Cardio Done Smarter (Not Harder)

Let's face it, I've gotten to a place where I hate cardio. My goals have transitioned towards strength training and it's hard to find the fortitude to get my buns on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, etc., etc. However, it's a necessary evil that I've been avoiding far too much lately. After scoping out the July issue of my Oxygen magazine and seeing a walking workout on the treadmill I thought a couple of things: first was - "walking can't possibly be enough for me to feel I exerted myself and why even bother with this work out?" Second was, "I don't feel like doing running intervals today, walking? Let's do this!"


That being said, let me tell you, a walking work out can be tough. I added some additional cardio at the end to amp things up a bit more. Here's what it all looked like:

• Minutes 0-5 at 3.5 speed 1.0 incline
• Minutes 5-6 at 3.5 speed 3.0 incline
• Minutes 6-7 at 3.5 speed 5.0 incline
• Minutes 7-8 at 3.5 speed 7.0 incline
• Minutes 8-9 at 3.5 speed 9.0 incline
• Minutes 9-10 at 3.0 speed 11.0 incline
• Minutes 10-11 at 3.0 speed 13.0 incline
• Minutes 11-17 at 3.0 speed at 15.0 incline
• Minutes 17-18 at 3.5 speed at 10.0 incline
• Minutes 18-19 at 3.5 speed at 5.0 incline
• Minutes 19-20 at 3.5 speed at 3.0 incline
• Minutes 20-25 at 3.5 speed at 2.0 incline

After the 25 minute walking work out I did a 10 minute mile at 2.0 incline and followed it up with a few quick 20-second intervals at 7.0 minute mile speed with no incline. Now, as I said, I have been hating on cardio lately but after this work out the first thing I thought was "damn it feels good to sweat." You can't deny it's a critical part of the weekly routine especially if you're a lady and you're still trying to cut down on your body fat.