Cardio machines like the treadmill, rowing, elliptical and stationary cycling are convenient and practical tools to enhance cardiovascular strength and endurance. You set the duration and intensity, and off you go. But they are not the only machines to get your heart rate up and work up a sweat. You are an effective cardiovascular machine. Bodyweight cardio is a fantastic alternative to traditional machine-based cardio when you don’t have access to a gym or are looking for new methods to improve your cardio.
Here we’ll get into the benefits of bodyweight cardio training and five bodyweight cardio exercises to get you sweating and smiling.
Why smiling? Because bodyweight training can be fun, maybe.
3 Benefits Of Bodyweight Cardio
One vital benefit overlooked in a rush to get to the rowing machine is that bodyweight cardio training will simultaneously improve cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength. You’ll improve your relative strength, which is what you can lift in compassion to your body weight. Here are a few other significant benefits of including bodyweight cardio in your routine.
Better Recovery Between Strength Training Workouts: When you improve your aerobic system, you improve the body’s effectiveness of clearing away the waste products of exercise for enhanced recovery. Plus, the extra blood flow to your muscles helps heal the damage caused by resistance training.
Reduced Heart Disease Risk: Regular cardio reduces heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol by lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) and increasing HDL (good cholesterol).
Increased Work Capacity: Improving your cardiovascular system through regular cardio boosts your aerobic system as it becomes more efficient. It improves your ability to do more work in the gym or the sporting field because of the improved efficiency of your cardio-respiratory system.
Programming Suggestions
The two main types of cardio are high-intensity and steady-state cardio. There are a few subtypes, but let’s stick to these. HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) is short, sweet, intense, and steady state is longer and less intense HIIT is thought to be better for fat loss than steady-state training, but both have been proven equally effective. With both being good for health and fat loss, choose on time and preference.
For steady state training, use the five exercises above for 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest for one or two 10-minute blocks. Four rounds should have you feeling the burn.
For HIIT purposes, pick one exercise above and use the following work rest periods and repeat for six to eight rounds. Or you could pick three exercises below and choose the time and the reps and keep the reps the same as the time.
An example would be 10 minutes (and as many rounds as possible) of:
The bear crawl is an excellent exercise that trains many muscle groups, including the shoulders, glutes, hip flexors, abs, calves, chest, forearms, groin, hamstrings, triceps, and lats, to name a few. Not only will bear crawls get your heart rate up, but they will also improve your coordination between your upper and lower body and give you real-world core strength.
How to do it:
1. Start on all fours, hands under your shoulders, and knees under your hips.
2. Press your hands into the ground, and pick up your knees, so they are just above the ground.
3. Then get your back in neutral and get your head up.
4. Crawl forward by taking small steps with your left arm and right leg, then your right and left leg.
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High Skips in Place
High knee skips are one of those warmup drills you may have done at high school. Good memories, right? This is performed in place or moving forwards and is a great bodyweight cardio exercise. The high knee skips will strengthen your core, hip flexors, and single-leg balance and raise your heart rate without a treadmill in sight.
How to do it:
1. Stand up straight with feet hip-width apart while bending your arms to 90 degrees.
2. Skip in place by hopping on your right leg while bringing the left knee up as high as it will go and your right hand toward your temple.
3. Repeat on the other side while skipping and pumping your arms.
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360 Squat Jump
The squat jump is a fantastic bodyweight exercise to improve your weighted squats, vertical jump, and conditioning. But when you add rotation to the mix, it further challenges your rotational strength and heart rate. If you’re a weekend warrior who has to change directions with speed, then this exercise is for you. Plus, doesn’t it look like fun?
How to do it:
1. Get into your preferred squat stance with arms by your side.
2. Then squat, pull your arms back, and explode up and raise your arms in the same direction as the turn.
3. Turn either 180 or 360 degrees—this depends on your ability.
4. Stick the landing, and repeat in the same direction if turned 180.
5. Repeat the movement in the opposite direction.
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Ice Skaters
Ice skaters are performed to strengthen lateral power and deceleration, but it also makes for an excellent bodyweight cardiovascular exercise. The cardio benefits come from the explosive lateral jumps, which test your strength, balance, and coordination while training your adductors, glutes, and quads.
How to do it:
1. Stand on your right leg with your left leg bent at the knee.
2. Bring your left leg behind, jump laterally, and land on your left foot.
3. Stick the landing, reset, and jump to the opposite side.
4. Continue alternating sides for reps or time.
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Triple Extension
Triple extension is the extension of the ankle, knee, and hip joints, which happens with many athletic and gym movements. But performing it as a hybrid squat with calf raise at speed becomes a terrific bodyweight cardio exercise. The triple extension works every muscle from head to toe and is a safe option if lower body plyo moves are a no-go for your joints.
How to do it:
1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointed forward, and arms by your side.
2. Then squat and touch your ankles with your hands,
3. Quickly squat up, going into a calf raise while raising your hands above your head.
4. Roll back to your heels and repeat steps 1-3 as one continuous movement for time.
