Mix Up Your Cardio Workout

In cardio exercise, try different machines out to mix up your workout. This way, you'll keep your body from getting used to one type of exercise, and you'll be less likely to get bored.

The treadmill is a great way to burn a lot of calories. It can be used for running at any speed and incline, and is great for interval training. Also, the speed can be controlled to ensure that a desired speed is maintained throughout the workout. Listening to music or watching television while exercising on a treadmill can make the exercise go by very fast. If you’ve got more time in your hands or aren’t in very good shape yet, walking on the treadmill is also a good exercise. Studies have shown that walking provides many health benefits such as reducing the risk of heard disease and diabetes.

The elliptical machine provides a non-impact workout that still burns a lot of calories. There isn’t the excessive pressure on the knees and joints that come with exercising on a treadmill. Studies have shown that while it may even feel less strenuous than running on a treadmill, the workout you get is close to the same intensity as that on a treadmill* so a similar number of calories are burned. The resistance can be adjusted for a low or high intensity exercise. Some have both lower and upper body components, which allows for even more calorie-burning.

The stationary bike is another non-impact cardio machine. The resistance can usually be increased to challenge the leg muscles. But because the exercise only uses the upper leg muscles, fewer calories are burned than on other machines like the treadmill or elliptical machine.

*(ACE FitnessMatters, Elliptical Trainer Proves Effective, Volume 4, Issue 2, Mar/Mar, 1998, p. 4. )