You know, you really don't need to go to a gym for to get a good workout. While walking or jogging is always good exercise, you can spice it up with something called intervals.
Or, if you are looking to build strength and muscle, you can do bodyweight exercises like pushups for the upper body and stair or hill walking/running and squats for the lower body.
For the mid section, crunches are the time honored favorite, but you can also do the plank. This is where you hold yourself in the push up position statically for a period of time. You can rest on your hand(s) or elbow(s) depending on your fitness level.
Look, everyone knows that running does a lot for your heart. It also burns tons of calories. But running really doesn't do too much for your upper body or core strength.
On the flip side, things like yoga and Pilates will address your core, balance, and flexibility. But, most of the time, they are not good cardio exercises.
However, more complete fitness routines are integrated with cardio exercises. They also combine resistance strength training, conditioning your core, in addition to balance and flexibility training.
What's ideal is to figure out how to make an exercise routine that will hit each area. And, one that doesn't keep you in the gym for a quarter of your life.
What people are finding out is it's necessary to combine strength training with cardio intervals and core work all within one workout session. This is becoming popular because the majority of folks don't want to spend countless hours at the gym.
Recent research underscores the benefits of interval training. This is short, repetitive sessions of high, intense exercise. This method will actually produce benefits very similar to the traditional cardio sessions on a treadmill or elliptical without taking as long.
Repeating, high intensity cardio intervals use alternating levels of intensity for short periods of time. So, you're on a treadmill; Rather than running at a constant speed of 5.6 mph on a treadmill, change it up.
Run at speeds differing from 5-8 mph and/or change the level of incline. Do this for 30-60 seconds at a time to get your heart rate up. Then slow it down for a minute or two and let your heart rate return more to normal. Do this for several intervals for a total of 10 minutes.
Move onto strength training. Using compound movements like push ups, squats, lunges, and pull ups, work in a super set of movements that hit the major muscle groups. Focus on 8-12 reps of each exercise as able. Do this super set in intervals also for 10 minutes.
Next move onto core conditioning including 10-20 reps of crunches, plank and side planks 30-60 seconds each, followed by leg lifts 10-20 reps, followed by supine bridging 30-60 seconds. Do 3 sets of this sequence eventually building up to 10 minutes total.
Once comfortable with the movements doing each combination twice will give you an intense 60 minute total body workout. You're moving the blood back and forth from the upper body to the lower body; elevating your heart rate to a higher level, then doing an active recovery.
As with any exercise routine, slow progression with intensity is advised for your body to adapt to the new demands. Instead of "doing the exercises", it's more important to "do the exercises well". This takes focus and a deliberate intention to listen to how your body responds to them.
Generally, this type of exercise program, if done correctly will require 2-3 days recovery time for the body. This means that your workouts will generally be twice weekly.
Bryan W. is a physical therapist and fitness professional. With over 16 years experience he teaches his clients how to maximize their fitness level using simple and effective training strategies. In addition he teaches his clients workoutswithoutweights.net Body Weight Workouts and maintains a blog at workoutswithoutweights.net workoutswithoutweights.net
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