As you go about putting together a workout program to follow as you strive to reach your fitness goals, it’s important that you do take into account the type of cardio workout you’re going to be doing.
While strength training is definitely the best form of exercise that will help you dramatically alter your physical, don’t neglect cardio training.
Done properly, cardio training is a great way to complete your strength workouts and see a faster rate of progress. The right cardio workout from this sources will boost your overall daily calorie burn, allowing you to consume more calories with your diet, making the entire process that much easier.
One thing to realize however is that not all cardio modes are created equally, so choosing the most appropriate mode for you will be vital to your success.
Let’s have a look at the different cardio variations that you should know about so that you can make an informed decision about which is going to be right for you.
1. Running/Jogging
The first of the cardio variations is one of the most common, which is running or jogging. This is a great cardio variation as it will burn quite a high number of calories, often coming in around 100 per ten minutes of activity completed.
The faster you’re going, the more calories you’ll burn, so the potential is quite high to get a very good fat burning result from this cardio activity.
The great thing about running as well is that if you do plan on incorporating interval sprints in your program, you can quickly accelerate up to full speed with running in an instant, whereas with some other methods of cardio you cannot.
2. Uphill Walking
Next, the second variation of cardio to consider is uphill walking. Uphill walking is a great form of cardio for anyone who wants to boost their lower body strength level upwards as it’ll help to target the glutes, hamstrings, as well as the quads, and burn fat quite quickly as well.
If you’re walking on a steep incline, you can burn almost as many calories as you’d burning running with uphill walking.
The nice thing about this as well is that there isn’t the high impact force coming down on the joints that can put you at risk for knee or back pain.
3. The Elliptical Trainer
The elliptical trainer, sometimes referred to as the cross trainer, is the next cardio method that you should be considering adding to your workout program.
The cross training is nice since it’s going to work not only the lower body, but the upper body as well. If you’re someone who isn’t so fond of doing a regular weight lifting workout session, you’ll want to make good use of this machine.
The great thing about the elliptical as well is that it is completely non-impact in nature, so great for those who suffer from arthritis or knee or back pain as well.
The elliptical can be a great way to get your heart rate up quickly and burn off plenty of calories, so is definitely worth giving a try if you want to accelerate your rate of fat loss success.
4. Spinning
Spinning is the next form of workout that you can add to the mix with your program and is good for developing lower body strength and power.
Spinning classes are often done in interval training format, so these will not only have you burning up a high number of calories while you do them, but also help to boost your post-workout calorie burn quite extensively as well.
If you’re using a higher level of resistance as you go about your spinning workouts, you may find that these can be rather stressful on the knee joints, so you’ll have to assess for yourself whether it’s something that you are able to handle.
If you have suffered from knee pain in the past before, you’ll want to tread lightly when thinking about approaching this workout program.
If you’d prefer not to do a spinning session in the gym but rather take a bicycle outdoors and complete your workout in that format, you can definitely do that as well.
5. Swimming
For those who want a completely non-impact activity, swimming is definitely the right fit for you. Swimming, like using the elliptical trainer, is going to work all the main muscles in the body, so is a great way to get a full body workout in quickly.
When done with enough intensity, swimming can also burn just as many calories as running does, so can be very excellent for fat loss results.
There are a number of different swimming strokes you can do as you go about your workout sessions, so try making use of a few varieties to maximize your fitness improvements.
The only drawback to swimming is that it can cause some people to get slightly hungrier after you do it, so be aware of this and prepared to deal should it occur. If you go and eat all the calories back that you burned off after doing your session, this isn’t going to move you any closer to your weight loss goal.
6. Rowing
Finally, don’t overlook rowing. Rowing can also be a fantastic form of workout to get in on a regular basis as it’ll work the lower and upper body muscles as well. With enough added resistance to this cardio variety, you can actually see some good rates of muscle development as well, so if you aren’t going to do weight lifting workouts, this is another good variety to be considering.
When doing your rowing sessions, just make sure that your knees are moving directly over the toes as you go about the movement pattern to avoid knee pain development.
So there you have the top variations of cardio training to consider using in your workout program. Try and mix it up often so that you never suffer from cardio boredom and continue to get the results that you’re looking for.