When done right, cardio exercises burn calories while toning up muscles throughout the body. To maximize your results, you must pick the right equipment and moves to challenge your body to work its hardest. Focusing on the same exercises all of the time only trains a particular area of your body and leaves the rest lacking. Furthermore, repeating the same movements each session will make your workout feel stagnant and quite boring. Trying out new activities and equipment can help you avoid these problems altogether. Here are three exercises to regularly add to your routine.
Jacobs ladder
Jacobs Ladder is a never-ending set of rungs set at a forty-degree angle. As you climb up the ladder, the rungs move down and around to arrive back at the top. As a result, you stay in the exact same position throughout the entire workout. You can go as fast or as slow as you need to since your movements power the machine.
You will need to focus on keeping your core muscles tight while climbing to avoid injuring your back. To further prevent back strain, limit workout sessions on this machine to less than thirty minutes, even after perfecting your form. Consider short ten- or fifteen-minute sessions at the beginning and end of your workout to help you gauge the perfect amount of time for your physical condition.
Shadowboxing
Shadowboxing is an age-old practice that can be used to warm up, cool down or just burn calories. You’ll want to move around a lot while shadowboxing to keep the muscles in your arms, legs and torso warm and agile. Use a mix of defensive and offensive moves to tone up small and large muscles throughout your body. Keep your core muscles tight and posture aligned to prevent overextension or strain injuries. You can freeform your routine or follow a particular set of steps.
Inclined Treadmill
Putting your treadmill routine on an incline drastically increases the effort required to keep your normal pace. You’ll also activate different muscle groups than the ones used for walking on a flat surface. In particular, you will push the muscles in your thighs, butt and back to work harder than ever before. Make sure to maintain a pace that keeps your heart rate in the target zone throughout your workout.
Setting Your Pace
When first learning how to use a piece of exercise equipment or complete a new activity, take it slow and pay close attention to form. Although you won’t burn as many calories as normal during initial sessions, you’ll avoid injury in the long run by training your body how to do the movements right.
As you gain experience, you can amp up the intensity to push your body to its limits. From there, you can identify your ideal pace and challenge yourself to surpass it with each session. Although you may find a particular exercise enjoyable, switch up your routine often to address potentially neglected areas and prevent eventual boredom during your workouts.
