I see a lot of people taking many breaks and chatting at the gym. I know when I go to the gym I want to make the most of my workout.
Today’s topic is about finding ways to incorporate cardio into your strength training sessions as a way to get more from your workouts and less “chat breaks”.
So let’s look at a traditional workout where you do one set of bicep curls for 12-15 reps and then take a break for 1 minute. Why not run on the spot or skip for that 1 minute? It will definitely help to increase the number of calories you burn during your workout as well as increase your heart rate.
Let’s look at another example… you are doing 3 sets of crunches on the ball… when you have finished your first set you can get up and do 1 minute of jumping jacks before you do your second set of crunches. This will increase the efficiency of your workout because you will burn more calories, sweat more and have to do it in less time.
I strongly feel that 3 times a week for 40-50 minutes can give you great results, but you need to be efficient. Here is a list of what I like to call cardio bursts. Use them the next time you want to increase your workout intensity instead of wasting time taking breaks.
Without Equipment:
-Jumping jacks
-Fast feet (running on the spot)
-Skipping rope
-Speed skater -jumping back and forth
-Speed skater with a tap
-Lunge jumps (you can do 30 seconds on one leg and then switch)
-Alternating lunge jumps
-Jump squats
-Kickbacks- kick your heels back to your butt
-High knees
Using Equipment:
-Running on the treadmill
-Biking
-Elliptical
-Rowing machine
-Speed skater on the bosu
Have a great workout.
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