I recently changed my cardio workouts and here is why! I was watching a Steve Cook video the other day when he mentioned that he did his cardio at the end of his workout. Oh yeah that makes sense, I thought. My cardio program has hit a plateau and it is definitely time for a change.
Steve mentioned that his pre-workout is for his strength workout, why waste it on cardio. Ah-ha that is correct. I have been doing 20 minutes of cardio as soon as I hit the gym. Not a good idea. Wasting that pre-workout and wasting a calorie burn because you burn more calories at the end of your workout. But it is all about changing it up from time to time. So here's what I do now:
Hit the gym and warm-up on the treadmill or elliptical for 10 minutes, with intervals every minute. Treadmill on an incline of 15. Elliptical on a resistance of 10.
Strength train for 40 minutes doing at least (if not more) 3 supersets and 4 sets of each
Day 1: Glutes/Hamstrings
Day 2: Chest/Tris
Day 3: Shoulders/Abs
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Glutes/Quads
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Back/Bis
Here's the whamo: I finish my workout with super cardio: Stairs 10-15 minutes 30 seconds each: glute walk, kick to the back, kick to the right, kick to the left. Sounds like a song. 😂
Woo hoo! Let me tell you it is a doozy.
Here are my last two heart rates on my apple watch, notice the heart rate at the end:
Here is one more thing to note. I am 54 years young. Supposedly my max heart rate is 166. Notice I hit 180 and 170! I have been training long enough to know that I can hit that high. 180 is the max number for a 30 year old. I have trained many a client to improve their cardio efficiency to be much younger than their age. You can do it too. It just takes time and training. Want to know more? Email me at ko@kathiesfitblog.com or Sign up for my email list here where I give all kinds of wellness and fitness information.
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