Your cardio routine is one of the most important parts of your training process. First of all, it determines your endurance but it also benefits your body as a whole. While running, your entire body is working, which is just one of the reasons why runners are so slim and toned. It’s also incredibly beneficial for your health and is known to boost your cognitive functions. The biggest problem with cardio, however, is the fact that it’s repetitive and even seen as boring by a lot of people. In order to overcome this obstacle, you might want to spice up your cardio routine a bit. Here are several tips to help you do so.
Try skip rope
Skipping rope is one of the most important exercises in building endurance. For this reason, it’s essential in all sports where endurance is paramount (like combat sports, etc.). Keep in mind that you can get a decent skip rope for as little as $2 and start working out today. Another thing you need to understand is the fact that this practice is time-saving. What this means is that skipping rope for about 5 minutes is equivalent to running a 12-minute mile. Even without this, it’s a full-body exercise, that will strengthen your legs, your core and, if you use a weighted skip rope, you even stand to strengthen your arms and shoulders. Lastly, there are so many different routines and exercises that you can try out.
Consider making your own gym
One of the things that people often find problematic with running is the fact that it requires you to either run outside or on a treadmill. This also means that coming up with excuses is incredibly easy. You see, going to a gym takes time and you might be exhausted from work, as for running outside, it could be cold, raining, or something else entirely that will hold you back. To solve this problem, all you have to do is make your own home gym. For starters, you could go with a frugal option of getting a skipping rope but if you’re really serious about this, why not consider assault air bikes. The tool is superior to a traditional treadmill in many different ways and it’s bound to keep things interesting.
Swimming is an incredible thing
When it comes to healthy cardio that helps you develop your entire musculature, there’s nothing quite like swimming. Sure, the inconvenience of this method is the fact that it relies on your commute to a pool every single day, as well as a purchase of pool tickets which, although not expensive, might upset your budget if done on a regular basis. Nonetheless, for those who are looking to spice things up a bit, there’s nothing quite like swimming.
Change your commute
One of the things that you need to think about when it comes to spicing up your cardio routine is the fact that you don’t have to actively exercise in order to engage in a form of cardio. For instance, cycling to work is cardio but it’s also a simple, eco-friendly, and frugal method of staying fit. Keep in mind that the same thing applies to walk to work. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that you can also take the intensity of this up a notch. For instance, you could try fast-walking or something like that. Just keep in mind that it’s usually a good idea that you have a change of clothes upon reaching work.
Utilize your phone
The last thing you can do in order to make an improvement is to start using your phone a bit better. You can start by making a great playlist. In fact, once you get in shape, you can start adjusting your running speed to the music that’s running on your MP3 player or your phone. Aside from this, you can also look for an app that would help you keep track of your progress. Knowing the exact number of steps, your pace at any given moment, and even your heart rate are just some things that may help you keep it all a lot more interesting.
At the end of the day, you can see that there are so many options that you have available. First, you can change your cardio routine. Second, you can start using new devices, apps, and trends in order to keep things more interesting. Aside from this, you can introduce some changes to your lifestyle in order to aid your cardio efforts. Due to the fact that this is something highly subjective, you need to test out which of these methods suits you the best.
