Cardio Workouts That Aren't Just Running

For some guys, there's nothing better than a good long run. Jogging for hours can give you a chance to clear your head, get out of the house, and burn through calories — all great perks you won't get from sitting on the coach.

You know you can get all this from a run — but that doesn't mean you like running. For plenty of people, running is an exercise in monotony, even if it can burn serious calories. At a 10-minute-per-mile pace — roughly the average guy’s marathon pace — you’ll fry about 10 calories a minute, which isn't too shabby.

But running isn't the only way to fry calories, a blessing for anyone who doesn't like the slog of a mile. Plenty of other workouts can torch calories at a lightning-fast rate, too. “In general, you burn more calories by doing high-intensity weight training than you do running,” says Harold Gibbons, a trainer at Mark Fisher Fitness in New York City, and the New York State Director of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Not everyone realizes, this, though, which is why so many people assume that miles upon miles of running is the only effective way to fry fat. But once you know the truth, you can begin to adjust. And heck, even if you like running, you can begin to diversify your training, mixing up workouts to improve results in other places. Why sweat through a run every day when you can improve your agility and coordination in different ways with, say, boxing?

Or when you can build muscle while burning those calories, too? When researchers at the University of Southern Maine used an advanced method to estimate energy expenditure during exercise, they found that weight training burns up to 71 percent more calories than originally thought. Which suggests that a fast-paced circuit workout burns as many calories as running at a 6-minute per mile pace.

The bottom line: There are far more options in the cardio universe than mere running. Not sure what to do? Check out these 20 options.