Tag Archives: cardio

Arnold Schwarznegger Crashes Reddit Feed and Defends Variety in Fitness Approaches

Redditors got a larger than life surprise while casually scrolling through the fitness feeds today. Celebrities aren’t uncommon on the social site, as their “Ask Me Anything” threads are incredibly popular, but it was a shock to see former California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger show up to chastise the bickering and defend that everyone gets fit differently.

The hubbub started when a Reddit user posted a link to a cardio workout developed by fitness site Fitocracy. The 15 minute workout—aptly dubbed “the best cardio routine humanly possible“—was released in conjunction with The Governator’s 1% Challenge, a crusade that encourages people to devote one percent of their day to fitness. After the posting, hordes of Reddit users did what Reddit users d0: verbally spar in the comment section. (more…)

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Patrick

4 Minute Fitness with the Tabata Method

Would you believe it if someone told you that in just four minutes you would not only improve your fitness level, you would also burn more calories per minute than running ten miles an hour, plus increase your metabolism 30 minutes post workout? According to researcher Dr. Michele Olson, aka, the Exercise Doctor, it’s true! It’s been backed up by numerous research studies, and it’s called the Tabata Training Method.

“This particular style of interval training has profound effects even on short-term, post-exercise metabolism,” has explained Olson. “It would take five times the amount of typical cardio exercise, like a twenty-minute brisk walk, to shed the same number of calories that result from a four-minute Tabata.”

Tabata is an interval training workout designed to push you to your anaerobic threshold for 20 seconds, with a 10 second recovery break, for a total of four minutes. Designed by Izumi Tabata, a Japanese trainer of athletes, the Tabata method seems to be a major breakthrough in fitness training programs. However, it should be practiced with caution. (more…)

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Jill

Saturday Morning Drill: Jump Rope It

Jumping rope is such a versatile exercise because it can be done anywhere, any time, literally using just a piece of rope. It’s also extremely effective and can burn upwards of 730 calories an hour depending on your weight and intensity level, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The best part? You feel hardcore jump roping and it’s fun! It’s an activity for kids and adults, no matter what your experience or fitness level may be.

In this full body workout we use nothing but a jump rope to scorch calories and tone your muscles. Complete the circuit once all the way through, take a three minute break and then repeat it all over again once and even twice for more of a challenge.

If you don’t have a jump rope, just complete the moves as described holding an “imaginary” jump rope. Let’s get started!

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Dana

Wouldn’t be Caught Dead Doing Yoga? DDP Yoga Was Made for You

I admit to shrugging my shoulders when I first heard of the DDP Yoga program, referred to as “Ain’t Your Mama’s Yoga.” Originally titled Yoga for Regular Guys, I thought it was just some egotistical attempt at yoga by some inflexible macho man. I was wrong.

Developed by former pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page, DDP Yoga is not your average yoga. Just minutes into a high-spirited interview I had with Dallas, it was clear that he is not your average yoga teacher.

Muscle-clad, tatted, and standing at a lofty 6 foot 4 inches, you definitely wouldn’t want to be Dallas’ opponent in the wrestling ring, or meet him in a dark alley. But watching Dallas in action on his DDP Yoga DVDs, and speaking with him over the phone, left me inspired. (more…)

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Jill

A Beginner’s Guide to HIIT Training

If you didn’t already know, HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. The simplest way to explain HIIT is that it’s an organized cardiovascular training method. It’s comprised of high intensity exercise intervals of short durations mixed with low intensity intervals for recovery. It requires high effort (on an intensity scale of 1-10, at least a 7) of sprints lasting from thirty seconds to two minutes, followed with a different low intensity exercise lasting 1-2 minutes. The low intensity part of the workout is designed to be a break in order for your body to recover from the sprints and prepare itself to begin sprinting again.

What are the benefits of HIIT?

Why would someone choose HIIT over a standard, lengthier cardio session? The difference between the two is the amount of calories burned after the workout is complete. After finishing a long distance jog, your body stops burning calories as soon as you stop jogging. After HIIT training, you’re body continues to burn calories even after you’re done sprinting. That means you can spend less time on your cardio workout and still burn at least the same amount of calories, if not more. More benefits include: (more…)

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Danielle

Saturday Morning Drill: A Beginner’s Workout for Your New Year’s Resolution

It’s January, and you know what that means. It’s diet season and everyone’s out to be successful with their New Year’s Resolutions. Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain muscle or to just simply become healthier, it’s easier said than done. For a lot people, getting started is the hardest part. Knowing what to start with may be even more difficult.

For this week’s Saturday Morning Drill, we’ve put together a simple beginners workout that can be done anywhere at any time by using nothing but your own body weight. This is a total body workout that will really get your heart beating, the blood flowing and the muscles working. But don’t worry, it’s definitely bearable. The last thing we want to do is discourage you on the first workout!

This workout is divided into four sections. You’ll start with a type of cardiovascular exercise to get your heart rate up and follow it (without rest) with a strength training exercise. Between each section, rest for one to two minutes. Practice this every day for your first week and see if you can work your way up to doing the workout multiple times in a row.

Also Read:

Beginners Guide to Resistance Training

Saturday Morning Drills: Post-Workout Stressing

Absolute Beginners Fitness: 3 in 1 Kettlebell

Posted on January 5, 2024 by Danielle

5 Rookie Fitness Mistakes You Can Correct Today

Would it surprise you to learn I was once an unfit mess? Not that I am perfect today, but about 14 years ago I started a journey to fitness and a quest to reclaim my life and health.

I was a poor college student who didn’t even know what a personal trainer was, much less had the spare cash to afford one. I started with a very inexpensive gym membership and two books: Weight Training for Dummies and Body For Life. Both are great books and I still recommend them today. But they leave a lot of room for interpretation, especially for someone as headstrong as I am.

Needless to say, I made quiet a few mistakes in the beginning of my journey. Let me share a few examples of my early missteps in hopes of saving you the time I wasted and the frustration I experienced.

1. Lifting weights like a guy. I had no idea how to train for fat loss vs. muscle gain. There is nothing wrong with a body part or upper/lower split, like the workout plan in Body for Life, it just isn’t the most effective for ladies trying to lose fat. This is especially true in the beginning. It took me quite a while to learn the value of a well-designed full body workout full of multi-joint compound movements like push ups and squats. (more…)

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Pamela

Saturday Morning Drill: 80s Fitness Revived

When it comes to health and fitness each decade has its own claim to fame. Crossfit, P90x, Zumba, spinning and yoga claimed the 2000s. The Atkins Diet, Soloflex, Tae bo and the release of fitness DVDs claimed the 90s (raise your hand if you still have one or two tapes in your arsenal). And when it comes to the 80s it was almost more about the style than the actual exercises.

Side ponies, bright pastel spandex and scrunchy socks reigned supreme. And so did trampoline workouts, Suzanne Somers and Jane Fonda, who released her first workout video in 1982 titled “Jane Fonda’s Workout.” The video was so well received it sold more than 1 million copies! That’s a lot of workout tapes and spandex, even for the 80s.

Though we have a few 90s-born babies in our office, the majority of our staff was born in the 1980s, meaning we have a personal fondness for fitness from that era (myself included). So this week’s Saturday Morning Drill channels that decade with workout moves that require no equipment and tone your whole body. The best part? It’s an absolute blast. So get on your tightest neon spandex, fashion your hair in a side pony and let’s get started!

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Dana

Fat Burning Workouts for Non-Distance Runners

One of the best ways to lose fat is with some type of cardiovascular activity. The goal is to increase your heart rate in order to throw your body into fat burning mode. But the question is, which type of cardiovascular exercise is right for you?

It’s pretty common for the average American to only think of running as far and as long as they can when the word ‘cardio’ is mentioned. We tend to think that’s the only way to make an impact on the goals we’re trying to achieve.

The truth is, there are many different types of cardio that are either forgotten about or just plain ignored that can actually be extremely beneficial for our health. Try incorporating some of these workouts into your regular routine and note if you see any differences. Changing things up now and again is a great way to get out of plateau stage.

Walking on Incline
While on a treadmill, try adding at least a 5 percent incline. The benefits of walking upwards are tenfold over walking on a flat surface. For starters, it burns almost twice as many calories – walking flat for 30 minutes will burn around 145 calories; but if you raise the incline by only 5 percent, you can burn close to 243 calories.

(more…)

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Danielle

Saturday Morning Drills: Olympic-Style Cycling

We’re now well into the Olympic Games and the excitement has officially set in. Watching American athletes compete so passionately inspires us to want to get out there and hit the pavement, dunk the ball, and stick that landing, too. And today? We want to get down and dirty on the road, cycling style.

To really channel our inner cyclists, we’ve summoned the help of the American Council on Exercise (ACE) for a seriously intense interval workout that you can do at home on a stationary bike, or on the road with a road or mountain bike.

Developed by ACE’s director of professional education, Anthony Wall, this roughly 1-hour workout is sure to blast calories and get your heart rate up quick with a series of challenging intervals.

One hour of cycling can burn between 400-700 calories. But if you don’t have a full hour to devote, simply scale back and shorten your interval times or the length of your warm-up and cool-down.

To measure your level of exertion during the workout, determine your rate of perceived effort of RPE before starting by using a simple 1-5 scale – one being easy and five being difficult. Once you have that scale in mind, it’s time to get started. (more…)

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Dana

Motivational Monday: How Loss and Relationships Inspire Us Toward Better Health

Recently, our DietsInReview team had a big brainstorming meeting to drum up some new and inspiring ideas for the site. My idea? To start a “Motivational Mondays” series to get readers excited about the week ahead.

Motivational Mondays will ideally feature ideas submitted by readers, and can be as simple as a two-sentence line about what motivates you most. This motivation can come from a phrase, quote, or an inspirational figure in your life that plants the desire to do better than the status quo.

Since I came up with the idea of this series, I thought it was appropriate to write about two individuals who motivate me.

My grandmother is my biggest inspiration to achieve nothing but greatness for myself. My grandparents sacrificed their lives to come to America during the Vietnam War. Growing up, she would give me words of wisdom when it came to school, relationships and life, and I just loved how she could gather her children in a room and there would be no bickering or arguing – just love. (more…)

Posted on July 30, 2023 by Samantha

Tag Archives: cardio

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