What’s the best cardio for losing weight? We ran, jumped, swam (and suffered) through 12 workouts to find the real winners.

This one exercise burns twice as much fat as jogging ...

... and that’s just 1 of the 12 popular cardio exercises we tested, using the world’s most accurate calorie tracker, to measure not just total calories but also fat and carb burn, to finally settle the question: what's the best cardio for losing weight?

By the end, you’ll know exactly which is the best cardio for losing weight to help you get leaner, faster, and which ones are wasting your time.

Starting with the one every kid knows how to do: jump rope.

High-Intensity Cardio Exercises

Jump Rope (10 Minutes)

But to see how calorie and fat burn differ based on fitness level, I’ve also convinced Dennis to join me, who's been struggling to find a cardio exercise that’s both effective and enjoyable.

The jump rope is simple and sweaty, but is it really the best cardio for losing weight?

Here's what you need to know. The jump rope workout we’re doing is considered HIIT: high-intensity interval training. You push hard, rest briefly, then repeat.

This type of cardio exploded in popularity because of the so-called “afterburn” effect.

By pushing your body past its limits, apparently, your body keeps burning extra calories even hours after your workout. We’ll find out if that’s actually true later on.

Ok, I'm not going to share the result with Dennis til the end, but for me, 10 mins 160 cal and comparing to my Apple Watch, it says 135 calories, 

To find the best cardio for losing weight, I even tested the accuracy of popular trackers like Apple Watch and cardio machines against the mask — and the results were not what I expected.

As for Dennis, even though he had to stop almost every 10 seconds, he still managed to burn off his favorite number: 69 calories.  

How Much Afterburn?

But we also wanted to measure the afterburn, so after the workout, we kept the masks on to see how many extra calories we burned before our bodies returned to “normal”.

After 20 minutes, that added up to only 28 extra calories for me … and just 8 for Dennis. 

My heart rate only got up to 70%, so it’s honestly not enough to categorize as HIIT.

YouTube Video HIIT (10 Minutes)

To boost the intensity without relying on coordination, we turned to one of the most popular YouTube HIIT workouts.

And within 10 minutes, I burned 136 calories and Dennis burned 100. 

As for afterburn, after 20 minutes of recovery, I still only burned 24 extra calories, and Dennis hit 16.

But, my heart rate still didn’t get high enough to classify as “actual” HIIT. 

Which means … we're gonna go more intense in our attempt to reveal the best cardio for losing weight.

 So we turned to the true king of HIIT … sprints.

Sprinting HIIT (10 Minutes)

Here's how we did it: 10-15 seconds of all-out sprints, followed by 30-60 seconds of walking.

Some researchers claim that just 1 minute of all-out effort can give you the same benefits as 50 minutes of normal cardio. So, it's got to be the best cardio for losing weight, right?

Well, in just 10 minutes, I burned 178 calories. That’s 17.8 calories per minute, the highest so far!

Sprints were also Dennis’s highest calorie burner, at 148 calories. Looks like a promising candidate for the best cardio for losing weight so far ...

However, one thing I noticed about the data is that 97% of the calories I burned were from carbs, and only 3% from fat. We’ll talk more about what this means when we compare it to walking later on. 

As for the afterburn, sprints were the only workout that pushed my heart rate above 85% of my maximum heart rate.

Which explains why, after resting for 20 minutes, I burned an extra 48 calories compared to baseline, the highest after burn so far.

Same with Dennis, who burned an extra 27 calories.

But don’t crown sprints as the best cardio for losing weight just yet. Most people are unaware that pretty much any exercise comes with an afterburn effect.

What You Need To Know About The Afterburn Effect

This study compared the 3-hour afterburn from steady-state cycling to high-intensity sprint intervals.

Sprints led to an afterburn of 110 calories. But the less intense cycling still led to an afterburn of 64 calories.

That’s a difference of just half a banana.

In fact, if afterburn is what you’re after, then resistance training (I know we're talking about best cardio for losing weight ... but still) is a much better choice. It doesn’t just have a similar afterburn as HIIT, but it actually helps you maintain and build muscle as you lose weight — helping you not just get lighter, but actually look better. 

Dennis and I are actually doing a muscle growth experiment together, and Dennis has been using the BWS+ app to learn the proper form of each exercise. Keep an eye out so you don’t miss the article.

But to continue our search for the best cardio for losing weight, we definitely needed something more doable long-term. How about jogging? I mean, every celebrity in Hollywood seems to be doing it.

Low-Intensity Cardio Exercises

Jogging (20 Minutes)

Even though our jog was twice as long as our sprint workout, I was not expecting the calorie burn to almost double as well, with me burning 350 calories and Dennis burning 260 calories. But when you look at our heart rate chart, it starts to make sense. Jogging keeps the heart rate consistently elevated in the high range, whereas HIIT only spikes it briefly during intense intervals.

So, it definitely looks like it's the best cardio for losing weight so far.

But surprisingly, you could make regular jogging burn more fat. How? According to this study from the British Journal of Nutrition, if you run first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, you burn twice the amount of fat compared to doing the exact same workout AFTER eating.

Fasted Jogging (20 Minutes)

So the next morning, we put it to the test — to see if fasted jogging could beat regular jogging as the best cardio for losing weight.

We burned about the same number of calories as our regular jog. But this time, a bigger chunk of those calories came from fat.

Multiple studies have found the same thing.

When you don’t eat before a workout, your body doesn’t have as many carbs to use — so it turns to fat for energy instead.

But here’s what the big headlines don’t tell you.

Fat Burn And Fat Loss Are Different Things

"When you do fasted cardio, you don't have as much fuel on board from the food you've eaten.

So what you're going to use is the available fat stores in your body which sounds great. But then the rest of the day, you're going to be relying on other sources of fuel. And you can prove this by looking at studies on the opposite.

So if you go into a high-intensity interval session, because the intensity is so high, you're primarily burning carbs, and you deplete glycogen.

So what do you use the rest of the day? Body fat and fatty acid oxidation.

So it's not about what happens in the session about the whole day.

In both of those two scenarios, the amount of fat loss you achieve or fat mass gain you achieve is going to be dependent upon the net surplus or deficit, not what happened in those 30 minutes."

That’s Dr. Eric Helms, one of the top researchers in exercise science.

And what he’s saying is backed by long-term studies, which have found no long-term fat loss benefit to doing cardio fasted (i.e., it doesn't clearly beat jogging as the best cardio for losing weight). But for some people, fasted cardio still might be the better choice. 

It’s about doing what you’ll be more likely to stick to, and in our case, our joints were starting to take a beating from all our jogging. Now it's time to let them rest a little as we continue our quest to find the best cardio for losing weight ... and we found this:

Kangoo Jog (20 Minutes)

They’re banned in races. They look ridiculous. But supposedly, they reduce joint impact by 80% … and burn 25% more calories than regular jogging? So could it be the best cardio for losing weight?

There’s only one way to find out.

Although they definitely felt better on the knees, we ended up burning 10% fewer calories than regular jogging, which might be the weight of the boots limiting how fast we could run. However, they definitely boost your confidence and your girlfriend might like you more. 

The only catch? You’ll need to spend around $300 USD to get these special shoes. 

Swimming (20 Minutes)

Swimming is often praised for joint support and high calorie burn (and all you need is water and a pool) — but could it be the best cardio for losing weight?

When scientists measured how many calories elite female swimmers burn per day during training season, they clocked in at close to 6,000 calories per day on average!

Which might explain how, in his prime, retired Olympic Champion Michael Phelps ate between 8 to 10,000 calories per day, and still looked like this!

The only problem? Testing it.

While the mask and drysuit limited our ability to properly swim, just a few minutes in, our heart rates were climbing.

Unlike most exercises, swimming works nearly every major muscle group at once. More muscles working = more calories burned. 

Plus, water pulls heat away from your body faster than air does, so your body has to burn extra calories just to stay warm, especially in a cooler pool. 

So after 20 minutes of walking each other like dogs, we ended up burning way more calories than I expected: 276 calories for me, and 223 for Dennis.

But the real surprise? As soon as the suit came off, Dennis basically turned into a mermaid. Sorry — merman. Once I reveal the calorie burn to him at the end of the video, I think swimming might become his best cardio for losing weight and his go-to exercise.

But even if you can’t swim, grab a floatie and you’ll still burn calories. Or, burn the most calories by trying to save your own life. Just kidding … don’t do that.

But while you might not know how to swim, you probably know how to walk. And get this — a recent meta-analysis found that for every additional 1,000 steps you take per day, your risk of dying drops by about 12%.

Walking (30 Minutes)

But just how good is walking when it comes to burning calories? Could it be the best cardio for losing weight yet?

After 30 minutes at 3.2 miles per hour, we both burned almost 200 calories each.

But the fat burn is where it gets interesting.

81% of the calories we burned were from fat, the highest so far. Jogging had only 40% fat burn, and sprints were just 3%!

Some people say this makes walking better for fat loss.

But here’s what actually happens. 

Dr. Eric Helms:

"So if you go into a high-intensity interval session, because the intensity is so high, you're primarily burning carbs, you deplete glycogen.

But then you see fat oxidation being higher the rest of the day. Yeah. Because you have fewer carbs to use."

Just like fasted cardio, what really matters is your total calorie burn.

And while walking wasn’t the highest burner … it can quickly add up. 

One of the few studies looking at walking and fat loss had people add just 2.5 hours of extra walking per week — that’s only about 20 minutes a day. And that one small change led to an extra 3.5 pounds of fat loss in 12 weeks.

At this point, it's not the best cardio for losing weight ... but what if there was a way to easily boost the calorie burn from normal walking? 

Incline Walking (30 Minutes)

Incline walking was actually the preferred cardio of choice for 6x Mr. Olympia Champion Chris Bumstead, who would work up to a 6% incline.  

And after looking at the data, I can see why some might consider it the best cardio for losing weight.

Compared to flat walking at the same speed, we both burned about 50% more calories.

Walking With Weight (30 Minutes)

We also tested walking with a 20-pound backpack to see if it could be the best cardio for losing weight.

For me, it only burned 13% more than regular walking.

But for Dennis, since 20 pounds is a bigger jump for his body weight, he burned 30% more.

… this actually explains why most people get stuck during fat loss.

In my early days of fitness, every time I dieted, I’d lose the first 5–10 pounds, then suddenly… nothing.

I thought my metabolism was broken.

But here’s the truth: as you lose fat, it’s like taking off a backpack full of the fat you’ve been carrying around all day. So you burn fewer calories, even if nothing else changes. So to keep fat loss moving, you’ll eventually have to eat a bit less, move a bit more — and ideally, lift weights to prevent muscle loss and keep your metabolism high.

But it’s a lot to figure out on your own, which is why I built an app to do all the guesswork for me.
I spent years developing it with dietitians, coaches, and scientists.

It tracks my progress and automatically adjusts my calories and workouts each week based on my progress.

It’s not only helped me, but thousands of others get lean and build muscle.

You can try it free for 2 weeks here:

Click the button below to try the BWS+ app for 2 weeks, for free, no strings attached:

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Moderate-Intensity Cardio Exercises

Stairmaster (20 Minutes)

But now it’s time to face every gym bro’s worst nightmare — the StairMaster.

Apparently, The Rock kicks off most mornings with 45 minutes on this thing. With The Rock's stamp of approval, it must be the best cardio for losing weight, right?

Maybe Dennis can easily ROCK this one out.

After 20 minutes of watching our favourite shows, the machine said I burned 223 calories, and Dennis burned 190.

But similar to Apple Watches, cardio machines use generic algorithms to estimate calorie burn, and have been known to be off by up to 10-30%, which explains why, according to the mask, I actually burned 256 calories and Dennis burned 215.

Aside from swimming, Dennis found most of the cardio workouts boring — and hard to really push himself with. But some studies suggest you naturally work harder when you're focused on skill or competition rather than just burning calories.

So it’s time for a different approach. 

Sportboxing (20 Minutes)

It felt brutal, but with all the rest between rounds, after 20 minutes, it became clear it wasn't the best cardio for losing weight; the calorie burn was actually about the same as the StairMaster — 270 for me, and 215 for Dennis.

But now it’s time to reveal the results of the best cardio for losing weight to Dennis, and for both of us to crown a winner.

TL;DR

High-Intensity Cardio (HIIT, Sprints, Jump Rope)

1. Sprints burned the most calories per minute (178 in 10 mins) and triggered the highest afterburn — but mostly burned carbs during the workout.
2. Jump rope and YouTube HIIT routines also ranked high for calorie burn in short timeframes, but didn’t push heart rate high enough to qualify as true HIIT for everyone.
3. The afterburn effect (extra calories burned post-workout) was real, but modest — sprints added ~48 extra calories, while other HIIT workouts added far less.

Moderate-Intensity Cardio (Jogging, StairMaster, Boxing)

4. Jogging burned the most total calories per session (350 in 20 mins) thanks to sustained heart rate elevation, despite having lower afterburn than sprints.
5. Boxing and StairMaster also ranked high, with ~270 and ~256 calories burned in 20 minutes, making them strong contenders for the best cardio for losing weight when done regularly.

Low-Intensity Cardio (Walking, Incline Walking, Swimming)

6. Walking had the highest fat-burning percentage (81%), but lower overall calorie burn — unless paired with incline or weight.
7. Swimming burned more than expected (276 in 20 mins) and was joint-friendly, making it one of the most effective low-impact options.

What Actually Matters for Fat Loss

Whether you burn carbs or fat during a workout doesn't determine fat loss. What does matter is your total calorie burn over time, combined with a sustainable calorie deficit. So the best cardio for losing weight is the one you can push hard in — and stick to consistently.

Sidenote: losing weight is not the same as losing visceral fat; understand the difference here.

Ranking

Which Is The Best Cardio For Losing Weight? (Jeremy Edition)

Here’s all the raw data, here’s how I ranked the fat loss exercises from best to worst.

Which Is The Best Cardio For Losing Weight? (Dennis Edition)

And here’s how Dennis ranked them.

But despite all the effort Dennis has put in, ironically, the only thing slimming down might be his chances of actually losing fat.

His lunch alone already wiped out half the workouts in one sitting. 

Dennis:

"Wtf, what a waste of time lol"

It’s why focusing on cardio, but neglecting diet, rarely works for fat loss unless you do a ton of it. Best combo = weights + controlled diet + the right amount of cardio to speed things up.

And the BWS+ app does this all for you and has helped thousands of people transform without relying on hours of cardio or strict diets. Try 2 weeks free here:

Click the button below to try the BWS+ app for 2 weeks, for free, no strings attached:

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By the way, here’s the article summed up into a YouTube video: