MondayCardio: For the Love of Cardio

Oh cardio, how I do love thee. Yeah right! Let’s be honest, cardio can be long, boring and monotonous at times. Sure, sometimes it’s great to get out and run to relieve some stress. But for the most part, if you’re doing cardio 4-5 days a week, you’ve got to get creative or it’s not something you’ll want to keep up with!

So here are a few effective ways we can spice up our workouts, and still get the most out of them. This tip is coming from an article in Experience Life.

It's pretty simple but this is how it goes: 2 low-intensity days, 2 moderate-intensity days, and 2 interval days. Let me elaborate.

Low-Intensity Days: Elliptical or treadmill for 45-60 minutes and don't break more than a sweat.

Moderate-Intensity Days: Work at moderately high intensity the whole time for 1 hour.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): You shouldn't go longer than 20 minutes. Do 1 minute intense (aka sprint) and 1 minute low intense, and keep that up for 20 minutes. I love these workouts because they are quick, yet they are so effective!

If you want to find your own heart rate max or where to gage yourself from, take 220- your age. It's not completely accurate but it's ok for now :) Then take 90% of your HR max, 80% and 65-70% which are your high intensity, moderate and low intensity heart rates, respectively.

Mine, for example is: 220-23= 197.
My High Intensity heart rate is 197 x .9 = 177.
My Moderate intensity HR is: 197 x .7 = 137 etc...

So let’s try it this week.

Monday, today, we’ll do a Low-Intensity workout for 45-60 minutes.
Wednesday, we’ll do a HIIT workout.
Friday, let's do the moderate intensity run.

Beginners: Start with 30 minutes this week for the long run.
Intermediate: You can start with 35-40 minutes for the long run.
Advanced: Run at 45-60 minutes.

If you are just starting out, then don’t push yourself to your absolute max on the sprint. Get through the full 20-30 minutes and then by next week you’ll have a better idea of how far you can push yourself on the sprints.

As always, let me know how it goes!