Cardio – Blast Through Your Cardio Funk
by Mary Renaud
Filed under Fitness Plans & Programs, Workout Routines
Are you getting bored with your cardio workouts? When you’ve been doing cardio exercises for a while, it’s easy to slip into a pattern of doing the same exercises in the same ways, day in and day out. That can lead to boredom and to your body getting used to the routine so that you stop seeing as many benefits as you had been when you first started.
Vary Cardio Workout Intensity
Change up your intensity throughout your workout week, and throughout each of your individual workouts, and you can tap into the different benefits of each of the different levels of exertion.
When you first start working through a cardio routine, working out at a moderate pace for thirty to sixty minutes, three to five times a week, helps you construct the foundation of good cardio fitness. To achieve the right level of intensity, workout just hard enough so that you can still hold a conversation with a little effort.
If you have just begun your cardio workout, you may want to stick to this for a few weeks while constructing this base on which to build further levels of intensity.
Add Interval Training to Crank Up the Fat Burning!
Spinning Classes Will Have Your Muscles Screaming For Mercy as the Fat is Blasted From Your Body
Spinning Classes Will Have Your Muscles Screaming For Mercy as the Fat is Blasted From Your Body
After a few weeks, it can be good to add some intervals to your training plan as they can challenge your body and revitalize your workout. Start your workout at your moderate pace for five to ten minutes. Then, alternate between that intensity (for about four minutes at a time) and an intensity that would make conversation require quite a bit of effort (for about two minutes at a time).
For the last five minutes of your workout, slow to a pace where you can carry on a conversation with almost no effort at all to allow your body to cool down. This type of workout allows you to burn extra calories and helps to get your cardiovascular system used to a higher level of intensity.
After a few weeks you will notice that it takes much more movement to get your body to a point where you are having trouble holding a conversation. Do this interval workout about twice a week and your continuous moderate pace workout two to three times a week.
An alternative to doing it on your own is to join a class such as a ‘Spinning’ class. Spinning is an exercise bike based workout, based around intervals, which will have your muscles screaming for mercy as the fat is blasted from your body!
Crank It Up With HIIT
If, after four to six weeks of intervals, you start to feel like you may be hitting a plateau again or you are beginning to feel that boredom and want to challenge yourself a little more, you can turn it up another notch. Swap one of your interval sessions for a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session.
As with the previous interval workout, begin at a moderate pace for five to ten minutes. Then, alternate between 30 seconds of high intensity training at a pace at which you could just barely still hold a conversation, and 90 seconds of your moderate pace.
Once again, cool down with a final five minutes of a moderate to low intensity. This level of intensity in shorter bursts will actually help your body begin to sustain higher intensity intervals over longer periods because you will be reducing the size of the rests you get between your bursts and, overall, you will be spending more time at a higher intensity throughout your workout.
Have you hit a plateau? Are you bored with your cardio workout? Don’t throw in the towel just yet. Vary your intensity and you can rev your cardio routine back up and break through that funk.
When you’ve been doing cardio exercises for a while, it’s easy to slip into a pattern of doing the same exercises in the same ways, day in and day out. That can lead to boredom and to your body getting used to the routine so that you stop seeing as many benefits as you had been when you first started. Change up your intensity throughout your workout week, and throughout each of your individual workouts, and you can tap into the different benefits of each of the different levels of exertion.
When you first start working through a cardio routine, working out at a moderate pace for thirty to sixty minutes, three to five times a week, helps you construct the foundation of good cardio fitness. To achieve the right level of intensity, workout just hard enough so that you can still hold a conversation with a little effort. If you have just begun your cardio workout, you may want to stick to this for a few weeks while constructing this base on which to build further levels of intensity.
After a few weeks, it can be good to add some intervals to your training plan as they can challenge your body and revitalize your workout. Start your workout at your moderate pace for five to ten minutes. Then, alternate between that intensity (for about four minutes at a time) and an intensity that would make conversation require quite a bit of effort (for about two minutes at a time). For the last five minutes of your workout, slow to a pace where you can carry on a conversation with almost no effort at all to allow your body to cool down. This type of workout allows you to burn extra calories and helps to get your cardiovascular system used to a higher level of intensity. After a few weeks you will notice that it takes much more movement to get your body to a point where you are having trouble holding a conversation. Do this interval workout about twice a week and your continuous moderate pace workout two to three times a week.
If, after four to six weeks of intervals, you start to feel like you may be hitting a plateau again or you are beginning to feel that boredom and want to challenge yourself a little more, you can turn it up another notch. Swap one of your interval sessions for a higher-intensity interval session. As with the previous interval workout, begin at a moderate pace for five to ten minutes. Then, alternate between 30 seconds of high intensity training at a pace at which you could just barely still hold a conversation, and 90 seconds of your moderate pace. Once again, cool down with a final five minutes of a moderate to low intensity. This level of intensity in shorter bursts will actually help your body begin to sustain higher intensity intervals over longer periods because you will be reducing the size of the rests you get between your bursts and, overall, you will be spending more time at a higher intensity throughout your workout.
Have you hit a plateau? Are you bored with your cardio workout? Don’t throw in the towel just yet. Vary your intensity and you can rev your cardio routine back up and break through that funk.
