11 Top Short Burst Fat-Burning Cardio Workouts

Burn more fat and calories for up to 48 hours after your cardio workout by doing short burst interval cardio workouts. It saves time and you get great fat burning benefits. The bottom line....burn fat, shape your body faster. High intensity workouts get the job done fast so you can get on with your day.


Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) causes your body to burn more calories and fat after a tough workout. Your body has to work harder to get back to its pre-exercise state. Fat burning and metabolism can increase for up to 48 hours after your tough workout.

Also, short burst interval cardio is the best way to burn fat, while saving muscle mass. This type of cardio will also give you superior heart health compared to long, steady-state cardio.

For instance, athletes in speed and power sports are usually very cut and lean because most of their exercises are done with intervals at full speed.

Short bursts are proven fat burners and these athletes primarily train this way. You can train this way too. We're talking workouts with major calorie and fat burn.

11 Top Short Burst, Fat-Burning Cardio Workouts

Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts. Start shaping your body faster!  There are 3 levels:  beginner, intermediate and advanced.  Start at your level.

1. Shorten your long, boring cardio sessions. A 20-minute sprint interval cardio session will give you more fat-burning and heart-health benefits than a slower 60-minute cardio session.


Stay off the cardio machines. They do too much of the work for you. When you have a choice, do your cardio "on land"---either outside or on the floor. My number one preference for cardio is sprint intervals on grass.

Do your cardio intervals this way:

a. Sprint 60 yards,
b. Walk back to start line
c. Sprint 60 yards

Do this rotation for 20 minutes.

2. Do more bodyweight cardio workouts. These workouts give you a dual strength and cardio benefit. Bodyweight workouts are great fat burners.


If you want to take your workouts to a higher level and blowtorch body fat, my FREE Bodyweight Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts are what you need. There are 3 levels: Bodyweight 200, 300 and 500. Start at the level you can handle.

3. Kettlebell exercise cardio. Check out these great kettlebell exervcises. A 20-30 minute workout will get the job done. This is a good change up strength/cardio workout that torches body fat.

4. Use shuttle runs to burn fat faster and really lean and tone your body.


Sprinting activates your bulkier, shapely fast twitch muscle fibers. These fast twitch muscle fibers lie dormant when you do slow-paced cardio sessions. You don't have to be fast, just run as fast as you can during the shuttle.

Try this top shuttle drill in your workouts to release adrenaline and burn more fat:

Speed Shuttle Drill or 5-10-5 Cone Drill - Place three cones in a straight line, 5 yards apart. Start in a 2-point or 3-point stance at the middle cone.

Run as fast as you can to the left cone (5 yds) and touch ground with your hand, run as fast as you can to the right cone (10 yds) and touch ground with your hand and finish running through the middle cone. That's one repetition. Walk for 30 seconds between sets. Do 8-10 intervals. This is a great interval cardio workout!

5. Add more plyometric exercises (jump training) to your workouts. Plyometric exercises are very intense and effective. Examples would be squat jumps, box jumps and lateral cone hops.


Power exercises recruit more muscle fibers (mainly fast-twitch fibers) more frequently which helps the fat-burning process. Recruiting your fast-twitch muscle fibers during your workouts will give you a more lean, toned looking body.

6. What about swimmers? How do they get so lean. They train fast and also do strength training.



With runners, they must train fast to become faster. Current research shows that the same is true for swimmers. Long swim training sessions actually inhibits fat-burning and power development.

Physiologist Dave Costill says:

“Most competitive swimming events last less than two minutes. How can training for three to four hours a day at speeds that are markedly slower than competitive pace prepare the swimmer for the maximal efforts of competition?”

To optimize strength and power, swimmers need to follow an exercise program out of the water that closely mimics their actions in the water. In other words, swimmers need to go workout in the gym too.

Research has proven that there is no speed advantage gained by swimmers continuing to do high-volume swim training (long practice sessions).

Strength training is critical for swimmers to maintain good posture and bone density.

7. Jump rope for at least 10 minutes every day (if your knees and back allow). A 20-minute interval jump roping session is one of the best fat-burners and body-sculptors available. The faster the better. Try it for cardio at least once a week.

8. Cardio blasts will....well, blast the fat. Between each weight training exercise set, do 30-45 seconds of jump rope, mountain climbers or squat jumps full speed. It's just that simple and that tough.


Rest 1 minute after doing a cardio blast before moving on to the next weight training exercise. Total workout time: 20-30 minutes.

9. Medicine ball exercise cardio. Tone up fast by doing full speed medicine ball exercises. This is a fun way to exercise and you can do these exercises anywhere. Medicine ball chops, throws, slams and squats are good exercises to use for a 20-30 minute workout. Rest 30 seconds to 1 minute between exercises.


10. Speed walking intervals. This is just like sprint interval cardio. Be sure and pump your arms fast also. This may be a better alternative for those with back and knee joint problems. You can control how fast you walk and make progress. Walk on land when possible to get better fat burning benefits.

--walk fast one minute
--walk slow 30 seconds
--walk fast one minute

Do this rotation for 20 minutes.

11. Dumbbell exercise cardio. A fun way to get strength/cardio benefits from your workouts. All it takes is---you got it, 20 to 30 minutes!

Use these cardio workouts this summer to burn fat and shape your body.

Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts. Start shaping your body faster!  There are 3 levels:  beginner, intermediate and advanced.  Start at your level.



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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.