Quantity Doesn’t Necessarily Add-Up
We often convince ourselves that the pain of a long endured workout session could be the only possible measure of dedication. Dedication isn’t a metric of endurance. Dedication is the long term understanding of education. Education includes all the nuances a person applies over time with thoughtful, engaged, and measured progress. We learn and our bodies change over time. This true insofar as we get in better condition and better able to cope with greater variety and more intense routines. We learn to adjust. We adjust our diets. We adjust for age.
Why Not Adjust For Efficiency With These Tight Workouts?
Walk into any gym and you’ll see people doing mindless cardio. Mindless cardio is better than nothing because all movement is good movement. However, if you lack the time for long, leisurely strolls and you want results from your cardio, then it’s time for an upgrade.
The following cardiovascular routines will have you in and out of the gym in no time, so you have time to do something that is okay to do mindless, like watching reality TV.
1. 10/10/10 minutes
You’re going to spend 10 minutes on the bike at a pace where you’re slightly out of breath. Then switch to the treadmill for 10 minutes (use the incline function for intensity), keeping the speed at around 3-3.5 mph. Then switch to the rowing machine for 10 minutes working at a slightly out of breath pace. Breaking up your cardio by switching machines will help keep you engaged and off your phone.
2. Three minute aerobic intervals (on your machine of choice)
Warm up for four minutes at an easy pace and then perform a three minute aerobic interval working at harder (adjust your incline, speed or effort) than your usual pace while feeling slightly uncomfortable. Follow this with three minutes of low intensity work and repeat this sequence three times. After the last interval, cool down for 3 minutes.
3. High intensity intervals (on your machine of choice)
Warm up for four minutes at an easy pace and then go as hard as you can for 30 seconds. Follow this with a recovery interval at slow pace for 90 seconds. Repeat 30/90 second intervals three- four times for a total of four- five intervals. Then cool down for 5 min and give yourself a pat on the back.
After you perform these routines the scale may become your friend instead of lying to you. Trust me, I’m a trainer.
