3 Cardio Workouts

Here are some quick ways to gain your recommended 30 mins of daily exercise at an intensity which will make the difference. Don’t forget to mix your cardio with a balance of energising exercises, stretching and resistance training.

Long, Slow Distance (LSD) Workouts

What: As its name implies, LSD workouts are long, continuous aerobic workouts at a low intensity during which you cover a great distance.

Why: LSD workouts target many factors associated with aerobic metabolism, increasing the number of red blood cells, hemoglobin concentration, muscle capillary and mitochondrial volumes and aerobic enzymes. These cellular adaptations enhance fat oxidation at the same absolute exercise intensity, helping you to become better fat burning machines. In addition to burning many calories during LSD workouts, you metabolic rates remain elevated for hours afterward, continuing to burn calories.

How: Use almost any piece of cardio equipment in the gym to do LSD workouts, including a treadmill, bike or rowing machine. They can also run or cycle outside or swim in the pool. The more muscles involved and the more weight-bearing the exercise, the more calories they’ll burn during the workout. Do these workouts at about 65 to 70 percent maximum heart rate for at least one hour, increasing the length of time as their training progresses.

Tempo Workouts

What: Tempo workouts are performed at the intensity corresponding to your lactate (burn) threshold. While you use both fat and carbohydrates for energy during exercise, these two fuels provide that energy on a sliding scale. As you increase intensity up to your lactate threshold, the contribution from fat decreases while the contribution from carbohydrates increases. When you exercise at an intensity above your lactate threshold, they use only carbohydrates.

Why: Since tempo workouts are performed at the highest intensity you can maintain aerobically, these workouts are great for burning fat. Although the percentage of calories from fat is small when exercising at or slightly below their lactate threshold intensity, the total number of calories being burned per minute is much higher than at a lower intensity. In short, tempo workouts give you the best aerobic bang for your time.

How: Like with LSD workouts, you can use any piece of cardio equipment in the gym for tempo workouts. To get the most from tempo workouts, they should be performed at the intensity corresponding to your lactate threshold. For unfit people, this intensity is approximately 75 percent maximum heart rate. If you are more aerobically fit, it’s about 80 to 85 percent max heart rate. Subjectively, these workouts should feel “comfortably hard.” You can do tempo workouts continuously for about 15 to 20 minutes or as shorter segments (e.g., five minutes) with short recovery periods (one minute).

Interval Workouts

What: Interval workouts alternate high intensity work periods with low intensity recovery periods. There are four variables that can be manipulated within an interval workout: time (or distance) of each work period, intensity of each work period, time of each recovery period and number of repetitions.

Why: A number of studies have shown that the more intense the exercise, the more and longer post workout metabolic rate is elevated and the more calories are burned, even while you sit on the couch recovering from their workouts.

How: You can do interval workouts on a treadmill, bike, rowing machine or outside on a running track. For long interval workouts, run, cycle or row for two to four minutes at 95 percent maximum heart rate with recovery periods equal to or slightly less than the time of the work period. Repeat each hard-easy cycle three to five times. For short interval workouts, run, cycle or row at slightly less than an all-out sprint for 20 seconds to one minute with recovery periods two to three times as long as the time of the work period. Repeat each hard-easy cycle five to eight times (see Sample Cardio Program below).

Sample Cardio Program

Include a warm up and cool down before and after interval and tempo workouts. Alternate weeks one and two, increasing the volume of the workouts as you progress.

	Day	Interval Workout	Tempo Workout	LSD Workout
Week 1	Tuesday	5-8 x 30 seconds fast w/1 minute recovery
	Friday		15-20 minutes @ LT intensity (~80% max HR)
	Sunday			60 minutes @ 65-70% max HR
Week 2	Tuesday	3-5 x 3 minutes @ 95% max HR w/ 2 minutes recovery
	Friday		5 x 5 minutes @ LT intensity (~80% max HR) w/ 1 minute rest
	Sunday			75 minutes @ 65-70% max HR

* LT = lactate threshold; HR = heart rate

Time is a valuable commodity. If you don’t have the time for cardio every day but still want to improve your cardiovascular fitness and lose fat, try these three cardio workouts. Imagine what you can do with all of the time they’ll save!

Related content: