Working Out at Home: Cardio
Cardio is a runner’s bread and butter, but if you are cutting back on your mileage or are no longer running right now, you might be looking for other ways you can get those workouts in. Luckily, running is not the only way! You can do a full cardio workout from the comfort of your home without any equipment or the need to go outdoors.
The Many Benefits of Cardio
Cardio, also known as aerobic exercise, is centered around increasing your heart rate and inducing heavy breathing. The obvious effect is that it increases your heart and lung health and tones your muscles, but recent studies have shown a number of other benefits to regular cardio exercise. Better sleep, improved mood from the release of endorphins, weight regulation, and lower blood pressure and blood sugar are just some of these additional effects you may experience as a result of upping your cardio.
Runners, of course, may already be aware of how cardio helps the body and mind, but many of the common methods of cardio such as swimming and biking are also done outside. If you are looking to work out in your home, no need to worry, it can be done!
The Main Ingredients
- Warm-Up: Properly warming up your muscles and cardiovascular system is important for a cardio workout. It helps your body prepare for what it's about to do by raising your body temperature and increasing blood flow to your muscles. A proper warm-up can also prevent injury, muscle tightness, and post-workout soreness.
- Workout: There are many different types of cardio workouts, from intervals such as HIIT to kickboxing. Find out which one suits you best and what you hope to accomplish with your workout goals!
- Cool-Down: Equally as important as the warm-up, cooling down after cardio gives your body a chance to ease into recovery. It helps remove any waste buildup in your bloodstream, lowers your heart rate back to normal, and reduces soreness. It also prevents blood pooling in your lower limbs. Make sure to add a 5- to 10-minute cool-down at the end of your workout.
A Workout Designed for Home
Instructor Melissa Ruiz teaches bootcamp classes at the NYRR RUNCENTER and put together some exercises for a cardio interval workout you can do at home.
“If folks are not getting out to run, an interval workout is a great way to incorporate strength and cardio to increase EPOC, excess post-exercise consumption, also known as oxygen debt. Just like after a run, your body takes time to get back to its optimal resting state,” Ruiz says, “With interval work, the harder (not longer) you work, the higher you increase your EPOC and the effects on your metabolism can be just what you're looking for to boost energy in these days at home. Use one segment as part of your warm-up to run or do the whole workout to replace a run that you might not want to take outside.”
WarmUp:
Get the heart pumping and the muscles loose! Try a handful of exercises such as arm circles, squats, and lateral lunges to get things going for 10-15 minutes.
Core:
“Activate that core! We need our core in all we do, every exercise, every movement—walking, sitting, standing on the subway (remember doing that?)” Ruiz says. Planking is all around one of the best exercises out there for your core. Bridges are another good core-engaging exercise. In this section of your workout, make sure to include these along with 5 or 6 other core-based activities. Once you have gone through the list once, repeat!
Intervals:
For the main section of the workout, you are going to do a lot of exercises in a row with only short breaks. You can customize this workout to include whatever you want, but here is a breakdown that Instructor Ruiz put together! Split into two rounds, each having three sections, this list should take you only 8 minutes and 30 seconds to complete.
30 seconds each
Pike pushup
Elbow plank to high plank
Squat to lunge (alternating right and left lunges, jump or step to transition)
Double shuffle to lunge
30-second rest
30 seconds each
Pike pushup
Elbow plank to high plank
Squat to lunge (alternating right and left lunges, jump or step to transition)
Double shuffle to lunge
Jack press to squat tap down
30-second rest
30 seconds each
Pike pushup
Elbow plank to high plank
Squat to lunge (alternating right and left lunges, jump or step to transition)
Double shuffle to lunge
Jack press to squat tap down
High knees
Round 2!
30 seconds each
Squat tap-backs
Inchworm to plank to shoulder taps
Tuck jumps
Elbow plank kick-under (elbows stay on the floor alternate the leg you kick under the other with rotation through the spine)
30-second rest
30 seconds each
Squat tap-backs
Inchworm to plank to shoulder taps
Tuck jumps
Elbow plank kick-under (elbows stay on the floor alternate the leg you kick under the other with rotation through the spine)
Fast feet with jabs
30-second rest
30 seconds each
Squat tap-backs
Inch worm to plank to shoulder taps
Tuck jumps
Elbow plank kick-under (elbows stay on the floor alternate the leg you kick under the other with rotation through the spine)
Fast feet with jabs
Burpee star jumps
Cool-down and stretch:
“Whatever you do, don't immediately sit down or lay down after working so hard. While your muscles are still warm and you're still panting, use this as a sacred time to get oxygen to your muscles as you stretch them,” Ruiz advises.
Do at least 5 minutes of stretching, focusing your stretches on different sections of the body. End with three deep breaths. Think 100 percent breath in, 30 percent easy breath out.
Free virtual fitness classes are now available through the NYRR RUNCENTER! Join some of your favorite RUNCENTER instructors for your workouts at home. You can check out the offerings here.
