Best Types of Cardio Exercises for Women

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, every adult female needs at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intense cardio activity per week. The Guidelines offer a wide range of aerobic trainings starting from lawn mowing and finishing with dance classes. Sure, there are many types of cardio exercises to keep fit or to burn fat, but which of them are the best for you? Here's a choice of aerobic activities we find the most promising.

The easiest

What could be easier than walking? To perform this cardio exercise you don't need to go to a gym, to get sports equipment or to hire a personal trainer. It's enough to walk briskly for 15 minutes twice a day and by the end of the week you can even go beyond the Guidelines recommendations. 30 minutes of fast-paced walking burn 150 calories! You're free to walk at any time (just be careful at night!) and wherever you feel comfortable (from work, to work, around the house with a dog or in a park competing in speed with your friend).

It's really easy, but this way you'll be able only to maintain the steady weight and to strengthen the cardiovascular system. Aiming to lose weight you have to walk several times longer burning up to 500 extra calories daily (if you're going to shed 1 pound a week). But there is a secret: practice "fast-slow" walk, doing 3 short fast-paced walks and two long, but moderate-paced "fast-slow" walks during a week. New research has shown that such a walking plan allows you to get rid of belly fat more effectively.

Hard but effective

Surely you've heard of interval training, which gained immense popularity in recent years. But don't think of it as it's just a fad - interval training is really effective since it allows exercising with higher intensity and burning more calories. During interval trainings short periods of intense exercising interchange several times with recovery phases in a single session. Active periods can last from a few seconds to more than ten minutes, depending on your level of fitness, while moderate intensity periods should last the same time. Usually each workout includes 5-10 sets and it's recommended to have 2-3 interval trainings a week for achieving the best progress.

How does interval training differ from usual workouts? A study conducted by Canadian researches proved that by changing the periods of high and low intensity training it's possible to get significant improvement in health and fitness in spite of the short time of training. In addition, interval training helps to strengthen the muscles and the effect of training lasts long after the workout. Many women find it less boring as well, since monotonous exercises raise less enthusiasm, while the need to follow the rhythm will keep you awake.

The sexiest

Do you like dancing? Or maybe, you always dream to learn dances, but have no opportunity to attend a dance class? In any case, the majority of women won't lose an opportunity to combine their favorite dances with an intense weight loss program – and this is what zumba offers.

Zumba is a popular dance fitness program based on lively Latin rhythms combined with easy-to-follow choreography, which allows effective total body workout. Zumba is so hot that today a variety of special classes are offered in addition to the main program (Zumba Step, Aqua Zumba, Zumba Gold for older people, Zumba Kids for children aged 4-11).

Modern Aerobic Dancing, moving and having fun for an hour you can easily burn about 500 calories.
They say that Zumba is translated from Spanish as "to move fast and have fun" – and this is true!

Sources:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/walking/faq-20058345
http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20680533,00.html
http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/health-news-roundup-interval-training-shown-boost-heart-health
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/a-z/zumba-workouts