There are a lot of ways to get in your cardio. And. . . there are a lot of ways to completely waste your time doing cardio. Sadly, most women waste most of their workout time doing the WRONG kind of cardio. The wrong kind of cardio is anything that involves doing a repetitive motion over and over at a medium intensity for 20-60+ minutes. That means running, cycling, ellipticalling (I think I just made that word up?), walking, swimming, skating, dancing, etc at a moderate pace for an extended amount of time.
I suppose I should clarify. The cardio mentioned above is the WRONG kind of cardio if you want to BURN FAT, GET LEAN, or LOSE WEIGHT. I suppose if you don’t want any of these things and you just enjoy your ellipticalling, you may be meeting your goal of going insane spending hours and hours on a machine that is not changing your body one iota. I know, that’s harsh. That’s how much I hate ellipticalling (although, I’m enjoying that new word.)
Hey, I’ve been there too. I spent years doing ridiculously long cardio sessions – more than 2 hours a day on a pretty regular basis. Throughout that all I really struggled with keeping my body fat down. In fact, when I trained for a marathon I gained weight AND gained 2% MORE body fat. Soooooo frustrating after logging all those hours and miles.
Now I never do more than 30 minutes of cardio and it never involves staying at the same intensity the whole time (unless I go for a run with a friend – then we’ll keep the same pace as we chat – a challenging pace, though. I do this once a week or less.) The rest of the week I do the BEST kind of cardio. If I’m going to sweat, I want it to be in the most effective way possible. I’m certainly not going to waste my time with it otherwise.
The BEST kind of cardio spikes your heart rate (and therefore your metabolism) throughout the workout. So you have some intense “push” phases, followed by more mellow recovery phases. This can be done a million different ways. I like to do it with exercises that involve strength. Then I’m building some lean muscle mass AND getting my cardio in at the same time.
YES, it is entirely possible to combine your cardio and strength workouts. And if you’re a busy mom, like ummmm, all of you, I would suggest it’s silly to exercise any other way! There is no need to spend 30-40 minutes lifting weights and then go get on the elliptical for an additional 30-40 minute cardio session. That is not a wise use of your time. AT ALL. Nor will it give you superior results to the workout in the video above that only takes 30 minutes from start to finish, incorporates every major muscle group in your body AND seriously stimulates your metabolism.
NOTE: these kinds of workouts are also known to be the best for burning belly fat!
Workout:
1. Warm up – walk or light jog x 5:00
2. Hill or Stair Repeats (could also be done on a treadmill incline)
Run up for :30-:60, depending on length of hill/stairs
Walk or lightly jog down
Repeat for about 20 minutes
3. Push Ups/Jump Pullups
Set of 6/Rest x :15
Set of 5/Rest x :15
Set of 4/Rest x :15
Set of 3/Rest x :15
Set of 2/Rest x :15
Set of 1/Rest x :15
4. Ball Plank Step Offs x 10
Ball Plank Tucks x 6
1 Arm Row Right Arm x 10-12
1 Arm Row Left Arm x 10-12
Repeat x 3 rounds
5. Cool Down Stretch
You will be a sweaty mess at the end of this workout. You should feel like you got an hours worth of sweat into 30 minutes. Keeping the intensity up, with brief periods of incomplete rest (rest that does not leave you feeling totally refreshed) will help you burn more fat during your workout and for the 24-48 hours after your workout. These kind of workouts are excellent for burning belly fat and losing your after baby belly – clearly, the prefect kind of workouts for busy moms looking to lose fat and get lean.
Be sure to click “Like” if you are going to try this workout this week! That will help me know that you want me to create more awesome fat burning workouts for you in the near future.
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