Is your cardio routine no longer as effective as it used to be? Would you like to increase the results of your heart-pumping workouts, but aren’t sure how? Here are three options you may want to consider:
Increase Your Intensity
If your treadmill, elliptical, or other cardiovascular routine isn’t giving you the results that you want, one way to boost your body’s response is to increase the intensity of your workouts. This means going up a level on the machine or moving at a faster rate.
You can also increase your intensity by adding some weights into the mix. For instance, if you spend a majority of time on the treadmill, you may want to start holding one pound weights in your hands to make your body work that much harder.
Increase Your Duration
Your second option for boosting your cardio results is to increase the duration of your exercise sessions. Obviously, the longer you work out, the more calories you burn. This gets you in better shape and helps you lose weight faster.
Increase your time increments by five minutes per week until you start to notice results again. Or, take your 30-minute workouts and change them to 45 or 60 minute regimens. Every little bit counts.
Do Intervals
The third way to get better results from your cardio routine is to do interval training. This is when you alternate light or medium intensities with hard intensities during the entire course of your workout. With intervals, you can have shorter training sessions but get greater results. Here is what an interval workout may look like:
- 5 minute warm-up, light intensity
- 2 minutes cardio, medium intensity
- 30 seconds cardio, high intensity
- 2 minutes cardio, light to medium intensity
- 30 seconds cardio, high intensity
- Alternate last two segments 2 more times
- 5 minutes cool-down, light intensity
What do you do to boost your cardio results?
