Quick Cardio

Sometimes it is difficult to fit cardio into the mix of everything else you have going on in your life, but the good news is that it doesn't take much, even bursts of cardio as short as 4 minutes can lead to weight loss, increased energy and overall good health.

Cardio should be done 3- 5 times a week for a minimum of 25 minutes. To get the most out of your workout it's good to mix it up since after several weeks of doing the same exercise, the body adapts so that it can do it more efficiently. This is great if you're trying to outrun a lion, not so great if you're trying to lose weight and keep your body challenged. You can mix it up by varying the types of activity that you do and by alternating, speed, intensity and length of your workout. There is where quick cardio workouts come in. You can get a great quick cardio workout out, but it will be far from easy, as you will be working at 70-80% of your maximum heart rate to obtain the maximum results. Find your heart rate.

For quick cardio outside, take to the hills, literally! Hills or stairs provide a great workout at a high intensity. Go as fast as you can. If you can't maintain the intensity, then you can do intervals where you vary the intensity. For example, you could alternate a one minute interval of high intensity, going as fast as you can with the next minute at a slighter lesser intensity(but still enough where you're working hard). Once this becomes easier (it will never become easy), then shorten your slower interval to perhaps 30 seconds. You could also introduce cross training into your quick cardio workout by running stairs for 3 minutes, then doing walking lunges or push-ups for a minute, then back to running and so on. The different combinations are endless depending on your time, but the secret to an effective quick cardio workout is working at a high intensity.

Quick cardio at home can save you even more time since there is no travel time involved.  I personally love the 10 Minute DVD series.  There's a lot of variety so I never get bored.  The dancing and the kickboxing are two personal favourites and the DVDs provide plenty of variety to ensure that your body never has a chance to adapt to a workout and not work as hard.  If you're really pressed for time you can just do one 10 minute workout.  If you have more time, you can do 2 or 3 or the workouts.  You can also stagger your workouts, i.e. do 10 minutes in the morning, go for a walk or run at lunch and then do another 10 minute DVD when you come home.  Just like that you will have totalled 30 minutes of quick cardio, even if you didn't have 30 minutes all at once.

If exercise DVDs are not your thing, or to add more variety, you could also jump rope or do jumping jacks.  I don't know about you, but I personally can't do 10 minutes of jumping jacks, so it's good to include these exercises as part of a cross training routine.  Below is a 10 minute quick cardio workout you can do at home:

Minute 0 -2:  Jump rope

Minute 3:  Push-ups

Minute 4-5 Jumping jacks

Minute 6:  Squats with bicep curls (as you squat down, you curl your biceps, using weights of course)

Minute 7-9:  Jump rope

Minute 10:  Plank pose - hold for one minute

If you have time, you can add additional exercises, but this gives you an idea of how you can have an effective quick cardio workout at home.

Exercise machines - treadmill, bike or the elliptical trainer can also provide effective quick cardio workouts. You can choose a higher resistance for your workout or do interval training. Work harder for longer intervals and keep rest periods shorter for an effective quick cardio workout. if you regularly do quick cardio at the gym, vary the machines you use to keep your body challenged and working, not to mention to also make it more interesting.

• In order to get an effective quick cardio workout, you are going to have to work hard. This means you should be huffing and puffing for most of the workout. Working at a higher intensity than usual is one of the trade offs of a quick cardio workout.
• To obtain maximum benefits from your cardio workouts, it's really important to keep it varied. You will see results much more quickly if you vary the types of exercises, i.e. stair climbing,in-line skating, exercise bike, dance DVD will provide better results than only running.
• Quick cardio shouldn't be your only type of workout. For maximum results, it's important to also include longer cardio workouts at a lower intensity. Resistance trainingis also important and provides different benefits than cardio does.
• Listen to music. Studies have shown that listening to music helps the time go by even faster, so your quick cardio workout will be over before you know it.
• You can also sign up for a free virtual trainer in which you can log your workouts to see how many calories you've burned and track your progress, which can be an excellent motivator.  Meal planning and workouts are also available as part of your free virtual trainer program. 

In summary, quick cardio should not be a substitute for all your cardio sessions and you will be working at a high intensity during your quick cardio sessions but the pay off is that you can still get an effective workout in with a quick cardio session when you are tight on time, so now you have no excuses not to exercise. Now off to find a hill beckoning to be ran!