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Weight Training is not enough | Do 10 best cardio abs exercises for shocking results

For obtaining well sculpted and toned abs, we can do three things; strength training, a proper diet plan for us, and cardio workout for fat burning.

For the purpose of cardio workout, there are a lot of exercises but we have found some of the most effective exercises which help you in burning calories, make your abs visible, and also to get the harder core.

Why is there a need to do cardio for abs?

We know that cardio is not for muscle building. Weight training is the only way to build abs muscles therefore we have to go for abs workout (22 days abs workout without equipment). So why is there a need for cardio?

The answer is simple, you can make your abs by doing weightlifting but the bitter truth is you can't see them. The reason is the layer of fat covering your abs. This is the reason why we go for cardio abs workout. The cardio exercise helps you to lose your fat without taking your much time.

Now the question is how much cardio you should do to see your abs?

There is no exact answer to this question. But you can see some definition of abs at the 16-19 percentage of body fat. So we can say, lower and lower will be your fat percentage, more and more your abs will look attractive and shredded.

You can check here how your abs will look at a different percentage of body fat.

Why is there a need for cardio exercise for fat loss?

You can do any workout for the faster pumping of the heart to reduce the extra fat but most of them are ineffective in engaging the muscles. Therefore we choose cardiovascular training which engages the abdominal and other body muscles and also capable of increasing the overall strength of the body. 

Besides performing cardio training, strength workout, and protein-rich diet, most of the bodybuilders also take care of some important advice in their day to day life which if not followed can ruin their effort. If these recommendations or advice are followed by you then you will definitely get the maximum benefit of your struggle in the gym.

One of the tips is suggested by L’Italien that "Focus on doing multiple sets of smaller amounts of time."

By keeping this in our mind, now we will do the most effective cardio exercises :

1) Plank Side Foot Taps  

  • At first, stand in a high plank posture
  • Your hands just go directly underneath the shoulders
  • Your back, legs, and head must be in a straight line
  • Move your right leg in the outward direction to tap your toes on the ground.
  • Bring back the right leg in the starting position and do the same with the other leg
  • Maintain the speed of the exercise 
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 3-4 (for a person of weight 150 lbs or 68 kgs)

In this exercise, your triceps, lower back, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexor, quadriceps, transverse abdominis and adductors muscles will be participating

Pros of plank side foot taps

This training will help you to get a harder core due to which the chances of injury in the core area will be reduced.

This workout will not only provide benefits to your core but also enhance the working of glutes and hamstrings

With this, your body posture will be improved which will provide extraordinary control in balancing your body

Furthermore, you can do this workout even if you are pregnant but pregnancy should be healthy. But you can't do this exercise, even any exercise, vigorously during pregnancy. So at first consult with your doctors before going for any type of physical activity.

Cons of plank side foot taps

Stop doing it for a long period of time otherwise, it can be damaging for your body and leads to various pains and injuries in the back, neck, and other parts of the body.

2) Mountain Climber 

  • Firstly, stand in a high plank position
  • Hand placement should be a little wider than the shoulders
  • Your feet are few inches apart
  • Shoulders should be over your wrist to avoid injury
  • When your one knee comes in then your hips will raise up
  • But try to keep your hips low as possible for the more engagement of the core muscles
  • Bring back that leg in the starting position
  • Do the same with another leg
  • More will be the speed, more calories you will burn during the cardiovascular exercise
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Sets: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 10 (for a person of weight 130 lbs or 59 kgs)

Mountain climbers are also called running planks which have great potential for the strengthening of shoulders, arms, core, and quads.

Pros of mountain climber

This workout is great for the endurance of our cardio muscles and core strength. It is actually a full-body workout exercise. While doing, your shoulders, chest, and arms work to maintain the balance of your upper body and core stabilize the rest of your body. Due to the movement of the lower body leads to an outstanding workout for your quads.

Because it is a great cardiovascular exercise that is why it leads to great calorie burn out from your body.

Cons of mountain climber

While performing this exercise your shoulders and wrist will feel a lot of stress which increases the chance of shoulders and wrists injuries. This exercise can also lead to the poor body structure.

You can't perform this workout if you are pregnant.

3) Scissor Kicks

  • Lie down on your back and place your both palms under your glutes to avoid the strain in the back.
  • For engaging the abdominal part, lift your upper body
  • Now lift both legs a few inches above the ground
  • Move your both legs fastly and alternatively up to 45 degrees from the ground
  • Your both legs must be straight and the core part must be tight
  • While executing, your breath must be natural
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 7 (for a person weight 130 lbs or 59 kgs people)

Scissor kicks engage your glutes, core muscles, quads, and adductors.

Pros of scissor kicks

This workout not only helps you in boosting the upper body strength but also amplifies the lower body power. As your core muscles will be strengthened, the issues of back pain will be lessened. It will also help you in improving the balance of the body.

Cons of scissor kicks

If you already have back, neck, and tight hip flexor issues then you shouldn't perform this exercise but you may go for the modified versions of it.

And also if you are pregnant, then you should go for an alternative to this exercise.

4) Russian Twists

Weight-Training-is-not-enough-|-Do-10-best-cardio-abs-exercises-for-shocking-results
Image Source - Google|Image By - giphy.com
  • Sit down on your hips and lift your both legs off a few inches from the ground
  • Now twist your upper body by retaining legs parallel to the ground
  • Whenever you twist your body either right side or left side, you have to exhale
  • And you will inhale when your face is looking straight.
  • For making it more difficult, speed up the motion and also can hold a lightweight in your hand
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 7 (for a person weight 130 lbs or 59 kgs)

Russian twists are popular among the athletes of various sports because of its simplicity and effectiveness. By practicing this exercise, you can prepare a stronger core, hips, and shoulders.

Pros of Russian twists

It is very easy to learn and perform. You can improve your posture, balance of the body, and quickens your movement by doing this training. 

Cons of Russian twists

If you have any kind of pain or injury in shoulders, neck, and in the lower back then this exercise can worsen the situation. 

And if you are pregnant even then you can't perform this workout.

5) High Knee

  • Stand up straight with your arms at your sides
  • Place your both hands at the waist level
  • Raise one knee alternatively at the same time
  • The knee should touch your hands
  • Do it as fast as you can for the better engagement of the core
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 7 (for a person 130 lbs or 59 kgs)

This exercise is a cardio-intensive workout that is very easy to perform but as effective as other exercises. It engages our core, hip flexor, and overall leg muscles.

Pros of high knees

It is a very good exercise for warming up our core and overall leg muscles. It also improves our performance in running, flexibility, momentum, and coordination.

Cons of high knees

For high knees exercise, fitness coach Nick Leyden, MS, CSCS, said this "Doing high knees will work your abs, but probably not to the degree you are hoping for". He added that in this workout hip flexor is the main mover that dominates the core for the whole movement of the legs.

6) Skaters Hoop

Weight-Training-is-not-enough-|-Do-10-best-cardio-abs-exercises-for-shocking-results
Image Source - Google|Image By - self.com |Whitney Thielman

  • Stand up straight and lean your body forward
  • Keep your back straight and core region must be tight
  • Now you will do back and forth motion
  • When you are going to leap to the right, you bring your left leg behind you and 
  • Meanwhile, your right shoulder comes forward
  • And the same thing will happen on the other side (your movement should be like a skater moving back and forth
  • Your movement should be fast but also maintaining the balance of your posture
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: don't know

This exercise is very good for cardiovascular and for fat burning purposes. In this, legs muscles mainly quads and glutes play the central role

Pros of skaters hoop

It improves the strength of leg muscles and also promotes body stability and balance. This also does a good impact on your core muscles.

Cons of skaters hoop

If it is not performed accurately then it might lead to pain in your back

Moreover, You can't do this exercise during the pregnancy period

7) Squats Jump

  • Stand up and maintain a distance of 13-18 inches between your feet
  • Make sure, while going in the position of squats your knees shouldn't cave in or bow out. That means your knees should be directing outwards
  • In the squat posture, your chest always be higher than your hip means your back doesn't make a straight line with the floor
  • Then you will jump as high as possible with your full potential. You can use your arms for obtaining explosive start
  • While returning back to the ground, your landing must be on your toes to avoid shock in your joints
Time Limit: 30secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 13.5

Squat jumps are actually a combination of two exercises; simple squats and explosive jumping. That's why this is a great exercise that engages your leg, glutes, and core muscles.

Pros of squat jumps

It will help you in increasing explosive power. By performing this, your upper and lower body gets stronger which will help you in every athletic activity.

This workout will burn your more calories than simple squats. Therefore you can do a quality of exercise and will see the same results in less time

Cons of squat jumps

Those who don't perform squat jumps properly can suffer from knee, lower back, and hip injuries which leads to difficulty in walking and executing your daily workout.

This exercise is not made for a pregnant lady so they must avoid performing this workout

8) Bicycle Crunches

  • come on the standard crunch posture
  • Put your hands behind your neck and interlock them with each other but don't apply any force of hands on the neck
  • Now raise your legs off the ground. Make sure that your legs and knees are at the 90 degrees
  • Lift your shoulders off the mat which activate the pelvic area
  • Bring your right leg out parallel to. the ground and left leg towards the right elbow
  • Twist your shoulders from your waist for touching the right elbow with the left knee
  • Now do the same with the other side
  • Maintain the speed of the exercise so that it works great for the cardiovascular purpose 
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 3

This exercise is one of the most effective exercises for the core and abdominal strengthening.

This workout engages the muscle movement of the rectus abdominis, external and internal oblique, transverse abdominis, and pectoralis major.

Pros of bicycle crunches

It is very easy to perform for beginners. One can change the difficulty level of this exercise just by changing body posture. This exercise mainly focused on building stronger muscles of abdominal and core areas. Therefore you will get better results in a shorter period of time.

Cons of bicycle crunches

This workout can lead to injuries in the back and neck if it is performed in the wrong way.

This exercise is also not for pregnant women.

9) Plank Jack

  • Start in the plank position
  • Make sure your whole body should be straight and you have a good balance on your elbows while performing the exercise
  • Your feet should be together at first
  • Now jump your feet apart, then jump back
  • Your breathing should be normal
  • Do this exercise as fast as you can
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps: 2
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 4-5

All types of plank considered in the full-body workout. That's why plank jack is also a full-body workout that targets various muscles in our body, mainly rectus abdominis, obliques, and transverse abdominis muscles.

Pros of plank jack

It can strengthen your various muscles by performing just one exercise such as muscles of arms, shoulders, core, back, and abdominals. With this, it also reduces the chance of injuries, improves our stability.

A study showed that doing plank jacks can double the activation of abdominal muscles as compared to the other workouts.


Cons of plank jack

You should avoid this exercise if you have any type of injury in your wrist. And also avoid when you feel dizzy or exhausted because doing this exercise without your full attention can lead to pain in any part of your body.

If you have any type of problem in your shoulders, back, or any type of injury then before doing this, you should consult with your physician or doctor.

10) Burpees

Weight-Training-is-not-enough-|-Do-10-best-cardio-abs-exercises-for-shocking-results
Image Source - Google|Image By - media.tenor.com

  • Stand up straight having a good distance between your knees
  • Now you will go to the squat position
  • While going for the squat position, your knees go out wide and your chest should be staying up than your hip
  • Meanwhile, your hands have to come down so that your knees should be wider than your chest
  • Now touch your hands on the floor and come on the high plank position by jumping your lower body back
  • In this position, shoulders must be right over your wrist and do one push up 
  • Now jump back your lower body towards the chest, while performing this your knees stay outside of elbows and knees over the toes
  • And come back on the squat position
  • Now you will take a squat jump same as we have discussed above in the 7th exercise
Time Limit: 30 secs
No. Of Reps:2 
No. Of Calories Burn In a Minute: 10-15

Burpees come in the most difficult exercises. This is because this exercise is a compound exercise of four exercises; squat, plank, push up, and jump. So this combination makes it a difficult exercise.

The major muscles that involve in this exercise are chest, back arms, glutes, core, and legs muscles. This is the reason that it also comes in the category of overall body workout.

Pros of burpees

This exercise strengthens your various large muscles such as chest, glutes, back, arms, core, and legs muscles. In short, it is the full package exercise for the overall development of the body. 

With this, your cardiovascular health, coordination of the body, flexibility, and control of the body will also become better.

Cons of burpees

This workout is not for everyone. Because to perform this exercise, we require a lot of strength in the upper body.

By performing this exercise, your tendons and ligaments of the upper body might feel stress that can lead to injuries in shoulders and back, says Di Salvo. 

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