Does 20-30 minutes of cardio really work?

I only do cardio twice a week (more in the summer) and usually for 20-25 minutes at a time. If you are working out for that short period of time you just have to increase the intensity.

The way I see it, better than 0 minutes!

Yep, but don't forget that strength training is just as important!

You need at least 18 mins to "turn on" the fat buring in you body. At my age I need all the metabolism boosts I can get. The cardio is also a great stress buster too. I combine with strength training to build muscle which also burns fat

Any activity is good, especially if you had not previously been active. I used to lead a very sedentary life (couch potato), so I set my MFP profile for 30 minutes of exercise 3 times per week. I try to do more, but not always able to. But yes, I do see a difference.

My doctor and I discussed that women don't benefit from cardio in terms of weight loss nearly as much as men (probably due to their increased muscle percentage and some hormonal differences that lead to it impacting their metabolism more than women, etc) - however there are lots of benefits to doing cardio anyway regardless of whether you are male or female. cardio does burn calories (which helps with weight loss no matter what). cardio suppresses appetite. cardio means you are improving your cardiac health and blood pressure and regulating your blood sugar better (which means your body will less likely choose to store excess energy as fat). cardio also will release endorphins that help mood, which is nice when you're crabby because you're on a diet

20-30 minutes of cardio typically means you will still just be using your glucose and not be burning fat directly (that takes longer and will only begin once you've depleted your easy-access sugar stores) but I still think it has serious health value and is soooooooo much better than not doing anything.

If you really only have 20-30 minutes to work out, and weight loss is your number 1 goal, you may want to consider doing an intense strength training session instead. The calorie burn is technically less, but it revs the metabolism and the increased muscle mass will improve metabolism in the long term.

You need at least 18 mins to "turn on" the fat buring in you body. At my age I need all the metabolism boosts I can get. The cardio is also a great stress buster too. I combine with strength training to build muscle which also burns fat

A common myth, but not actually true.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/busting-the-great-myths-of-fat-burning.html

Edit: so to answer your question - yes you absolutely can.

I do 30 minutes most days and have had success.

Charmagne

Ok, all bias aside, it is indisputable that 20-30 minutes of cardio a day is essential to healthy living. Weather it's to lose weight or to just be healthier over-all. Your cardiovascular system is the core of your body's functionality and essentially 'keeps fuel on the fire' that is the powerplant of your body. It has been proven that 20 minutes of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is more effective at teaching your body to burn off the caloric values of macro-nutrients than a regular long-interval low intensity workout. To put it in a primal light, your body functions on a fight or flight mechanism, both concepts involve high-intensity exercise. When you physically trigger this mechanism your body goes into a catabolic state, burning off energy courses(fat, carbs, protein) in order to survive. The bottom line - if you don't keep your cardiovascular system in an exercised state your body will revert to an anabolic state which burns less energy.

My experience: Active Duty Military, Special Operations, 3 marathons, 12 obstacle races.

Intro: Hi my name is Vanessa , I used to weigh 130lb back when I was in high school... I had a baby at 23 and throught the yrs went up to 156lb, I began running and avoided the food I would eat on daily basis, like fast food, soda, sweets, bread. Currently just drinking water eating oatmeal , cereal, fruit, banana, salads, yogurt. And I dropped to 144lb I rally wanna go down weight a bit more at least to 140lb and tone my body, I have seen a change in my body and how I feel physically and mentally... I'm able to move quicker at work and bend easier, I have problem w my left knee due to a bone spur but loosing the weight has helped with treating the pain I used to feel. But I still have my cheating days where I eat what I want and then jump back into the routine. I have noticed how fast my weight goes up if I eat the wrong things but I loose weight once I stop eating them... All I do is cardio at least everyday and squads... I've seen a big change

bump

Here are some things to consider:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/#axzz35l49pJEi

If it doesn't, then I must have been exercising in my sleep.

by the way, you don't exercise to lose weight, you eat right to lose weight, you exercise to become healthy and maintain your lean tissue mass. If your focus is losing weight, make sure you understand, you could exercise all day, but if you eat crap, and eat to much of it, you'll still gain fat.

This has been my experience!!!

Lots of good info from everyone...but as has already been said by a few people, consider adding 30 min of weight training. That way your muscles will continue to burn calories after when you're at rest. Your quads are the big muscles that will burn the most. Weight training, HIIT, CrossFit are all programs to look at

High intensity interval training is great for shorter workouts - I'm a fan of it..

To answer your question, yes. 20-30 minutes is good and much better than nothing but ^^^THIS is def what I would say.