Cardio: What Kind and How Much

Happy Hump Day! Today I’m coming at you with a Balanced Fit Tip post, and we’re talking all about cardio fitting cardio into your routine.

In recent years, high emphasis has been placed on the importance of strength training for overall health and fitness. I get it. I’m all about it. I can’t lie, traditional gym cardio isn’t my favorite thing in the world.  This is coming from the girl who trained for a half marathon almost entirely on the treadmill last year. It wasn’t exactly a good time. And that darn elliptical? Don’t even get me started. It’s just not my jam. 

While cardio isn’t the end-all be-all to getting fit, it is still incredibly important and shouldn’t be thrown out the window altogether. Getting regular cardiorespiratory exercise is key for keeping your heart healthy, relieving stress, and keeping your body conditioned for everyday physical demands.

My favorite ways to fit in cardio:

• Walking
• Circuit Training – performing strength training exercises back-to-back to keep my heart rate elevated.
• Cardio “Bursts” – sets of burpees, squat jumps, jump rope, etc. between strength training sets or finishers to spike my heart rate at the end of a workout.
• HIIT – high intensity interval training (bodyweight exercises, sprints).
• Spinning/Cycling
• STAIRS. Call me a freak, but I love walking/running stairs. Including this love machine. 

The thing is, those are just my preferences. If you like to do your HIIT on with the elliptical, by all means please do! If you like to get your Zumba on every week, keep shimmying it out girl. And by all means, if you hate running stop trying to make yourself like it (note to self). The best type of cardio is whatever you enjoy, and are actually going to stick with.

So now that you know what type of cardio you want to do, how much cardio do we actually need? There isn’t a set amount of cardio that works for everyone, however we should all aim to get our heart rate up most days out of the week. Let’s break it down with a few scenarios based off of personal preference, workout intensity and time availability. 

Scenario 1: You have a decent amount of time to devote to your workouts, and prefer to work at a moderate pace and lower intensity. In this case, getting about 30-60 minutes of moderate cardio 5 days per week would be excellent. It could look something like this:

• 60 minute Zumba class twice per week
• 30 minute light jog once per week
• 40 minute walk twice times per week

Scenario 2: You’re short on time, or prefer a short and sweet approach to fitness. In this case, getting 20-30 minutes of high intensity exercise 3 days per week (on non-consecutive days) would be a great option.

• 20 minute cardio machine HIIT after strength training once per week
• Fast-paced Circuit Training once per week
• Intense Tabata Circuit once per week

I hope that’s helpful for you! As always, please consult your doctor before making any fitness changes. 

What are your favorite forms of cardio?