A good cardio workout plan is to strengthen your heart as the most important muscle in your body. The more efficiently it pumps, the fewer times per minute, the better you will feel, the whole day through. The purpose of cardio workouts is to elevate your heart rate, keeping it between 150 and 180 beats per minute. The longer you keep your heart in that ratio, the stronger you will become. And keeping it in that range is a challenge that takes precise movements and timing of your exercise.
Cardio warmup
Begin with a short five-minute jog at 4 to 5mph on the treadmill (or elliptical if you need low-impact) to warm your muscles and encourage the heart to speedup.- 10-20 lunges per leg to engage the quads and hamstrings
- 25 jumping jacks to get your arms engaged and keep your heart-rate up
Building your core cardio routine
Obviously the speeds that you can run/bike/climb, etc at will change as you get in better shape, so it may be better to think of your cardio workout routine in terms of percentage efforts. Think of 100% effort on the verge of collapse and 0% as no effort at all.
Cardio interval routines
“1 minute up, 2 minutes down” is a common interval training pattern that can be used for any type of activity where you can control your speed, such as on the treadmill or bike machine. Work at 80% effort during the “up” periods and 50% effort during the “down periods”, and cycle through at least five times, and up to 10.
Below are some example speeds and workout plans, but they will vary from person to person.
Treadmill: 6mph “up”, 3.5 mph “down”, 6 reps- Bike: 10 mph up, 6mph down, 8 reps
- Stair machine: 100 steps per minute up, 60 steps per minute down, 5 reps
Cardio endurance routines
Sprinting is a good method to get a thorough workout pretty quickly, but you should also think in slightly longer terms to strengthen your heart, which is just another muscle, even more.
20-30 minutes is a good goal to set for these endurance activities in the beginning. As you get stronger, you may want to aim for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Try activities that will get your heart rate up but will not completely exhaust you within only a few minutes.
- Swimming: 30 minutes breast strokes in a lap lane
- Hiking: 1-3 mile intermediate hike
- Kickboxing or martial arts: 30 minutes
- Dancing: 30 minutes fast-paced dancing, or 45 minutes medium paced.
Cardio and strength exercises
At least once a week, you should work in at least 2 strength training exercises during your cardio routines to help add overall strength to your body. Here are some strength-building exercises.
Pushups
If you find that even one pushup is too hard, try starting from your knees. Most people can do them from a shorter position. Start with as few as 5, and work your way up to 20.
Abdominal crunches
Be sure to get your abdominal muscles to bear the effort, not your neck or back. Placing one hand on your abs can help your body workout the right muscles. Start with 10-15 crunches and work your way up to 50.
Pull-ups
Use both underhanded and overhanded grips to give your entire arm a thorough workout. Most gyms have pull-up machines that will help support a portion of your body weight. Use the minimum amount of resistance help you need to full get your chin over the bar. Start out with 5-10 each of both types of grips, and slowly lower the “help” you get from the machine until you can folly support your own weight.
Rowing machine
The rowing machine will workout pretty much every muscle in your upper body, including your arms, and it can also be a cardio workout because it gets your body moving so much. Set the weight resistance to keep your working at about 70% capacity for 3-5 minutes.
Cardio routine tips
Mix your routine up, both to keep from getting bored and to avoid letting your muscles get accustomed to one specific type of workout and thus not working as hard. Muscle confusion will yield the best weight loss and will teach the heart to perform better in more circumstances.Th
Find a way to get excited about your cardio workouts. This may be finding a high-energy activity you enjoy, such as a hip-hop or kickboxing class, downloading fun, fast music that you only listen to when you’re working out, or finding a gym or workout video you really like.
