Now that the weather is beginning to turn, you’d be forgiven for not wanting to lace up your running shoes and brave the rain. But does that mean you need to let your cardio slip? Definitely not. With this 20-minute bodyweight workout, you’ll be able to get your cardio fix from indoors. And, while we can’t promise that you won't sweat, at least we can guarantee you won’t get wet from the rain.
Cardio isn’t just important for our heart and lung health, it can also benefit our performance with other types of training, like lifting weights. The better your overall aerobic fitness is, the quicker you’ll be able to recover in between your workout sets, so that you can push harder and get more gains. Ever felt like you’re still trying to catch your breath back after a set of heavy squats after your rest period is up and therefore couldn’t perform your next set as well? Improving your cardio will help this.
This workout consists of two groups of 10 exercises – you’ll perform the first 10 for a minute each, back to back with no rest, then take a 60-second rest before performing the next 10. After that, you’re done, no repeats! Although we’ve listed the exercises below so you’ve got an idea of what’s to come, it’s best to follow along with the video above so that you can see the demonstrations. Plus, Toya demonstrates some regressions in case you can’t perform some of the movements. Here’s what you’ve got:
- Knee to elbow standing crunches
- High knees
- Squat with punches
- Skaters
- Split jumps
- Opposite hand to opposite foot
- Alternating reverse lunges
- Two side step with knee raise
- Arm swing into calf raises
- Jogging on the spot
1 minute rest
- Side step cross crunch
- High knee with a hold
- Side squat with punches
- Skaters
- Speed lunge
- Hand to opposite foot
- Alternating lunge with knee raise
- Side step with toe touch
- Arm swing into jump
- High knees
We’ve got many more workouts like this. If you fancy building some strength at the same time, then give this 15-minute circuit a go. It incorporates dumbbells, so you’ll get an extra calorie burn as it will spike your heart rate even more. If you’d rather keep it to bodyweight only though, like the workout above, then try this 30-minute AMRAP-style session.
