Most of us don’t exactly look forward to doing cardio. Sure, I love to run and I love going to Spinning classes – but like all of you, there are days I wake up and I just do not look forward to it. That’s why challenging yourself and mixing it up can make all the difference in the world and even make your cardio – yep – fun!
To help you stay on track now and during the holiday season, I thought it would be a good time to share few of the workouts I have been incorporating into my training as of late. This is essentially a sample week of cardio for me. I have been mixing in some higher intensity work now that I’m not always doing cardio on an empty stomach – as you’ll see, those workouts are around 25 minutes each, but the last one is a little longer. I typically do higher intensity cardio every other day to give my body and my system a break. HIIT has really helped my glutes and legs stay full so far this offseason. It is also nice to get in and out and burn just as many calories as a longer session in half the time.
Since my sessions have been between 35-45 minutes a day, I will add one more tabata circuit or make my intervals a little longer if I need to. The point of these high-intensity workouts is to make them short and HARD! You need to go all out for HIIT to be effective- which also makes these workouts not necessarily for beginners. If you are used to doing steady state or moderate cardio (which is what I did a LOT of during my prep), a few high-intensity workouts may be the change up you need to start seeing results and ramp up your progress.
If you are just starting out with cardio and a consistent workout program, you can still use the format of the sessions below, just reduce the speed and intensity and try to build up each week or every other week until you can perform the workout as written.
Enjoy and let me know how it goes!
ELLIPTICAL TABATA WORKOUT (HIIT)
Time: 20-25 minutes
• Warmup: 3 minutes keeping resistance at Level 2-3 and RPM at 80
• Tabata Round 1: 8 rounds (4 minutes total)
Resistance 7
20 seconds as fast as you can
10 seconds rest**
• 1 minute resistance 5 at moderate pace to recover
• Tabata Round 2: 8 rounds (4 minutes total)
Resistance 11
20 seconds as fast as you can
10sec rest**
• 1 minute resistance 5 at moderate pace to recover
• Tabata Round 3: 8 rounds (4 minutes total)
Resistance 15
20 seconds as fast as you can
10 seconds rest**
• 3-5 minutes with resistance at Level 5 at moderate pace to recover
*For the rest, do not actually stop the elliptical. Just slow the pace as much as you can without the machine turning off.
TREADMILL GLUTE BLASTER
Time: 40 minutes (moderate intensity intervals)
*It is very important NOT to use your hands on this entire workout for maximum glute activation. Do two rounds of the below routine.
• 2min incline 0% speed 3.5
• 2min incline 4% speed 3.6
• 2min incline 6% speed 3.7
• 2min incline 8% speed 3.8
• 1min incline 10% speed 3.9
• 1min incline 12% speed 4.0
• 1min incline 15% speed 3.0
• 1min incline 12% speed 4.0
• 1min incline 10% speed 3.9
• 2min incline 8% speed 3.8
• 2min incline 6% speed 3.7
• 2min incline 4% speed 3.6
• 1min incline 0% speed 3.5
TREADMILL INTERVALS
Time: 25 minutes (HIIT)
**Adjust as necessary but make sure you PUSH yourself!**
• 5 minute warmup at 5.0 speed
• 1 minute at 8.0
• 2 minutes at 6.0
• 8-9 minutes at 8.5
• 2 minutes at 6.0
11-12min speed 9.0
12-14min speed 5.5
14-15min speed 8.5
15-17min speed 6.0
17-18min speed 9.0
18-20min speed 5.5
20-21min speed 8.0
21-25min speed 3.5
SPINNING AWAY
Time: 30 minutes (moderate intensity intervals)
*Note: RPM is revolutions per minute (how fast you are peddling). RPE is rating of perceived exertion on a scale from 1-10. 1= very light, 6-7 is moderately heavy and 10 is maximum effort.
• Warmup 4 minutes – stay seated with light tension RPM* 80, RPE* 3-4
• Minutes 4-8: Increase resistance RPM 80, RPE 5-6
*Stay seated 1 minute, stand one minute with glutes hovering over the seat and repeat)
• Minutes 8-11: Decrease resistance and sit down. Increase speed: RPM 85-100, RPE 5
• Minutes 11-12: Stand up keeping RPM 85-100, RPE 5-6
• Minutes 12-14: Sit down and increase resistance every 30 seconds. RPM 50-70, RPE=6-7
• Minutes 14-17: Stand up and increase resistance each minute. RPM 50, RPE 8-9
• Minutes: 17-26 Repeat minutes 8-17
• Minutes 26-28: Decrease resistance. Stand up and increase speed- RPM 100-125, RPE 9
• Minutes 28-30: Cooldown. RPM 80, RPE 3-4
STAIRMASTER INTERVALS
Time: 40 minutes
• Warmup 5 minutes at Level 4-5
• 1 minute Level 10
• 1 minute Level 7
*Repeat the above pairing 5x
• 1 minute level 12
• 1 minute level 8
* Repeat the above pairing 5x
• 1 minute level 15
• 1 minute level 9
• Repeat the above pairing 5x
• 5 minute cooldown Level 4-5
Great ideas thank you!
Log in to replyThank you so much. Are these for fasted cardio?
Log in to replyhow many times a week do you do cardio whenn off-season?
Log in to replyThanks Nicole! I’ll definitely add these to my routine.
Log in to replyLOVE IT 😀 Thanks!!!
Log in to replyNicole, are you still doing your morning runs at all?
Log in to replyThese look great – but the stairmaster looks like a KILLER!
Hello Nicole I just joined your group and I am so excited! I have my first bikini competition this Saturday…..KY Muscle….so I have been all over your page getting ideas for my post plan…your reverse diet info was great…..my coach currently has me doing 2 hours of steady state per day…so I read how you said to go to about 1/2 the cardio post comp…do u recommend HIIT and distance….I need to get as far away from steady state as possible!
Log in to replyPerfect timing, Nicole!
With the weather changing, I have been struggling to find the motivation to get cardio back into my weekly training routine because I simply don’t enjoy being stuck on a machine! I need to be challenged and I often find indoor cardio tedious and boring. I’m excited to try out some your cardio workouts because the interval pace you’ve set up is always changing, and there’s a nice amount of room to improve and grow.
I need music to help push me through any challenging training/cardio session! Can you tell me, or post your current top 5 favourite songs you love for your toughest training/cardio sessions??
xo Julianne
Log in to replyI love to run outside, but winter in New England often prohibits that. I am looking forward to trying these they look awesome and keep cardio interesting. Thanks Nicole.
Log in to replyCan you do an outdoor video at a park. Live in Chicago. No mountains here. I could only find one you shot outside.
Log in to replyHi Nicole, I am not sure what you mean by *For the rest, do not actually stop the elliptical. Just slow the pace as much as you can without the machine turning off” for the Elliptical. What do you do for rounds
Log in to reply5-8? If anyone can shed some light on this feel free to explain. Thank you for your posts Nicole!
I meant rounds 4- 8.
Log in to replyHoly spin! Great workout sweating like crazy woot woot
Log in to replyAwesome! Thank you so much nicole for keeping us motivated!
Log in to replyI just did the stairmaster intervals. It was quite challenging. I couldn’t recover at 9 for the last pairing. I was too tired by then! So I did one minute at 15 and recovered at 6. Hopefully next time I will complete it exactly the way you intended. Thank you very much for these workouts!
Log in to replyI just did the stairmaster intervals. It was quite challenging. I couldn’t recover at 9 for the last pairing. I was too tired by then! So I did one minute at 15 and recovered at 6. Hopefully next time I will complete it exactly the way you intended. Thank you very much for these workouts!
Log in to replyGreat workouts. Are the speeds in the treadmill glute workout in miles or kilometres per hour?
Log in to replyMiles per hour
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