Having a good cardio routine is essential. Weight lifting is important to gain strength, muscle and burn even more fat, but cardio cannot be lacking because it has many health benefits and is the perfect complement to achieve all the results you want through a complete workout. (Also Read: Stretching to remedy bad postures due to work from home)
What are we talking about when we talk about cardio? When you think of cardio, most people think of running, walking, swimming or cycling, boring exercises that do not motivate at all and do not have much variety, but it is time to change that.
There are many ways to do cardio to improve endurance, fitness, and even burn more calories with a single workout , and they have nothing to do with going around the block 20 times or hopping on a treadmill with a view of the wall. The point of cardio is to raise your heart rate, and there are better ways to do that than with the typical exercises you already know.
The best part about these exercises is that you can almost always do them without equipment (so it doesn’t matter that you don’t have access to a gym or that you don’t want to spend on a pair of dumbbells) and they are more effective if you give them a high intensity training approach. 30-40 seconds with 20-30 second breaks between each.
What can you do? There is an 8 movement circuit that was designed to keep your heart racing, which is what will turn your body into a machine that destroys fat and calories, similar to a HIIT routine that leaves you exhausted, sweating and almost without air even if it lasts only a few minutes.
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The 8-Step Cardio Routine:
Before starting, it is important that you do warm-up exercises (a few minutes is enough) and that you take care of the correct form of each of the movements to avoid injuries.
Exercise 1: 20 seconds of squat jumps / 20 seconds of plyometric lunges
How do you do it?
For squat jumps:
- Start in a squat position
- Go down to 90 degrees
- Explosively jump up
- Land lightly and squat before jumping again
For plyometric lunges:
- Spread your feet to shoulder height
- Lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the ground.
- Lower your back knee almost to the ground
- Explode with a jump as high as you can
Exercise 2: half burpee
How do you do it?
- Start with your feet shoulder-width apart
- Lower to plank position
- Put your feet in your hands and jump quickly to stand up again
Exercise 3: skaters
How do you do it?
- Begin by squatting on the left leg, bringing the opposite hand to the ground and the other stretched out behind the body.
- Jump off your planted foot with a lunge
- Repeat, jumping from side to side
Exercise 4: toe taps
How do you do it?
- Start in a crab position with your hands and feet flat on the floor
- Raise your left leg up
- Raise your right hand and reach out to touch the opposite toe.
- Lower and repeat with the left hand up to the toe of the right foot
Exercise 5: 20 seconds Prisoner Sprint / 20 seconds Mountain Climber
How do you do it?
- Start by sprinting in place for 20 seconds, with your hands behind your head. Then go straight to these mountain climbers.
For mountain climbers:
- Start in a high plank position
- Bring your knees, one after the other, towards your chest.
Exercise 6: broad jump
How do you do it?
- Stand on the edge of a mat (or on the floor), take a long jump forward. Maintain the soft landing and then return to your starting position.
- Repeat for 30 to 40 seconds.
Exercise 7: explosive jacks
How do you do it?
- Like a typical Jumping Jack, but you must make every move explosively.
- Begin standing with your arms at your sides.
- Jump open your legs and arms and quickly return to the starting position.
Exercise 8: lateral hops
How do you do it?
- You just have to make small jumps from one side to the other
- Complete as many as you can in 30 or 40 seconds
