Top 5 Bodyweight Cardio Exercises Burn Fat

Do more bodyweight cardio workouts to burn fat and shape your body better and faster.


If you want to take your workouts to a higher level and blowtorch body fat, bodyweight cardio workouts are what you need. The dual strength/cardio benefits give you maximum results in the minimum of time.



For sure, don't waste too much time with long strength training and boring cardio sessions. No bodyweight cardio workout needs to exceed 30 minutes. You will get more heart-health and fat burning benefits from these short burst workouts.

Go outside and exercise!

These 5 top bodyweight cardio exercises will make up your workout:

Warmup: 5 minutes jump rope. Rest 45 seconds between exercises. Do the circuit 2-3 times. Rest 3 minutes between circuits.

1. Primetime prisoner squats. This exercise provides strength benefits for your glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps and helps to realign your shoulder blades.



How to do the exercise:

a. Stand with your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart with your toes pointing slightly outward.

b. With your hands behind your head, keep your chest up and shoulder blades down and back throughout the range of motion.

c. As you descend, push your glutes back as if sitting down and bend at the hips and knees.Keep your knees aligned with your toes (don't let your knees "cave in" or protrude outside the feet). Also, don’t let your knees pass over your toes and stay back on your heels.

d. Don’t lean forward, maintain the natural arch in your back and keep your core braced (as if getting ready to take a punch in the gut) throughout the movement.

e. As you ascend, contract your glutes and explode back up to the starting position. That is 1 repetition.

2. Deadhang Pullups. The pullup is not just a back muscle exercise. Deadhang pullups are even tougher. Pullups work your lats (and other back muscles), core, shoulders, arms, chest, biceps and improve grip strength. Its one of the best exercises out there.


How to do the exercise:

a. Hang (arms extended) from a pullup bar with your palms facing away from your body, your arms straight and your feet crossed together with legs bent about 90 degrees. Pull yourself up until your chin passes the bar.

b. A wider grip (greater than shoulder width) will work your lats more. A closer grip (shoulder width or less) will work your middle back muscles more. If you lack grip strength, you can use straps to help.

c. Use proper technique:

--Don't jut your chin out (it strains your cervical spine).

--Don't swing. It makes the pullup easier by using momentum. You need to pullup, not swing up.

--Don't let your chest collapse because that puts too much stress on your shoulders.

--Don't arch your lower back too much. You want your abdominal muscles to be engaged when you do the pullup. Keep your torso braced (as if taking a punch to the gut) during the pullup.

--When you start the pullup, drive your shoulder blades down and squeeze them together. This will engage your shoulder stabilizers more.

Don't be afraid of the deadhang pullup exercise.

3. Pushup-to-Cross body mountain climber. Start by doing a standard pushup with your feet about shoulder width apart.

With your arms in the extended position, go right into the cross body mountain climber.





How to do the cross body mountain climber:

a. From the push up position with your arms fully extended, keep your hips and torso in a straight line. Don't let your hips sag and don't point your butt in the air during this exercise.

b. Do the exercise by moving your left knee straight up and across your body to the right armpit area (keep your abs braced). Also, don't let your foot touch the ground as you do the movement. Move your left leg back to the starting position and repeat with your right leg.

4. Power step ups (knee high platform). This is one of the top athletic training exercises and really torches fat. Do this exercise full speed with control.

Do the power step up this way:


a. Face a bench or platform and put your right foot on the bench. Your knee should be bent 90 degrees.

b. As you lift your body on your right leg, keep your body erect (don't bend over) and look straight ahead. Balance on your right leg and don't let your left foot touch the platform.

c. Explosively drive your left knee up to 90 degrees and hold for 2 counts. Descend to the starting position. Do all required repetitions on the right leg and switch to left leg.

5. Side lunge steps. Tone your hips and glutes better by including side lunge steps in your workout routine.



Butt, hips and thigh fat can be stubborn fat areas for many women and men. Doing dynamic leg exercises on your feet will help you burn more leg fat and calories.

The exercise is done by shifting your weight to the right and then to the left followed by a pivot. This leaves you facing in the opposite direction and the exercise is repeated.

The frontal plane of motion is often "under-trained" by exercisers and that's a big mistake.Many daily movements are done with side-to-side or lateral motions. You will prevent many injuries by developing strong, flexible hips and glutes.

Bring it on, bring on your improved, lean body!

"Find Your Fitness Groove."  I can help you.  Let's get started!





About Mark

Hi, I'm Mark Dilworth, Nutritionist, Dietary Strategies Specialist, Nutrition for Metabolic Health Specialist and Lifestyle Weight Management Specialist. Since 2006, I have helped thousands of clients and readers make lifestyle habit changes which includes body transformation and ideal body weight.