risk of heart disease. Aerobic exercise burns calories, which can help with losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight. It’s beneficial for mental health, such as stress and anxiety disorders. Cardio exercise can also help enhance sleep quality, which contributes to overall health. Learn More: How Beginners Can Get Started With Cardio How much cardio is too much? Love cardio? Then it may be easy for you to go overboard. Despite the benefits of cardio, too much of anything, including overtraining yourself, can be a bad thing. While there is no recommended upper limit of cardio per week, you can push yourself too hard if you do more than the recommended 150 minutes of cardio exercise per week. Cardio releases endorphins. The endorphins can become addicting, possibly creating an unhealthy obsession with exercise. Learn More: Overtraining Syndrome: Warning Signs and How to Cut Back Key Terms HIIT Aerobic Exercises Interval Training Fasted Cardio Low Impact Cardio LISS Cardio HIIT HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training. It's a form of cardiovascular exercise that involves alternating between bursts of intense exercise and short periods of rest. Incorporating sprints throughout your treadmill workout or jog is an example. HIIT is often contrasted with steady state cardio. Best HIIT Workout Apps Aerobic Exercises Aerobic and cardiovascular exercise are interchangeable terms. They both refer to exercises that require more oxygen. Examples of aerobic exercises include running, jogging, walking, swimming, cycling, and much more. During these exercises, your breathing and heart rate will increase. Anaerobic Metabolism vs. Aerobic Metabolism Interval Training Some cardio workouts involve interval training. It’s similar to HIIT. Interval training involves alternating between intense bursts of exercise and periods of rest, but there is more time for recovery in interval training than HIIT. This helps build speed and endurance. 10 Best Interval Training Exercises Fasted Cardio Your body is in a fasted state when you haven’t eaten in two or more hours. You’re naturally fasted when you wake up. Some people prefer to do cardio first thing in the morning before breakfast or between meals. This is called fasted cardio. Whether you eat before a cardio workout is largely up to you. Does Fasted Cardio Lead to Greater Weight Loss? Low Impact Cardio Some forms of cardio can be more impactful on the body than others. This means it’s harder on parts of the body like joints. Many people with delicate knees, for example, seek low impact cardio exercises that are gentle on their joints. Low impact cardio exercises include swimming, walking, and cycling. Best Cardio Workouts and Exercises for Bad Knees LISS Cardio LISS stands for low-intensity steady state cardio. It’s the opposite of HIIT workouts. It involves performing cardio exercise at a steady pace. This could look like brisk walking or jogging at the same speed for a period of time instead of alternating between slower and faster speeds. Sustaining your speed can help increase your endurance. 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How to Build a High-Intensity Weight Loss Cardio Workout Program How to Get Started With Cardio Workouts If You Are a Beginner Get Started With a Cardio 30-Minute Workout for Beginners Adding Cardio to Your Workout Routine to Help With Your Weight Loss How to Set up a Cardio Program Why You Should Add Cardio to Your Workout Routine Cardio Workouts That Burn 300 Calories in 30 Minutes Try This Ultimate Stairs Workout Routine 6 New Twists on Traditional Cardio Equipment F45 Training Review: Costs, Comparisons, Pros and Cons Perfect Zig ZagTechnique and Tips 5 Calorie-Burning HIIT Workouts for Women Get Fit With High-Intensity Workouts Boost Your Speed and Endurance With a Simple Exercise Plan These 10 Interval Training Exercises Will Help You Get Fit Fast How to Safely Perform Plyometric Rebounding Exercises Go Ahead and Jump Into Plyometric Exercise Burn More Calories With High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) HIIT: Heart Attack Trigger or Prevention? Try an Intense Cardio Blast Exercise Routine to Work Your Heart Add Intensity With High-Intensity Interval Training Ramp it Up With this Interval Training Workout for Beginners Why You Should Try Tabata Training to Burn More Calories 8 Low-Impact Exercises That Get Your Heart Pumping Get Strong With This Tabata Workout With Weights High-Intensity Tabata Cardio Workout Got 10 Minutes? This Killer Met Con Workout Will Help You Burn Some Calories 30-60-90 Mixed Interval Training Workout Try 10-20-30 Interval Training to Melt More Calories Explore Cardio Interval Training Cardio Machines More In Fitness Cross-Training Ab Workouts Beginners Motivation Running Strength Walking Health and Safety Full Body Workouts Programs for Sports Flexibility Yoga Outdoor Fitness Pilates Cycling Upper Body Workouts Workout Recovery Lower Body Workouts Home Workouts Page Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Piercy KL, Troiano RP, Ballard RM, et al. The physical activity guidelines for Americans. JAMA. 2018;320(19):2020-2028. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.14854 American Heart Association. Target Heart Rates Chart. Agarwal S. Cardiovascular benefits of exercise. Int J Gen Med. 2012;5:541-5. doi:10.2147/IJGM.S30113 Stubbs B, Vancampfort D, Rosenbaum S, et al. An examination of the anxiolytic effects of exercise for people with anxiety and stress-related disorders: a meta-analysis. Psych Res. 2017;249:102-8. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.12.020 Chastin S, Palarea-Albaladejo J, Dontje M, Skelton D. Combined effects of time spent in physical activity, sedentary behaviors and sleep on obesity and cardio-metabolic health markers: a novel compositional data analysis approach. 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