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There are many benefits to a great cardio workout. You’ll burn calories and lose weight, tone your muscles for a sleeker look, and feel better thanks to the reduction in stress and the release of endorphins. But one of the biggest benefits of cardiovascular exercise is that it improves your cardiovascular (or circulatory) system. This includes your heart, major arteries, and veins.
Since your circulatory system is responsible for transporting oxygen throughout your body to keep you alive, it’s important that you take care of it if you want to live a longer, healthier life.
The best Cardio workout routines
To get the most benefits, your cardio exercises really have to get your heart pumping. Here are some of the best cardio moves you can incorporate into your exercise routine. They’re the best because they’re suitable for all skill levels, you can do most of them anywhere, and most don’t require any equipment.
1. Jump rope
Humble person skipping It seems like an extremely basic piece of exercise equipment, but it can help you tone and strengthen your muscles, increase your endurance, and get your heart rate up. Best of all, a jump rope can be affordable and easy to store in a purse, briefcase, or backpack for immediate use.
When you’re jumping rope, you give your arms, legs, and abs an effective but low-impact exercise. If you haven’t done cardio in a while, you may find that you get tired very easily. That’s okay – go at a pace that works for you and take breaks if needed. The more time you spend on jumping rope – or any exercise, the more endurance you will build.
How to jump rope
- Grasp the jump rope handles, one in each hand.
- Bring your hands up to hip level, but keep your shoulders relaxed.
- Bring your elbows closer to your torso, while pushing your hands outward.
- Slightly bend your knees to prepare for your first jump, while contracting your abs.
- Only rotate your wrist to get the rope moving. When the jump rope comes close to your feet, jump over it. Jump only as high as necessary to clear the rope so as not to put unnecessary pressure on your joints.
- Continue to rotate your wrists to pass the jump rope over your head and feet in a rhythmic, continuous manner.
- Continue jumping rope for at least 15 minutes.
If you find the traditional jump rope boring or not challenging enough, you can jump your feet first into these variations.
- Jump with only your left foot. After 20 reps or when your left foot is flat, switch to your right foot for the same number of reps and then switch again when your right foot is flat.
- Use your alternate foot for each jump. Start with the left foot for the first jump, then switch to the right foot for the second. Switch back to left foot for third jump, right foot for fourth jump, etc.
- Try jumping with your knees high to get your calves and thighs working. With each jump, take to the air, bringing your knees up.
2. Jumper jack
Jumping rope is another basic type of cardio exercise that gets your whole body moving. It’s an effective way to train your heart, lungs, and major muscle groups without over-stressing.
Best of all, you can control the intensity of your cardio by varying the speed of your movement. If you are a beginner, don’t push yourself too hard; you will soon start moving faster.
How to jump jack
- Stand up straight with your legs and arms at your side.
- Jump lightly, spreading your legs out too much hip-width apart and raising your arms overhead. You won’t bend your knees, but you will slightly bend your elbows.
- Jump again, bringing your legs together and arms to the sides to return to the starting position. You have completed a jack jump.
- Beginners should complete at least 10 jump ropes. As you build up your endurance, continue your cardio for about 20 minutes.
3. Jumping Squats
As you gain endurance and increase your flexibility, you can move on to more challenging cardio exercises to challenge your body even more. An intermediate exercise that focuses on the abs and lower body is the squat jump.
You may already be in a squat, where you lower your body by bending your knees and then standing up straight. Squats take things a step further to increase your engagement.
How to do squat jump
- Stand up straight with your feet wide apart.
- Bend your knees to lower your body toward the ground. Keeping your back straight, continue to bend your knees until your buttocks are slightly lower than your knees.
- While completing the crouch, extend your arms in front of you to help with balance.
- Once you’ve reached the bottom of your knees, push yourself up in a jump, extending your arms back to help build upward momentum.
- When your feet hit the ground, immediately bend your knees to return to the squat position, starting the next rep.
4. Game
Staying in a solid plank position may seem easy, but once you get started, you’ll quickly notice that it takes quite a bit of strength, balance, and endurance to maintain the pose. The longer you hold the pose, the faster you’ll notice your heart beating.
How to practice plank
- To get into the plank position, you must first support your hands and knees.
- Place your hands flat on the ground and straighten your arms to support your upper body. Make sure your arms are directly below your shoulders.
- Extend your legs back until they’re straight, with feet shoulder-width apart, then lift with your toes.
- Keep your neck, back, hips, and legs in a straight line. Do not extend your arms further forward, raise your hips or lower your back to reduce the intensity of the exercise; Doing so may result in injury.
- Hold the position for as long as possible. Beginners should try for at least 30 seconds, while those looking for a killer cardio workout should try to hold the pose for as long as possible.
Plank can be a serious cardio workout, but if you find the high plank pose too difficult to hold, you can try several variations until you gain more strength.
- Instead of straightening your arms to lift your upper body, lower with your forearms. This will give your arms less strain and allow you to hold the pose longer.
- If the exercise is still too difficult, you can also reduce the pressure on your lower body by bending your knees.
- Regardless of which variation you try, make sure to maintain a straight line throughout your body to keep your abs and other muscles active.
5. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT is not a single exercise, but a series of cardiovascular exercises performed at a very high intensity over a short period of time to get your heart rate up. Researchers have found that HIIT offers many of the same benefits as longer exercise routines — like weight loss, improved heart health, and increased endurance — but in a much shorter amount of time. .
Another huge benefit of HIIT is that it allows you to develop your own cardio. You can combine exercises that you like best because they are not too difficult or vice versa. And because you’re completing cardio in short, intense blocks, there’s not enough time to get bored.
How to do HIIT
- Choose a cardio exercise, like push-ups, jumping rope, or plank.
- Perform the selected exercise as quickly as possible for 20 seconds. The idea is to train at the highest possible intensity for the duration of the rep.
- After 20 seconds, stop the exercise and rest for 40 seconds.
- At the end of the 40-second break, restart the same exercise or choose a different exercise.
- Repeat 20-second reps, then take a 40-second break for up to 20 minutes.
Because of the amount of HIIT workouts performed at such a high intensity, you can choose almost any cardio you want for your routine. Some popular choices include:
- Crunches
- Jumping jack
- Game
- Promote
- Sit on
- Sprint
- Squats
To avoid injury and strain on your body, be sure to warm up at least 10 minutes before starting your HIIT workout.
Tips to stay active
When you’re busy with work, taking care of the kids, taking care of the house, and maintaining a social life, you can find it difficult to include a great cardio workout in your schedule.
Many people believe that for exercise to be important, it must be done in one session. But as HIIT has shown us, even short bursts of exercise can be extremely beneficial.
If you’re having a hard time getting exercise into your daily schedule, follow these tips to get exercise throughout the day.
- Park your car away from grocery stores, restaurants, and other places you visit. Parking at the back of the car park will make it a bit walkable.
- Get off the couch during a commercial break while you’re watching TV. Use three- to four-minute intervals to jog in place, do push-ups, drop into a plank position, or engage in some other cardiovascular exercise to get the blood pumping.
- Move faster when completing household chores. Treat vacuuming, laundry, and dishwashing as if they were part of a competition. The faster you move, the harder your heart will pump.
- Have one fitness tracker to help stay motivated. When you can see how many steps you’ve taken or your activity level, you’ll have a basis for being able to do better the next day.
- Use music so you don’t get bored. Whether you’re cooking, folding laundry, watching a baseball game or watching the kids, put on some music that will encourage you to get moving. You don’t have to dance all the way, just wiggling your hips or moving your arms will help you burn a few extra calories.
End
If you want to improve your cardiovascular system and get your heart right, you must give it the exercise it needs to stay strong and healthy. The best cardio exercises are obviously the ones that get your blood pumping. But they only work if you actually do them. The workout ideas we’ve outlined above are simple enough that anyone can try them, regardless of your age, fitness level, or schedule. Start slow, and it won’t be long before you find yourself pushing yourself harder and harder.
Want to cut back on your exercise routine? We can help you build a workout plan in just 10 minutes.
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