Hi Fit People, have you ever wanted to get some cardio exercise, but you don’t like running, cycling, or working out at the gym?
No problem! There are still plenty of cardio workout options other than running that you can customize to your liking. But before you do, make sure you’re ready for some new exercises like the ones below.
Cardio Alternatives
Cardio exercise is not always running or jogging. The basic concept of cardio or cardiovascular exercise is a series of physical activities that will spur the performance of the heart and lungs, while increasing their strength and health.
Here are some alternative cardio exercises that you can do outdoors:
1. Up and down the stairs
Climbing up and down stairs is a great exercise method to improve heart and lung health. You can easily find stairs anywhere, whether it’s in your garden, office, or apartment building.
When doing stair climbing exercises, you can either climb quickly, run up a flight of stairs, or jump laterally (lateral high knee).
Make sure you don’t use the handrails, this will help take the weight off your feet and make your workout easier. Do three reps up and down the stairs to complete each set.
Jessica Matthews, MS, a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, was quoted by Prevention as saying that going up and down stairs can provide a challenging cardio workout and strengthen the muscles of the lower body.
2. Swimming
Swimming is a cardio exercise that involves full-body movement. It has countless benefits, including breathing exercises to optimize lung capacity and performance, increasing muscle strength and flexibility, and improving bone density in adults.
Do a few laps of swimming in your preferred style, such as freestyle, breaststroke or butterfly. Apart from swimming, you can also modify your cardio workout by doing it in the water, such as jogging.
Aqua jogging is a cardio exercise that trains your heart and lungs to perform at their best without harming your muscles and joints. As a result, it can provide the same great cardio benefits without the same risk of injury as regular running.
Cardio Sports
Various Swimming Styles and Techniques, Easy to Learn!
You know that swimming is a sporting activity that has many health benefits. In addition, this cardio sport is also often used as a means of recreation that is suitable for all ages. For this reason, you need to know the various swimming styles in order to maximize its benefits. What are some of these styles?
3. Jump
Jumping is one of the best ways to sweat profusely through cardio exercise. Replace the classic jump rope move with cross jacks that require you to cross your arms and legs alternately while jumping.
Some jumping guidelines that you can do are as follows.
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and extend both hands to the sides of the body with the palms facing down.
- Throw your body upwards while crossing your right hand over your left hand and your right foot in front of your left foot. Jump to return to the starting position. Jump again with the opposite hand and foot position (left hand crossing over the right hand and left foot crossing in front of the right foot).
- After doing the movement, it will count as 1 set. Keep alternating sides and repeat for 25 sets.
- Make sure to keep your jumping speed up and don’t allow too long of a rest period between your jumps.
- As an easier alternative, you can do small jumps by staying on your toes and pushing your body up with the heels of your feet. This is exactly how you would do if you were jumping rope.
4. Burpees
Burpees is an exercise that combines various movements, such as jumps, squats, planks, and push-ups. As a result, this cardio workout will get your heart pumping. You can follow the steps below to get started with burpees.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and extend both hands upwards with your palms facing forward.
- Throw your body up as high as you can while breathing in.
- Land in a controlled manner, then change position into a half-squat curl (arms outstretched straight supporting the ground).
- Push your legs straight back until your body is in a plank position.
- Then, do one push up. Make sure you keep your elbows close to your body to work your arm triceps muscles.
- Return your feet forward, so that you return to a half-squat position and prepare to jump.
- Keep repeating this movement until you complete 10 to 20 reps.
5. Circle hop squat
This cardio workout combines squats with jumping while spinning 180 degrees in the air that you do over and over again. Follow these guidelines to practice circle hop squats with the correct technique.
- Stand up and spread your feet apart with your fingers slightly pointing outside your body.
- While puffing out your chest, lower your upper body into a squat and touch the ground with your arms outstretched.
- Press your body down to prepare to jump up, then rotate to the left 180 degrees while in the air. At the same time, swing both hands above the body from right to left. Land slowly in a squat position, then both hands return straight to rest on the ground.
- Repeat the jump by changing the position of the hand swing in the opposite direction. Continue doing alternating side squats for 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps per set.
6. Skaters
Skaters is another cardio workout in addition to running that requires you to perform repetitive lateral jumps to increase your heart rate, strengthen your legs, and improve flexibility and balance. The movement resembles that of a roller skater like the following.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent.
- Jump to the right with your right foot, landing lightly on the heel of your right foot and swinging your left foot behind your right foot. While doing so, do not put your weight on your left foot if you are able to do so.
- Afterward, immediately jump to the left with your left foot allowing your right foot to drag behind your left foot. Perform this movement alternately while imagining you are on roller skates.
- Continue this alternating side movement for 30 to 60 seconds.
7. Mountain climber twist
In addition to burning calories all over, the mountain climber twist can also help you work on your abs and tone them. The steps are also fairly short, so it’s perfect if you’re short on time.
- Start from a high plank position with your legs stretched straight on the ground and both hands resting on the ground also stretched straight while tightening the abdominal muscles.
- Bend the left knee and cross it towards the right side of the body towards the right elbow. Next, switch positions by crossing the right knee towards the left.
- Alternate as fast as you can like running without lifting your hips, for 30 to 60 seconds as you can.
8. Long jump with jog back
The long jump with jog back workout does have a jogging motion in it, but it’s not the same as running in general. This cardio movement also incorporates jumping exercises that are beneficial in strengthening your leg muscles.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent.
- Swing both arms back and bend a little deeper, then swing your arms forward while jumping as far as possible with both feet, landing softly on your heels.
- After landing perfectly, then you jog backwards as quickly as possible back to the starting position and repeat the previous movement again.
Keep doing it for 30 to 60 seconds as long as you can.
9. Jumping lunges
Lunges are a form of pliometric exercise that is effective for improving the movement of the hip, ankle, and knee joints. Well, in the jumping lunges exercise variation, you just need to combine it with a jumping motion.
- In the starting position with your chest and chin up and abdominal muscles tight, then take a big step forward with your right foot.
- Sink your upper body straight down so that your right front knee is directly over your shoe and your left knee is floating in the air facing towards the floor. Make sure each knee is bent 90 degrees.
- Now jump, switch legs while performing the jump so that you land with your left foot in front of your right foot and immediately sink your body lower back to the initial lunges position.
- Be careful while doing the jumping motion and switching legs in the air. Do this as much as you can for 30 to 60 seconds.
10. Inchworm
Another cardio exercise besides running is inchworm. This exercise offers a variety of benefits from its seemingly simple, yet challenging movements. Apart from being a cardio exercise other than running, inchworm is also effective as a stretching exercise for different muscle groups at the same time.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and tighten your abdominal muscles.
- Bend your body from the waist, then crawl with both hands walking forward. Make sure you keep your legs straight.
- When you are in a high plank position, quickly re-do the crawl movement with both hands walking back towards your feet and stand up.
- In addition, you can increase the intensity of the exercise by doing push-ups while in plank position.
Perform this movement for 30 to 60 seconds.
11. Plank-to-knee tap
Plank-to-knee tap is one of the plank variations that plays an important role in training your core strength. Doing this movement regularly can help you get better posture and avoid back pain problems.
- Perform a high plank starting position while tightening your abdominal muscles.
- Then, lower your back and lift your hips up while raising your right hand to touch your left shin or ankle, if your body is flexible enough.
- Return to the initial high plank position and repeat for the left hand touching the shin of the right foot.
- Keep alternating as fast as you can while maintaining a perfect plank position and keep doing this for 30 to 60 seconds.
12. Runner’s skip
Runner’s skip uses your body weight as balance and leg strength training. When doing the exercise, you will focus on one side of the leg before taking turns working on the other side of the leg. You can follow the movement as follows.
- With your chest and chin up and abs tight, take a big step forward with your right foot.
- Sink your upper body straight down so that your right front knee is just above your shoe at 90 degrees and extend your left knee backwards through the air almost touching the floor. Also position the fingers of the hands touching the floor for balance.
- In one smooth motion, lift your left leg forward. While resting on the right foot, lift the left foot further up towards the chest and jump on the right foot.
- Then, land lightly on the right foot and immediately launch the left foot backward to return to the starting position.
Repeat the movement to one side for 30 seconds, then switch to the other leg position and complete the remaining 30 seconds.
3 Powerful Exercise Moves to Build Leg Muscles
In addition to hand muscle strength, you also need to train the strength of the leg muscles which are important to support activities. Building leg muscles is also important to maintain appearance, for example if you want calves that look slim, muscular, and not fatty. Well, what are some effective exercise movements you can do?
13. Fast feet shuffle
This form of speed training will encourage your leg muscles to contract quickly. You can also do the fast feet shuffle as a warm-up movement before running to avoid cramps or other running injuries.
- Open your legs wider than your hips, bend your knees slightly, push your hips back, and tighten your abdominal muscles.
- Drag your legs to the right for four steps or as much space as you use for the exercise, then drag them back in the opposite direction.
- Keep your body position low and move your legs as fast as possible to get the most out of this exercise.
14. Tuck jump
Tuck jump is a form of exercise that will use your body weight and strength to jump into the air. This movement is able to burn a lot of calories and strengthen your upper and lower body muscles.
- Stand with your knees slightly bent, then jump up while bringing your knees to your chest and extending your arms straight in front of your chest.
- Lower your arms as you land lightly on the floor. Keep doing this movement for 30 to 60 seconds.
15. Step up
This simple body resistance exercise is powerful to train your leg and buttock muscles, such as quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteals. Before you start this exercise, first prepare a sturdy chair or bench as a foothold during exercise.
- Place the right foot on the bench and use the buttock muscles to push the body up so that the right leg is straight and the left foot lifts off the ground.
- Slowly lower the body while allowing the left foot to touch the ground followed by the right foot.
- Repeat this movement while focusing on using only the right buttock muscle, do not push up with the left leg.
- Continue doing the exercise for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Tips for starting your cardio workout routine
- These cardio exercise options besides running can be done anytime and anywhere with ease. Intense exercise is effective in burning up to 700 calories in one cycle, here are the steps you can take to start this routine.
Conclusion
You can try at least 4-5 of these cardio workouts to start your exercise routine!
Start with the first exercise for 3-5 minutes at a low intensity. After that, rest for 30 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. Make sure to increase the intensity with each subsequent workout. Vary the intensity from low to high for each set of exercises to make it more challenging and effective.
Each time you complete 4-5 exercises, it counts as one round. Repeat from the beginning for a total of 3-5 rounds, with 1 minute of rest each time. Except for swimming, you can do multiple rounds without changing to another exercise.
This way, you can get the most out of a cardio workout that is varied, fun, and of course, healthy. So, ready to get started and feel the positive changes in your body? Let’s start now and keep it up!
