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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 fat loss? By the end, you’ll know exactly which are the best cardio exercises to help you get leaner, faster, and which ones are wasting your time. Starting with the one cardio workout every kid knows how to do: jump rope.
First up, high-intensity cardio workouts.
Jump Rope (10 mins)Jeremy: 160 cal +28 afterburn | Dennis: 69 cal + 8 afterburnThis classic movement turned out to be a very time-efficient cardio workout. While it didn’t trigger much afterburn, it delivered a high calorie-per-minute ratio for those short on time.
YouTube HIIT (10 mins)Jeremy: 136 cal + 24 afterburn | Dennis: 100 cal + 16 afterburnThis popular format blends bodyweight exercises with short rest intervals. While it technically qualifies as high-intensity, both I found it didn’t push my heart rate high enough to qualify as true HIIT.
Sprints (10 mins)Jeremy: 178 cal + 48 afterburn | Dennis: 148 cal + 27 afterburnSprints burned the most calories per minute — and produced the highest afterburn, thanks to pushing heart rate above 85% max. But interestingly, 97% of calories burned came from carbs. But burning more carbs during cardio doesn’t mean you’re not losing fat. Your body tends to switch to fat burning after intense carb-based workouts, especially during recovery. That’s why total energy burned — including afterburn — matters more than what fuel source was used during the workout.
Next up, low-intensity cardio workouts.
Jogging (20 mins)Jeremy: 350 cal | Dennis: 260 calThis workout had the highest total calorie burn per session. While it didn’t trigger much afterburn compared to sprints, the steady heart rate made jogging one of the most consistent and scalable forms of cardio for fat loss.
Fasted Jogging (20 mins)Jeremy: ~350 cal | Dennis: ~260 calCalories burned remained the same, but a larger percentage came from fat. However, long-term studies show fasted cardio doesn’t result in more fat loss — because the total energy balance (not fat burned during the workout) drives fat loss.
Walking (30 mins)Jeremy: ~200 cal | Dennis: ~200 calSurprisingly efficient: 81% of calories burned came from fat — the highest fat percentage of all workouts tested. But remember: fat burn during exercise ≠ fat loss. You can burn lots of fat in-session and still not lose body fat if you’re not in a calorie deficit.
Incline Walking (30 mins)Jeremy: ~300 cal | Dennis: ~300 calIncline walking raised the burn by ~50% compared to flat walking — and is easier on the joints than jogging. A strong low-impact contender for the best cardio for fat loss, especially for beginners.
Weighted Walking (30 mins)Jeremy: ~225 cal (+13%) | Dennis: ~260 cal (+30%)Adding a 20-lb backpack significantly increased calorie burn — especially for Dennis, since the weight made up a larger proportion of his body weight.
Kangoo Jog (20 mins)Jeremy: ~315 cal (10% less than jogging) | Dennis: ~235 calDespite the hype, these rebound boots burned slightly fewer calories than regular jogging — likely due to limited running speed. Still, they reduced joint impact and made the workout more enjoyable.
Swimming (20 mins)Jeremy: 276 cal | Dennis: 223 calSwimming activated nearly every major muscle group and provided a strong calorie burn with very low joint stress. Water also cools the body faster, forcing you to burn more energy just to stay warm. A top-tier option among best cardio exercises for total-body impact and fat loss support.
Finally, moderate-intensity cardio workouts.
StairMaster (20 mins)Jeremy: 256 cal | Dennis: 215 calThis gym staple delivered high calorie burn without much variation in intensity. However, machines often overestimate burn by 10–30%, so the mask-tracked numbers here give a more accurate view.
Boxing (20 mins)Jeremy: 270 cal | Dennis: 215 calEngaging and skill-based, boxing helped both push harder without overthinking. Calorie burn was similar to StairMaster, but more enjoyable — which matters when choosing the best cardio exercises for consistency.
Ultimately, the best cardio for fat loss isn’t the workout that burns the most fat during the session — it’s the one that helps you stay consistent, recover well, and keep your total calories burned high enough to create real change. Whether it’s walking, boxing, or sprinting, the best cardio workout is the one that fits you.
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Hope you enjoyed this one! What's your favorite form of cardio? If you want me to take care of all the guesswork for you – workouts, nutrition, cardio – then try 2 weeks free of my BWS+ app here: https://bws.plus/g1 . See you in there!
You forgot the king of HIIT: Burpee
As someone who is professional swimmer and going daily at see in summer and in river and I did get 10 kg am 80 kg now 15 it’s good swimming is best easiest for me am best at it and it’s most enjoyable
I see muscle lines when I flex my stomach like I see a little bit of abs I think idk if it’s abs or not but when I flex there’s like a line in the middle of my abdomen and like 2 bumps on each side little bit above my belly button but I do have a little bit of lower stomach fat but it’s barely gripable like it feels so burnable lol
Btw is updowns good for cardio like 30 up downs
You haven't lived until you live, laugh, liao
8:19 that’s just flat out not true. Why is he just straight up lying to our faces?😂
What’s the name of the mask
plz dont kill dennis
If you’re doing an experiment it would be great if you had a woman do it alongside of you so that we are included in the data set.
Dennis at 17:18 looks so different hahah keep it going man!
That is really sick that you placed top 3 WTH
Can you try more cardio methods out? Such as Ice Skating, Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer etc…Activities that are very fun to do with friends that wth a group also can be excercised at a consistent level?
kinda blown away you didnt do rowing…. i do 10-30 minutes on the stairs as my warm up for leg days , and 10-30 minutes rowing and assault biking for upper body days. interesting thing about the rowing machine however is technique. you can easily incorporate or remove lower back and legs from the exercise by simply focusing your technique to different areas and levels of effort you put in from each group. you can take rowing from being a nearly full body exercise to basically just arms and upper back with a little focus.
same with biking. idk if you ever noticed but try biking USING the pedal straps on a stationary bike. experiment with focusing on the muscle groups pulling up on the strap for a few minutes at a time rather than pushing down so hard , then mess around with peddle pressure on the down crank.. try putting extra pressure on the outside vs the inside of the ball of your foot during the power stroke and feel it hitting and building heat in different areas of the quad. im not entirely sure what to do with that info but it is something i have discovered while doing these things. and sometimes if i start to feel gassed while trying to hit some arbitrary time and pace goal i set for myself ill mess with these techniques to try and squeeze out every bit of effort i can in order to hit a new PR.
Does the built with science app have options for people who eat plant based diets?
Wait why the masks??
Best fat loss video I’ve seen on the internet period. Well done
The whole "running is bad for your joints/knees" is NOT true, multiple studies have shown that for recreational runners, they are actually LESS likely to develop joint problems then non-runners, the reason being is that your body adapts and grows extra cartilage to make up for the higher load over time. The reason why people get injured is because they run too far too quickly rather then slowly building it up, it takes you body only weeks to months to develop its cardiovascular system, it takes YEARS for your muscular skeletal system to catch up.
The advice generally is, do not grow your weekly running volume by more then 10% per week, have deload weeks every 3-6 weeks, do NOT run through injuries or pain and take plenty of rest days and have 80% of your runs be easy, Do that and you will be fine.
What about walking while fasting?
For the incline treadmill test, what was the incline percentage? 6%? 15?
I think Dennis’s reaction to discomfort is so great. He’s so animated!
Walking around looking like a biochem terrorist is crazy work.
What about a CAROL bike that uses REHIT ?
If i walk extra 10000 steps i won’t die
Personally my favourite is 1. find a very large sled dog, like the kind that can pull like 2x their body weight from a dead stop and who also weigh more than you. 2. get them very very excited. 3. put them in a sled dog harness for maximum torque 4. attach the line around your middle 5. say "mush" and the dog will take you over the hills to see the bunny rabbits, your job is to keep your legs under you and not fall over. What happens is the dog gives you such an unbelievable amount of speed that you get to have the adrenaline and the fun of running at usain bolt speeds but only put in the effort of a lazy sloppy jog. It's kind of like flying a kite, except you are the kite, and the dog is flying you. It's SO FUN lol.
It's called canicross, it's my favouite sport for cardio by a LONG shot because it's so much more fun than jogging because you get to go so much faster, and if you're just starting out with cardio and you're not up for going for jogs yet, you can get away with jogging way slower without it getting boring or frustrating, because you FLY, it's like you weigh nothing because the dog gives you the acceleration. I was at the level where I could only jog for half a block without wheezing, and doing canicross got me to where I could run for my first kilometer! Not only does the dog give you speed, when you have the kind of dog who lives to pull, their excitement is so infectious, it helps you always be in the mood to run! When you're starting from zero cardio, being able to enjoy a run feels like jumping over a house, and canicross can get you to that first milestone which is unbelievably encouraging, it can be a stepping stone into all kinds of fun activities! Just make sure your vet signs off on it though lol dogs can love it too much, and it's good to make sure their joints can handle it and their growth plates are closed lol
You should test rebounding! Is it true that 2,000-3,000 jumps does more than 10,000 steps?