5 Steps To Cardio Fitness Fun

For many of us, cardio feels likes a chore! Often feeling long, drawn-out and boring, the thought of cardio can be enough to make you skip a workout. Exercises like resistance training can feel more challenging and worthwhile than some cardio exercises, but cardio packs a punch in terms of health benefits.

Cardio fitness is really important. It is really good for our cardiovascular health and aerobic capacity, improving our fitness levels and increasing circulation around the body –which contributes to quicker recovery time! Cardio is also great for fat loss. So whether you need to improve your health, or just get a little leaner, cardio exercises within your workout plan are key to reaching your fitness goals.

In case we haven’t convinced you yet, we’ve come up with five steps to cardio fitness fun.

Join group exercise

Group exercise, whether it is a group personal training session, a group class or a walk with your friends can really make cardio more enjoyable. Working out in a group benefits people in different ways, if you’re a competitive person you may find yourself competing within the group –if not group exercise classes are great for morale as you’re all in the same boat together! Not only can group exercise introduce you to heaps of different exercises and workouts you might not have tried before, but it can add a real boost to your social life –who knows who you could meet?

Enter an event

Often training for an event boosts our motivation to work out. Sign up for a charity run or bike ride –or if you’re feeling extra adventurous, how about a triathlon? Having to train for an event will practically FORCE you to do your cardio workout. Plus, if you take part in a charity event, you’ll feel extra good about it.

Find a workout buddy

Find yourself a workout buddy, you can keep each other motivated –plus you are much less likely to skip your workout if it means cancelling on a Friend. If you can find a motivated friend, you’ll feel more energised too, and the pair of you will be less likely to find yourselves in a restaurant instead!

Get 'appy

From run trackers to video game simulation mobile phone applications, there are tons of apps available to make your cardio more fun. One of the most bizarre developments has been an app that you can listen to through your headphones that has sound effects as though you are being chased by zombies. The idea is that the faster you run, the more likely you are to win the game and working on your cardio fitness –now if that doesn’t get you running, then I don’t know what will!

Find a distraction

Particularly at the gym, we find ourselves watching the clock, there’s nothing longer than a treadmill minute! Whether it means putting your towel over the machine screen, listening to music or an audiobook –try to do something to take your mind off the time. Many of you are even watching your favourite series in the gym to make the time fly.

You could try mixing up your cardio, doing ten minutes rowing, ten minutes cycling, ten minutes running. Switching from machine to machine will help to keep you going for longer.