Cardio… most of us have a love-hate relationship with it. Some days we feel like sprinting our hearts out on the treadmill, while other days walking seems like a drag.
There are so many forms of effective cardio that benefit different muscle groups in the body. Cardio improves overall physical and mental health, specifically benefiting:
- Fat and weight loss
- Heart strength
- Lung capacity
- Reduces the risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some cancers
- Releases endorphins to make you feel good
- Temporary relief from depression and anxiety
- Reduces stress
- Helps with sleep
- Improves your sex life
- Confidence
- Increases bone density
I’m sharing a few of my favorite forms with an example workout for each in this post. Whether you are looking for a HIIT sprint workout or a low impact row, I’ve got you covered!
Running
I will admit, my favorite form of cardio is running. When I’m doing a HIIT run on the treadmill or the outdoor track, I feel like I’m pushing myself to full exertion. What I love about running the most is that almost everyone can do it and take it at their own pace and intensity to challenge themselves.
A run can benefit both your body and mind, offering improved cardiovascular health and mental clarity. Running outside in the sun provides vitamin D and offers a calmer state of mind. Sign me up!
Treadmill Workout:
5:00 warm up jog
:30 4% incline
:30 6% incline
:30 8% incline
:30 10% incline
1:00 recover (walk or jog)
:30 push pace 1.5
:30 push pace another 1
:30 push pace another 1
1:00 recover (walk or jog)
:30 10% incline
:30 8% incline
:30 6% incline
:30 4% incline
1:00 recover (walk or jog)
:30 push pace 1.5
:30 push pace another 1
:30 push pace another 1
1:00 recover (walk or jog)
1:00 sprint
Stair Master
If you want to sweat, step up onto the stair master.
Remember those times you’ve been walking up a flight of stairs only to get to the top out of breath and panting. Yup, that’s what you can expect from this form of cardio.
This gives you a cardio workout PLUS it help you tighten up your booty and legs, a perfect combo. It’s a good warm-up for leg day to help get the blood flowing and loosen up your lower body muscles.
Stair Master Workout:
5:00 warm up (level 7-9)
5:00 side walking right
5:00 side walking left
10:00 of :30 push (level 10-14) and :30 (level 7-9)
1:00 cool down (level 2-5)
Rower
The cardio option with the least amount of impact is the rower machine. You are engaging in aerobic exercise without forcing pressure or bouncing on your legs. Not to mention you’ll be gaining killer back muscles along the way.
You can use the rower machine as normal, or put it to the test for leg and ab workouts. Try holding a plank position on the ground with your feet on the rower seat, pulling your legs in or piking up to feel the burn in your core. Or put one foot on the ground, one foot on the rower seat and start to push back into a lunge. This piece of equipment is so versatile.
Rower Workout:
2:00 warm up
200m push
20 plank to pike
:30 rest
300m push
20 reverse lunges each side
:30 rest
400m push
20 plank knee pulls
:30 rest
500m push
20 side lunges each side
:30 rest
1:00 cool down
Cycling
A bike ride in the outdoors is a great way take in the fresh air and get your body moving. When that’s not an option, an indoor cycle is the next best thing. On days when I get to the gym and I don’t quite feel like running, I hop on the spin bike and start to work up a sweat.
Cycling is a low impact form of cardio, great for those of you with knee problems.
Cycling endurance workout:
.5 mile level 5
.5 mile level 7
.5 mile level 9
.5 mile level 11
.5 mile level 13
.5 mile level 11
.5 mile level 9
.5 mile level 7
.5 mile level 5
Cool down
Cycling sprint workout:
1 mile warm up
.5 mile standing, heavy resistance
.5 mile seated
.5 mile standing, heavy resistance
.5 mile seated
.5 mile standing, heavy resistance
.5 mile seated
.5 mile sprint
.5 cool down
Elliptical
The elliptical is great for a mindless cardio workout. Whenever I just want to get my body moving but I’m not feeling highly motivated, I’ll hop on the elliptical, up the incline and resistance and get moving.
When I injured my hip last January, I used to go walk on the treadmill and use the elliptical while I read or watching TV. This form of cardio is low impact and reduces the risk of injury.
This is not to undermine the elliptical. You can definitely get an amazing workout done on it!
Elliptical HIIT workout
2:00 warm up
1:00 resistance 7 incline 7%
1:00 resistance 10 incline 10%
1:00 resistance 7 incline 7%
1:00 resistance 12 incline 12%
1:00 resistance 7 incline 7%
1:00 resistance 15 incline 15%
1:00 resistance 7 incline 7%
1:00 resistance 15 incline 15%
1:00 resistance 7 incline 7%
1:00 resistance 12 incline 12%
1:00 resistance 7 incline 7%
1:00 resistance 10 incline 10%
1:00 reistance 8 incline 10% sprint
Cool down
Indoor Ski
A few months ago, my gym got a ski machine on the weight floor and I was so excited to start incorporating it into my upper body days. I love to do tabata workouts on this piece of cardio equipment to engage my core, back and biceps. Sprinkling a ski workout in between lifts helps to keep your heart rate up and burn more calories along the way.
Ski workout:
1:00 warm up
5:00 of :20 push and :10 rest
1:00 cool down
Sled
The ultimate exercise to add to your leg or full body day is the sled. Plop as much weight on top of it as you can and get pushing. Push the sled from one side of the gym floor to the other, doing it a few times through. You’ll want to rest in between.
This is an amazing workout finisher. Load up the weight and do one full push to and from one end of the floor before leaving the gym.
No Equipment Cardio
Whether you are working out at home or looking for cardio bursts between lifts at the gym, try these exercises out.
During my strength training workouts, I like to sprinkle in cardio exercises to keep my heart rate up and burn extra calories. These make great supersets, too!
- Burpees, adding one of the following to increase the intensity:
- Push up
- Push press
- Tricep press
- Tuck jump
- Bicep curl
- Jumping jack
- Jump squats
- Squat jacks
- Jump rope
- Jumping jacks
- Quick feet/shuffles
- Suicide drills
- High knees
- Butt kicks
Cardio, no matter which form, has so many amazing health benefits and should be incorporated into every workout routine. Give these workouts a try and tag @breathesweateat on Instagram afterwards!