Having a strong upper body comes with a lot of benefits. Dedicating some workouts to your cardiovascular health keeps you healthy. There are various upper body cardio exercises that you can do to experience various benefits such as weight loss, improving oxygen flow, lowering the risk of being caught by various diseases, and more.
You might be working on cardio boot camp exercises or looking for upper body cardio exercises; the following paragraphs have various cardio exercises. The paragraphs give a list of different cardio exercises that can be done by different people.
Upper Body Cardio Exercises For Heart Patients
For a healthy heart, patients suffering from heart related issues can do several exercises to target the upper body. And targeting the upper body comes with various advantages.
Besides strengthening your upper body muscles, you also shed off some kilos. More so, losing weight is good if you are suffering from heart issues.
For instance, losing weight make your body reduce the chances of being affected by diseases such as arthritis, back pain, osteoporosis, and more.
There are several upper body cardio exercises that you can do to keep yourself healthy. Below are some of them;
- Bike riding
- Zumba dance
- Swimming
- Arm circles
- Walking
Upper Body Aerobic Cardio Exercises
Aerobic exercises are good at living you gasping for more air. As such, they are good for heart patients. Aerobic exercises are good at improving your blood vessels. In addition to that, the exercises strengthen the heart.
Besides those benefits, aerobic cardio exercises also improve your oxygen flow throughout your body. Such are good cardio exercises for seniors. Below are the aerobic cardio exercises;
- Jumping rope
- Running
- Rowing
- Upper body ergometer
- Elliptical training
The exercises mentioned above can be done at various levels. You may decide to make the exercise a low impact, medium impact, or high intensity.
As such, you can just exercise according to your body’s ability. For instance, in running, people run in different paces. More so, you can always do running while carrying dumbbells to make the exercise more intense.
Cardio Upper Body Exercises For Weight Loss Without Weights
To make some cardio exercises more intense, you can use weight. For instance, you can do jogging, running, walking carrying dumbbells, or any weight of your choice. As such, those exercises are cardio exercises without weights.
And that means you can do these exercises without weight. The following are various exercises that you can do to target upper body muscles without using any weights;
- Wall push-ups
- Shadow boxing
- Hand pedaling
- Kayaking
- Overhead arm claps
The above mentioned exercises do not need any weight, but they are really effective in targeting your upper body. You can melt some fat and lose weight significantly by doing these exercises. Some of these exercises are fun to do them. As such, you will enjoy doing them and also have great results.
Cardio Exercises For Upper Body Weight Lose Women
Most of the cardio exercises mentioned above can be done by anyone regardless of gender. It’s a matter of your body’s ability. However, there are some exercises that women might prefer. And not all exercises have an equal impact.
Therefore, there are some exercises that may make you lose weight faster while others may improve your strength faster. Below are cardio exercises that target your upper body and can also make women lose weight;
- Rowing
- Mountain climbers
- Swimming
- Jumping jacks
- Hand pedaling
Some of the exercises mentioned above do not only target the upper body, but they are good for even working the lower body muscles. For instance, exercises such as mountain climbers and jumping jacks also give the lower body muscles good exercising.
Cardio Exercises That Burn More Upper Body Fat
Most cardio exercises are good for strengthening your upper body. However, they do more than that. Some exercises are good for helping you to lose weight.
More so, the cardio exercises don’t have the same impact. Most of the cardio exercises can make you lose weight but some can make the process of losing weight faster than the others.
At most, exercises that can make you lose weight are the high intensity exercises. More so, the pace at which your body burns fat depends on various issues such as your metabolism, your diet, age, and other issues. Below are the exercises that you can do to deal with upper body fat
- Running
- Kettlebell swings
- Battle ropes
- Rowing
- Jump ropes
Upper Body Cardio No Equipment
There are various cardio exercises that you can choose from. Some of them can be done using gym equipment such as rowing machine while others need the use of weight.
However, there are many cardio exercises that you can do if you have any access to equipment. Remember, cardio exercises are exercises that use large muscle groups.
More so, those exercises are rhythmic leaving your heart beating faster. Below are the upper body cardio exercises that you can do without any equipment;
- Burpees
- Bear crawls
- Sumo squat punches
- Side to side punches
- Bear crawl push-ups
Upper Body Cardio Workout Leg Injury
Suffering from a leg injury does not mean you have to remain inactive in bed until you get better. No! To get better, you have to exercise your body to improve oxygen flow throughout your body.
Remaining inactive may make you gain more weight and that would be a setback in your recovery. Therefore, you definitely to do some activities while in bed.
Interestingly, there are different cardio exercises that you can do while in bed. Below are cardio exercises without using legs that can help you burn calories and leave your heart pumping faster;
- Shadow boxing
- Upper body sprint
- Battle ropes
- Overhead arm claps
- Medicine ball slams
Upper Body Cardio Equipment
If you have been following through, you must have picked some equipment that you can use for cardio exercises. Interestingly, with some exercises, you can incorporate any equipment such as weights.
Furthermore, there is also various gym equipment that can be used for cardio exercises. However, not all cardio equipment can be used to target your upper body muscles. Below are some of the equipment that you can be used when doing cardio exercises;
- Medicine ball
- Rowing machine
- Weights (Kettlebell, dumbbells etc)
- Jumping ropes
- Bike
- Elliptical machine
- Indoor bike
upper body cardio circuit
Circuit training involves doing various exercises with a short rest period between those exercises. And you can choose about 6 exercises or more depending on your ability.
The circuit workout involves doing high-intensity exercises. More so, there is also aerobics, endurance, and resistance training.
When it comes to the upper body cardio circuit, you can choose various cardio exercises and do them in a circuit format. That is you make sure that you rest for few seconds in between the exercises that you would have chosen. Below is an example of an upper body cardio circuit;
- Jog
- Medicine ball slams
- Mountain climbers
- Jumping jacks
- Medicine ball push-ups
Upper Body Workout At Home
Being at home without access to a proper gym facility cannot stop you from becoming fit. There are various exercises that you can do at home without any gym equipment. And you can have positive results.
Therefore, if you want to do an upper body workout at home, don’t be drawn back by the fact that you don’t have any equipment. There are a lot of things that you can use at home to your advantage of training your upper body.
When talking about the upper body, you should make sure that the exercises can target your shoulders, arms, chest, back, abs, and other upper body muscles.
And there are various exercises that hit those body muscles without using any equipment. The following exercises can help you to come up with an upper body workout at home;
Cardio Exercises For Hip Bursitis
Bursitis can make it difficult to exercise freely. However, that cannot stop you from being active. And there are various exercises that you can do and those exercises can help you to recover faster than you would expect.
However, it might be painful at the beginning but as time goes on, you might enjoy exercising regardless of having hip bursitis. Below are the cardio exercises for hip bursitis;
- Walking
- Swimming
- Relined leg circles
- Cycle ergometer
- Jogging
Upper Body Cardio Exercises For Beginners
There are various cardio exercises and some of them may be difficult for beginners. For instance, TRX cardio exercises might be difficult. But there are some that are easy and beginner-friendly.
Such exercises can be easily done at home or a gym facility without a spotter. However, those exercises can chisel your upper body very well. Below are some beginner-friendly cardio exercises for the upper body;
- arm swings
- Crab walk
- Battling ropes
- Half squat jab cross
- Shadow boxing
Final Thoughts
You might have done a lot of cardio exercises such as the cardio core exercises, and many others. Have you tried the upper body cardio exercises? The upper body cardio exercises are good for your heart.
Even those with heart problems can do the upper body cardio exercises to strengthen their heart and improve the flow of oxygen. These are some of the benefits of doing cardio exercises.
Interestingly, there are a lot of cardio exercises. And almost everyone can do cardio exercises even those with leg injuries. There are a lot of exercises that you can do while seated or sleeping and still attain great results.
Which upper body cardio exercises would you recommend?