How I Keep My Cardio Training Interesting And Motivating

Are you someone who knows that they should be doing Cardio fitness but find it extremely boring?

Sitting on the gym bike just not doing it for you?

Hitting the treadmill for an hour to lose weight can also be mind numbingly boring and many people give up after a few weeks.

Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the world and along with fat loss, cardio is an important part of your overall health routine so how do we make it interesting.

Here are two workout ideas that you can immediately apply to your own training to improve your fitness very quickly, burn a lot of calories, make the session fly by and of course, stay motivated and challenged.

Workout Number 1: Multi Method - The Ascending Cardio Workout

In this workout I pick 5-6 cardio exercises and I perform 3-4 rounds of each but each exercise increases in distance each round. See below:
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Round 1:

• 100m Row
• 0.5km Bike
• 0.25km Treadmill Run
• 20 Kettlebell Swings
• 50 Mountain Climbers
• 20 Calories on the assault bike

Round 2

• 200m Row

• 0.75km Bike
• 0.5km Treadmill Run
• 30 Kettlebell Swings
• 75 Mountain Climbers
• 25 Calories on the assault bike

Round 3:

• 300m Row
• 1km Bike
• 0.75km Treadmill Run
• 40 Kettlebell Swings
• 100 Mountain Climbers
• 30 Calories on the assault bike

Round 4:

• 400m Row
• 1.25km Bike
• 1km Treadmill Run
• 50 Kettlebell Swings
• 125 Mountain Climbers
• 35 Calories on the assault bike

By increasing the distance, I am making the rounds harder. It becomes more challenging but it is a great feeling to finish it all. It is also quick. 30-45 mins all up after a warm up.

You can choose any 3-6 machines that you want depending on availability. You could do this at a park and pick running, stair laps, star jumps, mountain climbers, shadow boxing etc. The variety is endless.

Workout Number 2: Mini Time Trials.

With this workout I simply pick 3 x 10 min bursts of cardio and record my distance. See below:

Workout 1:

• 10 mins Bike level 10
• 10 Mins Rower Top Resistance
• 10 Mins Assault Bike - Max Calories

Workout 2:

• 10 mins Bike level 10 - Beat distance from workout 1
• 10 Mins Rower Top Resistance - Beat distance from workout 1
• 10 Mins Assault Bike - Max Calories - Beat distance from workout 1

When I can't beat the distance any more after 4-6 workouts, I change the workout.

This makes my cardio training really fun and challenging but also interesting and motivating as I have small targets to beat and I am always pushing myself which can be tough to do when you are training on your own.

I would love to hear your workout ideas, please comment below or share with john@humandesign.com.au

​If you like this way of training, check out our small group training or personal training options and we can make your training fun and challenging and results based.

John.