Blaze a New Trail Away From Your Cardio Rut

When we start a fitness or weight loss plan, we experiment a bit to find what works best for us.  Maybe it’s running, or Spin classes, or Zumba, but we come up with a plan that shows results on the scale and we stick with it.  Forever!  If it’s been a while since you shook up your cardio, here are some ideas to bust you out of your rut.

Interval Training

If you’re a steady-state cardio person, add intervals.  Include four to five bursts per session of “all out” movement.  If you’re running, run faster.  If you’re on an elliptical or an arc trainer, dramatically increase your incline or resistance or both.  For cycling folks, increase the resistance on your stationary bike, or do some hill climbs to pump the heart rate.  The point is to push yourself really, really hard for short periods of time.  Start with 60 second intervals with 90 seconds of rest.  Over time try to increase this to two minutes of push with 60 seconds of rest.

Join a Group Class

If you’re a solo cardio person joining a group class will challenge you because you’ll be at someone else’s pace.  You might be used to easing off at certain times but a group class won’t give you that luxury.  You’ll torch more calories in the same amount of time because you won’t get “an out.”  Group classes are one of the reasons why health clubs are so effective over a work-at-home program. If a gym membership isn’t in the cards then find a friend to workout with and exercise at her pace.  Try to find a friend in better shape than you so you’ll have to up your game.

Take it Up a Notch

Stop doing the same old, same old.  When you developed your cardio routine long ago, you were at one fitness level.  Now you’re at another and it’s time to try something new.  An easy step is to go up a notch, so if you’re a walker, try running.  If you run 5Ks train for a 10K. Another method is to cross-train; add in one group exercise class per week if all you do is lurk on the cardio equipment.  If you’re a runner, try adding swimming or biking and train for a triathlon.   If you like to hike in the woods, next time go up a mountain.   You get the idea.

Something Completely Different

A great and fun rut buster is to go in an entirely different direction.  Ballroom dancing, Parkour, acrobatics, kayaking, hula hooping, roller blading, martial arts.  Something completely out of your comfort zone, something you’ve never tried before but kinda want to.  Go for it!  You’ll have a blast and you won’t even notice the calories you’re burning because you’ll be so focused on what you’re learning.

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