Top Tips for Effective Cardio
If weight loss is you goal, keep an eye out for the 3 things, and you’re more than likely on your way to success!
No-one likes to waste time. That applies to most things in life, not just health and fitness, but absolutely no-one wants to waste time during cardio. Not many of the people I know (even my super fit pals), love doing their cardio. It is usually a supplement to the exercise activity they truly love, but a necessary evil for them to achieve their goals. That’s much like myself; I don’t LOVE it, and I won’t dive out of bed to do it, but I sure as hell do not want to waste my time when I do show up to do it.
So what is it you can do to ensure you also don’t waste your time? There are a a few fail-safe things you should watch out for when conducting your favourite cardio activity. If weight loss is you goal, keep an eye out for the 3 things, and you’re more than likely on your way to success!
Your Skin Should Feel Hot
If you’re working to your potential, your skin should feel hot to the touch. That’s right, you should be feeling the heat! When your heart rate goes up and you start to sweat, the first sign your body is working to capacity is that heat on your skin. You might feel like you’re radiating (and that will pass), but it is a sure sign your working hard during your cardio time, and that’s what you want!
You Should be Short of Breath
Cardio does not have to be too challenging if you’re looking to improve your heart health. However, if weight loss is your goal, being short of breath is a good sign you’re working hard enough. You shouldn’t be able to hold a conversation, let’s put it that way. Honestly, if you can ‘have a chat’ on the cardio machines, you aren’t getting the most out of your time. Try your best to focus on the task, and work to the capacity you can where you can’t have a chat — that means you’re out of breath and NOT wasting your cardio time.
You Should be Sweating
Although sweat is not a marker of hard work (I don’t often sweat when completing my weights workout), when cardio is on the cards, it certainly is. If you want to see results from your cardio workouts fast, you should be sweating! There are differing ways to do this of course; find a machine you like and challenge yourself on the higher levels, get outside and be a part of a boot camp, even a sport that gets you running. There is no right or wrong way to sweat it out, but if you want to see change from your cardio, you need to sweat.
Tiny tweaks, and these small things to be aware of can save you hours of heartache and pain when you don’t see the results you are after. Balanced with a healthy diet that suits your end game, paying attention to these few things is only going to help you along your way. Got any other tips for cardio? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear your experiences.
