The Best Cardio Workouts You Can Do at Home

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor rush-hour lines at the gym should keep you from getting your cardio in for the day.

You can still get a great cardio workout at home — just put on your gym clothes and press “Play.” (Boom. Cardio = done.)

With some know-how, you can get a great cardio workout in your living room.

But before we get into the nitty-gritty of cardio workouts at home, it’s important to first determine what you want to achieve.

That starts with understanding the different types of cardio exercise out there and which one is best for you and your goals.

What Is Cardio?

Anything that places sustained stress on your cardiopulmonary system qualifies as cardio, explains exercise physiologist Fabio Comana, NASM-CPT, CES, and PES.

In practice, that basically means that if you’re doing something that elevates your heart rate for an extended period of time, you’re doing cardio.

Jogging is the classic example, but any sort of steady-state aerobic activity (e.g., cycling, rowing, swimming) qualifies.

So does intense, intermittent exercise that alternates between extreme exertion and active rest, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

And while you might feel your heartbeat faster after a tough set of deadlifts or hammer curls, traditional weightlifting doesn’t qualify as cardio, as your heart rate doesn’t remain elevated.

What Is the Best Cardio for Weight Loss?

Weight loss is the benefit most often associated with cardio, but there are plenty of other reasons to add it to your weekly routine.

“Regular cardiovascular exercise can also boost energy levels, increase endurance, strengthen your heart and lungs, reduce stress, and, if the intensity is high enough — think sprint, circuit, and interval training — even build muscle,” says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S.

“But if your goal is fat loss, and you’re already in decent shape, high-intensity cardio is your best option,” he adds.

Benefits of High-Intensity Cardio

If you’ve ever done HIIT, you’ve felt the deep muscle burn.

And the reason you’re feeling that burn is because your body has shifted from slower, oxygen-based (aerobic) energy production to faster, oxygen-independent (anaerobic) energy production to meet your muscles’ increased demand for fuel.

In short, you’ve crossed the anaerobic threshold, and there’s a price to pay for that.

“Metabolic waste begins to accumulate faster than your body can clear it,” says Thieme. “As it does, your muscles start to burn, and you move ever more quickly towards exhaustion.”

Unlike slow to moderate steady-state cardio, high-intensity cardio isn’t sustainable.

But here’s why it’s still a better option for fat loss: Exercising above your anaerobic threshold sends your body into what’s called “oxygen debt.”

The greater that debt, the longer your metabolism stays elevated after you exercise in an effort to pay it back.

Known as the “afterburn effect” — or, more technically, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) — it can keep your metabolism humming at a higher level for more than 48 hours.

“So don’t be fooled by the ‘fat-burning zone‘ on cardio machines,” says Thieme. “You might burn more calories during a longer, steady-state cardio workout, but you’ll burn more calories overall with a shorter, high-intensity one.”

And the benefits don’t stop there. “Studies show that HIIT can produce many of the same training adaptations as longer, steady-state workouts — including an increase in aerobic capacity [the amount of oxygen your body can process during exercise] — in significantly less time,” says Thieme. “The only catch is that you have to be fit enough to exercise above your anaerobic threshold.”

In short, it’s not for beginners.

But once you build a strong aerobic foundation, high-intensity cardio can be a powerful tool for achieving most cardiovascular fitness and fat loss goals.

How to find your anaerobic threshold

There are a few ways to determine your anaerobic threshold and reap these benefits. If you have a heart rate monitor, it’s approximately 80 percent of your max heart rate.

If you don’t, you can use the Borg rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale, which goes from 6 (no effort, as in watching television) to 20 (max effort, sprinting full-tilt up a steep hill). “You’ll hit the anaerobic threshold at around 15 on that scale,” Thieme says.

Or simply try the talk test: “If you find it difficult to speak even in short sentences, you’re likely anaerobic,” Thieme says.

At-Home Cardio Programs on Beachbody On Demand

All of that scientific stuff aside, how do you get in a great cardio workout at home? “You don’t need a single piece of equipment,” Comana says. “Your body is a [cardio] machine.”

The more equipment (weights, resistance bands, etc.) you have at your disposal, the greater your exercise and workout possibilities are, of course.

But no matter how large (or small) your equipment arsenal is, or how fit you are, or whether you prefer dance-based workouts or HIIT, there’s a program for you and your goals on the list below.

Start streaming one of these workouts right now on Beachbody On Demand:

XB Sweat + Sculpt

Andrea Rogers’ cardio-dance program includes 15 workouts that are the perfect combination of cardio and targeted sculpting:

Sweat workouts: Think low-impact HIIT, but with a unique twist.

These workouts alternate between cardio-dance intervals that are packed with fun and simple steps to get your heart rate up and keep you moving, and sculpting intervals that focus on slower, more controlled muscle-defining exercises.

Sculpt workouts:

These focus on your upper, lower, or total body with challenging moves that target specific muscle groups to help you strengthen from head to toe.

6 Weeks of THE WORK

Beachbody’s newest Super Trainer Amoila Cesar is famous for getting celebrities in crazy-good shape and training some of the world’s best in professional sports.

6 Weeks of THE WORK is relentless functional training — minute after minute of raw, uncensored, nonstop hustle.

The workouts are brutal so don’t be surprised if Amoila and the cast use explicit language while they sweat it out. If that’s not your style, there’s a clean version available.

Morning Meltdown 100

Morning Meltdown 100 is the newest workout program from Beachbody Super Trainer and CORE DE FORCE co-creator Jericho McMatthews.

Every morning, she leads you through a 20- to 30-minute workout that can help you rev up your metabolism, burn fat all day, and build your best body ever — all working toward helping you live your BEST LIFE.

There are 100 unique workouts in total, and yep, each one is designed to help you transform your body.

80 Day Obsession

Shaun T is back and his latest program will transform your body and your mind in just 20 minutes a day.

Transform :20 will scorch fat, help flatten your stomach, and get you stronger and leaner, 6 days a week for 6 weeks.

You’ll work everything — legs, upper body, glutes, and core. To get your mind right and keep you motivated, Shaun T is also creating weekly videos for your rest days to help you sharpen your focus, visualize your goals, and push you to finish strong.

CORE DE FORCE

FOCUS T25

22 Minute Hard Corps