20 Aerobic Exercises to Lose Weight

20 Aerobic Exercises To Lose Weight

Rock Springs Retreat Center / October 12, 2022 / rockspringsrc / 5
When we go to the gym, we have a goal set in mind. Whether it's to lose weight and shed some pounds, to be active and live a healthy lifestyle, or to strength train and build muscle, it's all in pursuit of our health. However, finding the time to go to the gym multiple times a week can be difficult. After a long day, the commute to and from the gym can eat into what little time you have left. And let's face it, going to the gym can be intimidating if you're not familiar with the environment and/or equipment. These factors may ultimately discourage us, but with discipline, you can get a good workout in with aerobic exercises right in the comfort of your home!

Why aerobic exercises? Aerobic exercises are accessible for all ages and fitness levels. Whether you're a beginner or an athlete, young or old, you can still be challenged and burn a significant amount of calories through aerobics. The benefits that come along with aerobic activity are plentiful as well! You'll be reaping the rewards of improved cardiovascular health, stamina, fitness, strength, and mood all while burning calories and losing weight. Combine these exercises with a healthy, macro-balanced diet and you'll quickly see visible results within a month!

Fit Farm at Rock Springs is here to support you in your journey with a shortlist below of the top aerobic exercises you can practice at home to lose weight and take your fitness/weight loss to the next level! We've also included modifications in the exercises to match your fitness level, including how to increase your calorie burn and optional equipment! Need help getting started? Learn how Fit Farm at Rock Springs can accelerate your weight loss journey with one month's worth of results in the gym or at home in just one week!
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20 Aerobic Exercises For Weight Loss

1. Jumping Jacks

👍 Benefits: Jumping jacks are a full-body workout that engages almost all of your major muscles and improves your mobility, coordination, and hip strength. These are great for warming up before your aerobic exercise routine.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 10 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, use wearable weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest, ankle weights, wrist weights
💡 Instructions: Stand up straight with your feet close together, your shoulders back, and your arms down at your sides. Keep your chest and head up, and always look forward. With your knees slightly bent, jump spreading your legs. As you jump, stretch your arms out wide and over your head. You'll want to land softly on the midsoles of your feet, which should be about shoulder-length apart. Reverse these steps to return to the starting position and repeat.

2. Jump Squats

👍 Benefits: Jump squats work out your lower body and engage your core while improving your stability and posture. This exercise is great for burning lower body fat in your calves, thighs, and glutes.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 10-14 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, use a kettlebell and wear workout gloves for a secure grip.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Kettlebell, workout gloves
💡 Instructions: Stand with your back straight and feet close together. Pull your shoulders and elbows back, and clasp your fists together in front of you. With your head up and looking forward, jump spreading your legs to land into a squat position. Your knees should make a right angle. Jump up and return to the starting position.

3. Jump Rope

👍 Benefits: Jumping rope is a full-body workout that strengthens your lower body while engaging your upper body and improving your agility, coordination, and balance. This is an effective exercise when it comes to burning calories in a short amount of time.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 10-25 calories per minute. If you use a weighted jump rope, you'll engage more muscle groups and the increased resistance will have you burning more calories.
🏋️ Equipment: Light jump rope or weighted jump rope
💡 Instructions: Stand up straight with your feet close together, chest and head up, and always look forward. Pull your shoulders and elbows back, and keep them in place. Use your wrists to rotate the rope, not your arms. Jump on the midsoles of your feet, keep your knees slightly bent, and land softly.

4. High Knees

👍 Benefits: High Knees engage your core and lower-body muscles, and are a great way to warm up and get your blood pumping. This exercise will improve your agility, coordination, and cardio while burning fat.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 3.5-7 calories per minute at a moderate pace. To increase your calorie burn, use wearable weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest, ankle weights, wrist weights
💡 Instructions: Stand up straight with your feet slightly apart, your shoulders back, and your arms down at your sides. Keep your head up and look forward. Raise your right knee as high as you comfortably can while propelling your left arm forward, generating momentum like you would when running. As you bring your knee downwards, land softly on the midsole of your foot and quickly switch to your other knee and arm. Repeat. High Knees should look like exaggerated running.

5. Butt Kicks

👍 Benefits: Butt kicks strengthen your hamstrings, glutes, and forefoot muscles. This exercise will improve your stamina, cardio, and running speed/efficiency while burning fat accumulated in the body.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 3.5-7 calories per minute at a moderate pace. To increase your calorie burn, use wearable weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest, ankle weights, wrist weights
💡 Instructions: Straighten your body and bend slightly forward. Your feet should be slightly apart, your shoulders back, and your arms at your sides. Keep your head up and look forward. While standing on your right leg, bring your left heel as close to your buttocks as you comfortably can while propelling your right arm forward, generating momentum like you would when running. As you bring your foot downwards, land softly on the midsole of your foot and quickly switch to your other heel and arm. Repeat. Similar to high knees, butt kicks should look like exaggerated running.

6. Skaters

👍 Benefits: Skaters strengthen your hips, glutes, and legs while improving your coordination and balance. This exercise will tone your legs and increase your knee strength.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 10 calories per minute, depending on intensity. To increase your calorie burn and muscle engagement, use wearable weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest, ankle weights, wrist weights
💡 Instructions: Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder length and with your arms down by your sides. While looking forward, jump onto your right foot, landing with your right knee bent and your left foot behind your right. Swing your left arm in front and your right arm back. Reverse and repeat.

7. Inchworm

👍 Benefits: Inchworm is a full-body workout that strengthens your upper body, core, lower back and body while improving your balance and stability. This low-impact exercise maximizes calorie burn.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 6-7 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, modify the exercise and hold dumbbells.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Dumbbells
💡 Instructions: Stand up straight with your feet hip-width apart and your arms down by your sides. Bend at your waist to touch the ground. It's ok if you need to bend your knees. Walk your hands forward and enter a plank position. Your body should be straight with your muscle groups engaged. Walk your feet to your hands, keeping your knees straight as far as you can go. Bend at your waist to return to the starting position.

8. Bear Crawls

👍 Benefits: Bear crawls are a full-body workout that really work your core and are amazing for strength building. This crawl will improve your mobility and coordination while getting your heart rate up and burning fat.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 7 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, wear a weighted vest or use a fitness sled to pull weights behind you as you crawl.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest, fitness sled, bumper weight
💡 Instructions: Enter into a crawl position with your knees on the ground below your hips and your hands aligned directly below your shoulders. With your back straight, slowly raise your knees and balance on the midsoles of your feet. Engage your core and begin crawling by moving your right arm and left foot forward, then left arm and right foot. Keep your knees bent and avoid touching the ground with them.

9. Lateral Plank Walk

👍 Benefits: Lateral plank walk is a full-body workout that helps improve your balance and coordination. This crawl will help burn fat in your inner thighs, shape your butt, and reduce fat in your midsection.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 7 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, use resistance bands around your arms and legs.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Resistance bands
💡 Instructions: Enter into a push-up position with your hands and feet shoulder-width apart. Engage your core to keep your back straight and keep your head up, looking forward. Start with your right hand and foot, moving them simultaneously to the right while squeezing your thighs and glutes. After both your right hand and foot are on the ground, begin moving your left hand and foot over to the center of your body. Reverse and repeat.

10. Mountain Climbers

👍 Benefits: Mountain climbers engage multiple muscle groups in your body including your upper body, core, and legs. This aerobic exercise will help burn lower belly fat and shape your butt and thighs.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 10 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, wrap a resistance band around your feet.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Yoga mat or sliders, resistance bands
💡 Instructions: Enter into a push-up position with your hands at shoulder-width and feet slightly apart. Engage your core to keep your back straight and bring your right knee towards the center of your torso. Return to the starting position and quickly switch to your left knee. If you are exercising on a hard floor, you want to invest in a yoga mat or sliders for your feet.

11. Donkey Kicks

👍 Benefits: Donkey kicks primarily engage your glutes while also working your core and shoulders. This aerobic exercise is excellent for toning your butt and improving your stability.
🔥 Calorie Burn: 5-10 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, secure a dumbbell in your knee when you lift.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Yoga mat, dumbbell
💡 Instructions: Get on your hands and knees. Your hands should be aligned with your shoulders and your knees aligned with your hips. Engage your core to keep your back straight and start with your right leg. Keeping your leg at a 90-degree angle, kick it as high as you comfortably can behind you and slowly bring it back down. Repeat for desired repetitions, then switch to the opposite leg to complete a set.

12. Push-up with Leg Raise

👍 Benefits: Push-ups with leg raises primarily target your chest, hips, and glutes while building strength. Building more muscle mass will increase your metabolism and help you burn calories faster.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 8 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, use wearable weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest, ankle weights
💡 Instructions: Enter into a push-up position with your hands at shoulder-width and feet slightly apart. Engage your core to keep your back straight and slowly lower your body to the floor as you would doing a normal push-up. As you go down, engage your glutes and thighs to raise your right leg up as comfortably high as you can without bending your knee or twisting at the hips. Hold this position briefly then as you push your body up, slowly lower your leg to the starting position. Repeat with the left leg.

13. Plank Jacks

👍 Benefits: Plank jacks are a core-strengthening exercise that works both your upper and lower body. These will improve your cardio and demolish fat.
🔥 Calorie Burn: 5-6 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, wrap a resistance band around your legs.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Yoga mat, resistance bands
💡 Instructions: Get into plank position with your elbows on the ground. Align your elbows with your shoulders and clasp your fists forming a triangle. Engage your core to keep your back straight and with your feet slightly apart, jump and spread your feet as much as you comfortably can, landing softly. Jump back to the beginning position and repeat.

14. Corkscrew

👍 Benefits: Corkscrew is an aerobic exercise that works your core and thighs. These will strengthen and tone your abs.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 6 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, lower your legs farther in your rotation.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Yoga mat
💡 Instructions: Lie on your back with your legs together and palms on the ground. Suck in your belly and use your abs to lift your legs. Keeping your abs engaged and legs together, use your abs to move your legs in a circular motion. If you need more support, tuck your hands below your butt.

15. Flutter Kicks

👍 Benefits: Flutter kicks are a core and lower-body workout that strengthens and tones these areas while shedding fat around the waist and thighs.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 6 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, lower your raised legs.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Yoga mat
💡 Instructions: Lie on your back with your legs together and palms tucked underneath your butt for support. Suck in your belly and use your abs to lift your legs. Keeping your abs engaged, kick your feet up and down.

16. Bicycle Crunches

👍 Benefits: Bicycle crunches engage multiple muscle groups in your core and help tone and burn fat in your midsection.
🔥 Calorie Burn: 3-4 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, hold a weighted medicine ball on your chest.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Yoga mat, medicine ball
💡 Instructions: Lie on your back with your feet flat, knees bent, and hands behind your head. Engage your core, bring your right knee to your chest, and while keeping your left leg straight, lift it at a 45-degree angle. As your knee approaches your chest, lift your shoulder blades off the ground (be sure not to pull on your neck) and twist your upper body (keep your arms straight) to bring your left elbow to your knee. Repeat with the opposite knee and elbow.

17. Burpees

👍 Benefits: Burpees are amazing for your cardio. On top of burning fat, this full-body workout improves your heart health and blood circulation while strengthening the muscles in your upper and lower body.
🔥 Calorie Burn: 12.5 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, modify the exercise and use dumbbells.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Dumbbells
💡 Instructions: Enter into a squat position with your knees bent and feet should-width apart. With your back straight, place your hands on the ground in front of you and kick your feet back to enter into a push-up position. Engage your core to keep your back straight and do a push-up. Kick your feet back into starting position, bring your body up, and jump.

18. Long Jump Forward + Jog Back

👍 Benefits: Long jump forward + jog back is an excellent cardio workout that improves your agility and speed while strengthening and trimming your core, thighs, calves, and glutes.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 12 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, use wearable weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Weighted vest
💡 Instructions: Get into squat position with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent, and back straight. Slightly leaning forward, swing your arms back to create momentum, and jump forward as far as you can, landing softly in a squat position. Jog backward to your starting place and repeat.

19. Jumping Lunges

👍 Benefits: Jumping lunges are an excellent cardio workout that engages your lower body and strengthens those muscles. You'll find this aerobic exercise will improve your balance and coordination while expediting fat loss and toning your butt and thighs.
🔥 Calorie Burn: Around 8 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, modify the exercise and use dumbbells.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Dumbbells
💡 Instructions: Straighten your back, and stand with your right leg forward and your left leg back. Pull your shoulders back, bend your elbows to make a right angle, and bring your left arm forward. Engage your core, lean slightly forward, and lower your body into a deep lunge (avoid hitting your knee on the floor). Jump up and quickly switch positions with your arms and legs. As you land, your forward knee should be straight and aligned with your foot. To maintain balance, keep the heel of your front foot on the ground.

20. Lateral Lunges

👍 Benefits: Similar to jumping lunges, lateral lunges strengthen your lower body and help improve your balance and coordination. It's a great way to add variety to your workout and put less stress on your lower back.
🔥 Calorie Burn: 5-6 calories per minute. To increase your calorie burn, hold a kettlebell or medicine ball in front of your chest or hold dumbbells in both hands and frame your knee as you dip into your lunge. You may also want to use workout gloves for a more secure grip when using weights.
🏋️ Equipment (optional): Kettlebell, medicine ball, dumbbells, workout gloves
💡 Instructions: Straighten your back and stand with your feet at hip-width apart. Pull your shoulders back and clasps your fists in front of you. Engage your core, lean slightly forward, and with your feet facing forward, take a big step to the side with your right leg. Lean deep to your right until your knee forms a right angle, then return to the starting position. Repeat with the opposite leg.

So, how did you do? It's easy to put together a list of aerobics exercises to do at home for the short term, but long-term changes are results to strive for and are thus more challenging to accomplish. You need to be disciplined and committed, which many find to be the most challenging aspect of a fitness pilgrimage, and end up quickly burning out. You want lasting results, you NEED lasting results. That's where fitness and weight loss retreats come in.

Fitness and weight loss retreats are a great starting point for you to begin your journey to a healthier you. It's a support network of like-minded individuals looking to achieve similar goals. You'll learn how to properly nurture your body through not only exercise but also through learning how to nourish your body with nutritional, healthy meals that you can easily whip up in your kitchen. Fitness and weight loss retreats are more than just exercise training, they provide life skills that you can take home with you, so you can confidently pick up at-home aerobic workout routines like this one, and maximize your results.
Aside from these 20 aerobic exercises, we've also got fitness and weight loss tools and resources, healthy recipes, and so much more in our monthly newsletter! So, make sure you sign up for our newsletter to have these amazing tips and tricks delivered straight to your inbox! To see what it's like to attend one of our fitness and weight loss retreats, follow our Facebook page @FitFarmTN  and our Instagram @fitfarmtn.

Interested in jumpstarting your new healthy lifestyle? Reach out to us at Fit Farm and let's start your journey together!
get 1 month's results in just 1 week!

    1. Absolutely! If you ever feel you need more guidance from professional trainers and dietitians, be sure to check out our Fit Farm fitness retreats! Our program is results driven and tailored to your goals with guaranteed measurable results.

    1. Hi Vaisnavi, you’ve come to the right place! We offer all-inclusive fitness and weight loss retreats that help you create and maintain healthy habits to live a healthy lifestyle. You can learn more about our retreat offerings here.

Consult your doctor if you are suffering from any injuries or pain before engaging in any kind of exercise.