Cardio Workouts at Home

In my last article, 'Ab Exercises for Men' I mentioned that there were three things that when combined help us to get the Abs that we want. One of those three things is proper Cardiovascular exercise, or ‘Cardio’ for short. I mention, ‘proper’ because there is a lot of confusion as to what a Cardiovascular workout needs to be. Running for miles and miles can be great for an endurance athlete but it’s unnecessary for the ordinary man or women. If you’re not training for an endurance event I don’t think that you should be running over 5 miles a day, 3 days a week. Fifteen to twenty minutes of continuous Cardio exercise is all you really need to improve heart and lung capacity. Whatever your goals are, you need to start at a reasonable level.

Intense Cardio Burns Fat

I remember back in high school wrestling when we would get up in the morning to run 3 miles, then after school, we would wrestle for two hours, and sometimes do sprints after that. It was grueling. If I hadn’t been working out regularly prior to that season then I would have been in big trouble. Instead, I was only in a little bit of trouble.

The intense cardio workouts that I had to complete for wrestling made it so that I could eat almost everything I wanted to and still burn fat. Of course, part of this was due to the fact that I was young and had a naturally fast metabolism. However, the effects of the cardio were still noticeable. Intense cardio can push your body to new levels of conditioning and leanness that could not be otherwise obtained.

Cardiovascular Work is Essential for Health

Before I began wrestling, I was working out at home. Even though I was dedicated to lifting weights, I didn’t do Cardio workouts as often as I should have. Going through practice and especially wrestling matches, I quickly learned the value of a good cardio workout. And it not doesn't only help you get through tough sporting events. Cardiorespiratory exercise is essential for optimum circulation, digestion, and clarity of mind among other things.

For a good Cardio workout at home, my favorite tool is good music. If you don’t have a treadmill to run on or any other Cardio machine then calisthenics are a great alternative. Calisthenics can be anything from Push-ups and Squats to Mountain Climbers and Side Kicks. You can even use weight training exercises, just use a weight that is very light. And you'll want to stick with multi-joint movements such as a clean and press rather than a bicep curl. The idea is to go for a lot of repetitions.

When creating your Cardio workouts at home it’s a good idea to do circuit training and to stagger light calisthenics with heavy calisthenics. Heavy calisthenics require you to move a good amount of weight; i.e. Push-ups and Squats. Mountain Climbers and Side Kicks are good examples of what I call, ‘light calisthenics.’ So a typical Cardio workout at home could look like this:

Mountain Climbers - 20 reps

Squats - 20 reps

Butt Kickers - 20 reps (each leg)

Knee Push-ups - 20 reps

Side Bends - 20 reps

Sit-ups - 20 reps

Then you would repeat the sequence for a total of 3 to 5 times, depending on your level of endurance. I chose Knee Push-ups because we’re not focusing on strength, we want to focus on endurance. If you feel that you're endurance is good enough for regular push ups then go ahead and do them. If you’re not sure how to do any of these exercises you can always consult my List of Exercises page.