Exercise Progression - Spicing it up

Hello, Well I have talked about some exercise progressions to pump up your exercises. Now I want to tell you some progressions you should consider for your cardio workouts.

1) Why not take a day off from your cardio machines and take a walk with your loved one or a friend through the local park at a brisk pace for a hour. You will be activating the muscles a little differently and you will enjoy it probably a lot more. Remember exercising at the gym is just one place to do it.
2) If your knees can handle it why not walk up and down some stairs. After 10-15 minutes of this you just might wish you stayed at the gym.
3) Jump some rope outside. Ten minutes of this provides an intense cardio response.
4) Take out your bike and tour your neighborhood or local park for a hour. Try to pick some hilly terrain and play with the gears. Try bicycling at the hardest gear ratio you can.
5) Go dancing at the local club. Think of it as a reward that is helping your exercise progression.
6) Shake up your treadmill routine by: walking backwards on it (if you can do it safely) at a slower speed then normal or increase the incline to the highest you can go and stay at each incline level for 1 minute or to. If you normally walk on the treadmill for an hour jog on it instead for 30 minutes.
7) Shake up your stair master by NOT holding on to the handles (if you can do it safely).
8) Shake up your Elliptical workout by trying one of the pre-programmed routines and increase your normal intensity.
9) Take an aerobic class or it that scares you do the ultimate calorie burner - a spin class. If you have never taken a spin class I urge you to do it at least once. I personally have never had my butt kicked more then when I have taken spin classes.
10) Go swimming and do lots of laps with different strokes (butterfly, standard, etc.)

As you can see you should try to integrate at least one of these activities or others I have not mentioned into your workout at least once every two weeks. It will keep boredom away from your cardio routines and it will challenge different muscles in different ways. Remember how just changing the angle of an exercise can change which muscle fibers are activated. The same applies here.

Exercising is about LIVING and having fun. Once exercise becomes a chore you dread you need to re-evaluate your exercise program.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT