We usually associate cardio with exercises such as running, riding a bike, or the typical cardio machines in the gym. But cardio is any exercise that involves putting a large part of our muscle mass to work for a longer or shorter time. Today we will see some exercises to do cardio at home.
The only material you may need is, at most, a music player to liven up the cardio session at home. Within the exercises that we are going to present you, you can play with the intensity making the exercise more or less fast. My recommendation is that you do a minute followed by each exercise, with little rest between them and, if possible, repeat 2-3 times each exercise …
Knees up or skipping on site
The simple fact of having to raise the knees in an alternating and repeated way, is an exercise that requests most of the muscle groups of our anatomy, but especially the hip flexors, which causes our heart to set to work.
The faster we do this exercise, the more intensity we will be getting. Likewise, the higher we raise our knees , the more complicated the exercise will be. So, beginners: we raise knees almost at hip height and at medium speed, and advanced: we raise knees at hip height or more and try to put more speed.
Heels back or run on site
An exercise similar to the previous one and resembling “running on the spot”, but here are the knee flexors (ischia) which do almost all the work, although braking and simulating the stroke movement makes it a Cardio exercise
Here it is the same as in the previous exercise, if we want to get more intensity, what we do is increase the speed of the legs and arms , pretending that we run faster.
Jumping jacks
Jumps accompanied by movement of arms, thus we manage to mobilize the whole body. As we jump, we separate legs and join arms up. When jumping again, we gathered legs and lowered arms. An exercise that, a priori, seems very simple, but as the second pass does not seem so easy to endure.
This exercise can also be made more intense by making the jumps higher, separating the legs more by jumping and raising the speed of execution. Also we can put a squat when we open the legs, this already for advanced.
Climb to a chair or step
This is a pure exercise of legs, but that will make our heart beat to the beat of the beautiful. Everything that rises high, our body costs and has to use energy and muscle work.
We can simply climb onto a chair, table or step we have at home. First with one leg, we go down and up with the other. Here, for greater intensity, we can play with the height of the step, the higher, more intense. The speed at which we go up and down also influences.
Squatting without weight or Air Squat
A fundamental exercise that can not be lacking in any routine. The squat usually identifies it with a pure exercise of strength, but if we do not add weight and do it “in the air”, it is a strength-endurance exercise.
Of course, it is necessary to be very present in this exercise to perform the technique correctly, as explained in the video. Here, to add more intensity, rather than make them fast, I would add a small jump when climbing or, also, hold down a few seconds before climbing.
Jump rope
The other day we talked in an article on how to jump rope is one of the ways to get in shape without having to go to the gym. Combo offers many possibilities and is an easy material to achieve.
From making simple jumps to doing double jumps, alternating legs or shifts, there is a great variety of exercises that we can do with the combo. If you are, rookie in this jump rope, the simple fact of doing 20 jumps in a row, is a challenge.
Mountain climber or climber
We can consider the exercise of the climber as one of the most intense cardio level. Having to hold in position while doing the leg movement causes our whole body to be in tension and that “burns” a lot.
In this exercise increasing the intensity is simple, since you have to make the movement at a higher speed, which will mean a considerable increase of fatigue. I would say that in this exercise the speed increase is the most noticeable fatigue.