It also strengthens your upper arms while working your back, core, and legs. This cardio exercise is low impact and ideal for beginners. The sideways movement of this exercise mimics how a skater moves. For a challenge, add a jump when you move to the side.

For a full-body workout, add in some jumping jacks. This classic move works your entire body while increasing your heart rate. The regular squat is a bodyweight move that targets the lower body. By adding a jump, you can turn it into an explosive cardio workout.

Lunge jumps, which combine jumps and standard lunges , will get your heart pumping. The box jump is a cardio exercise that targets your lower body, including your butt, thighs, calves, and shins.

This exercise is like a horizontal jumping jack. It forces your arms to support your weight as you quickly move your legs. Each exercise involves greater coordination and multiple body movements.

The mountain climber is an intense full-body exercise. Plank ski hops, also called plank skiers, combine planks and rotational jumps. The turning movement of the jump will challenge your strength and endurance. The diagonal jump takes the lunge jump to the next level.

Rotational jacks combine jumps, squats, and body twists. Together, these movements will fire up your muscles and heart rate. During the inchworm, the motion of walking your hands and feet forward will put your heart and muscles to work.

To make it harder, do more than one pushup. You can also skip the pushup altogether for an easier move. They can offer guidance based on your health status and fitness level.

Cardio exercise keeps your heart, lungs, and muscles healthy. Just remember to warm up and start slow, especially when trying a new move.

Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. However, the cardio benefits from it are more limited, Girard says. Why it rocks: A tuck jump has a lot of impact, "which is great for strong bones and joints, but also means these will be difficult to sustain to build up cardio endurance," Girard says.

That means you will really rev up your heart rate. Why it rocks: It trains your coordination and lateral movement, so feel free to modify it if you want, Girard says. Modify it: Perform traditional jumping jacks.

Why it rocks: The push press is super simple, but works your shoulders, quads, and core, Girard says. Why it rocks: While it won't get you the most out of breath, it will strengthen your quads and glutes, she adds. Pro tip: To add a variation, load one heavier weight either contralaterally opposite side or ipsilaterally same side to add core and stability training, Girard recommends.

Consider adding a hop at the top instead, for more power. Why it rocks: It's great for building mental skills while working multiple major muscle groups. Why it rocks: This plank move has all the benefits of a jumping jack with extra upper body and core work, so it trains your shoulders and core.

Modify it: Step your feet out side-to-side for less impact and more focus on the core. Why it rocks: Bear crawls are "great for a coordination challenge, and also help build ankle mobility, especially moving backwards," Girard says. They work your shoulders, core, and quads.

Why it rocks: This bear plank variation develops balance, stability, and major core strength, Girard says. It's especially beneficial for dancers or new parents who often carry their children at their hips.

Why it rocks: First and foremost, the impact is good for our bone and joint health. Pro tip: You can perform this move with or without an actual jump rope. The form is the same either way. If it feels like the benefits of cardio are endless, they kinda are, TBH. It's worth repeating the biggie boosts that come with these exercises, according to trainers.

Outside of topics related to lifestyle, relationships, and dating, she also loves covering fitness and style. In her free time, she enjoys lifting weights at the gym, reading mystery and romance novels, watching and critiquing!

the latest movies that have garnered Oscars buzz, and wandering around the West Village in New York City. In addition to Women's Health , her work has also appeared in Allure , StyleCaster , L'Officiel USA , V Magazine , VMAN , and more.

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The number of calories you burn while walking depends on different factors, including your weight, pace, terrain, and more. Strength training is an important part of an exercise routine.

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A Quiz for Teens Are You a Workaholic? How Well Do You Sleep? Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. What Is Cardiorespiratory Endurance and How Can You Improve It? Medically reviewed by Elaine K.

Luo, M. Tests Exercises Takeaway Overview. Cardiorespiratory endurance tests. Exercises to improve your cardiorespiratory endurance. Share on Pinterest. How we reviewed this article: Sources. Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations.

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Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed by science and medicine advisors. See our editorial policies and staff. Fitness Basics. Getting Active.

Staying Motivated. Home Healthy Living Fitness Fitness Basics Endurance Exercise. How much do I need? Making progress When you're ready to do more, you can build on your routine by Adding new physical activities.

Increasing the distance, time, or difficulty or your favorite activity. Doing your activities more often. Last Reviewed: Jan 18, It depends on your cardiovascular endurance. Physiologists discuss this type of stamina in terms of maximum oxygen consumption, or VO2 max.

VO2 max is the amount of oxygen you use during exercise. There are so many ways to answer this question because there are so many benefits of cardiovascular endurance. One year study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in found that better cardiorespiratory fitness reduced the risk of death from heart disease in people with high blood pressure.

Other recent studies indicate that the intensity of the physical activity makes a difference for those with and without heart-related issues. People with high cardiovascular fitness also have better cholesterol levels, as well as lower blood sugar, with less incidence of type 2 diabetes.

Denis also highlights the importance of cardio to keep sickness at bay. According to a review of studies in the Journal of Sport and Health Science , moderate to vigorous exercise can help your immune system fight off various illnesses by reducing inflammation and triggering immune cells that find and eradicate viruses.

Another study found that increased cardio could reduce the number of upper-respiratory infections by more than 40 percent. Recent research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings showed that people with good cardiorespiratory fitness are less likely to need sleeping pills.

You need to build your cardiovascular endurance to achieve those goals. Or maybe your goals are a little less lofty from an athletic perspective.

Cardiovascular endurance can help you dance the day away at a music festival, spend the day exploring a new city on foot, or chase your dog around the yard. Not to mention, it becomes even more important the older we get. Those lifestyle changes create a cascade of positive effects, too.

Numerous studies have linked increased cardiovascular fitness to lower levels of depression and anxiety, but you may not need a study to prove this point. If a person can walk up three flights of steps without huffing and puffing, they feel better about themselves. With that in mind, here are a few activities that can work some serious magic:.

Boxing and kickboxing. Sports like basketball and soccer. For this, you need to do a little math—just a little, we promise! You can determine your maximum heart rate, says Urban, by subtracting your current age from Multiply that number by 64 percent and 76 percent to get your overall range for moderate-intensity physical activity.

Generally speaking, how long should you stay at an intensity level before taking things up a notch? Perry says it can be as little as two weeks or as long as eight weeks.

Genetics is also a factor. Here are some specific ways to build your cardiovascular endurance and stamina. The pitfall to avoid is starting too hard and then burning out or injuring yourself. If you have a Peloton Bike, Power Zone training is a great way to build up your endurance and measure your progress.

Incorporate mountain climbers into your HIIT routine and do them for 30 seconds to 1 minute for one interval before moving onto the next interval. Repeat the circuit two to three times.

Do 30 minutes of HIIT five times a week. Running is a great form of cardio that benefits your heart. It helps make your cardiovascular system stronger while building muscle and endurance.

And while running can be hard on your joints, if you stretch and ease into your running routine, it can actually make your joints stronger. It's important to stretch your muscles before you break into a run.

You'll be exerting your leg muscles while you're running, so they need to be warmed up so you don't hurt yourself. If you've never run before, start slow and jog for a few minutes at a time, breaking it up with walking. Once you've built up some endurance, start alternating running, jogging and walking.

Before you know it, you'll be consistently running. Also make sure to stretch your muscles to cool down after every run too. Running or jogging for 30 minutes a day, five days a week can lead to improved cardiovascular health and more endurance.

Once you start running regularly, you'll be able to go for longer runs without batting an eyelash. Squat jumps are a plyometric exercise that improve the strength in your legs and butt. They can also help improve your balance while raising your heart rate and encouraging a good sweat.

For squat jumps, form is important. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Squat your butt down like you're about to sit on a chair. It's important that as your knees stay directly above your feet when you bend them. Don't let them go past your toes.

At the bottom of your squat, your thighs should be perpendicular to the floor. Engage your core and glutes to propel yourself back up and jump straight off the ground. When you land, gently sink into another squat and repeat.

Squat jumps are great to do as part of high-intensity interval training. They're also great to add to any other workout as a warmup. Do a circuit of 25 of them and then move onto something else.

High-intensity interval training is a method of circuit exercising that involves short bursts of intense cardio or strength training and periods of rest. Many exercises can be done in HIIT, and this can improve strength and raise your heart rate to help your cardiovascular system.

Consider the exercises you want to do for HIIT. Perhaps it's running. To turn your run into a HIIT workout, you'd sprint for 30 seconds to a minute, and then jog or walk for 2 minutes.

Then sprint again, and walk again. You'd do this for a full circuit of 30 minutes or so. You can also do HIIT as a circuit of multiple exercises.

You could include jumping jacks, burpees, mountain climbers and a number of other cardio exercises, interspersed with rest periods.

HIIT is a great way to have a variety of cardio exercises. Do HIIT for 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Dance is a great and fun way to get your heart rate up. It gets your blood flowing, which can benefit your heart, and it can help improve endurance.

Plus, the beauty of dance is that it's what you make it -- you can go hard or do a more moderate workout with it. What we love about dance is that there are no rules and no wrong way to do it. If you want an organized dance workout, you can look for a group fitness class in your area or even just a dance class.

Either way, you'll get a workout. If you want to dance at home, put on some of your favorite heart-pumping music and dance around your house.

With any cardio exercise, minutes a week is a great baseline, so you can break that up however you want. Dancing for about 30 minutes a day, five days a week is optimal. It's also a good idea to balance your cardio with some strength training for better fitness.

Cycling is a low-impact aerobic exercise, meaning it's great for people who don't want to put too much pressure on their ankles and knees. It gets your heart rate up and helps you build muscle and endurance, according to the Cleveland Clinic.