Cardio exercise is a must for everyone. Cardio workouts help strengthen your heart and release all kinds of good brain chemicals, like endorphins. Cardio exercise has also been shown to help you sleep better and help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and other lifestyle diseases. Oh, and cardio exercises burn lots of calories!
As part of our 31-day workout challenge, we’ve developed the steady state cardio workout. You choose the cardio exercise you want to perform from our list of options. All of the cardio options in our video require gym equipment, but if you can’t make it into the gym, you don’t have to skip cardio day. We’ve developed easy, at-home modifications. See our list below:
Dealer’s Choice At-Home Cardio Exercises
Ready for a great cardio workout? Choose one of the following options:
Stair Climber: 15 – 20 minutes
Do you have a staircase in your home? Then you have all the equipment you need to perform this exercise, though you might want to turn up your favorite playlist. For a fun alternative, find a long staircase in your area, maybe at a museum or park.
During your stair climb, keep up a steady pace. You should feel the burn in your quads, glutes, and calves.
Incline Walk: 20 – 30 minutes
If you have a treadmill at home, set the incline at five percent, and choose a speed of 2.0 – 3.5. Don’t have a treadmill? Don’t worry! Nature will provide. Find a nice big hill in your neighborhood or at the local park and get walking. Try to push your pace on the hill and enjoy the nice burn in your quads and glutes.
Stationary Bike/Non-Stationary Bike: 30 – 40 minutes
Got a stationary bike at home? Great! Blast your favorite playlist and start pedaling. If you don’t have a stationary bike, you probably have a bike, right? Hit the road. Biking outside will give you fresh air, great views, and lots of variety. If you are riding on the road, make sure you bike with the flow with traffic. Ideally, you’ll want to choose roads with bike lanes. Other biking options include parks and dedicated bike paths. You’ll get a great workout in your quads.
Elliptical: 20 – 30 minutes /Jump Rope
If you don’t happen to have an elliptical machine in your house, you can still get a great cardio workout. Inexpensive and space-saving, jump ropes can be your perfect cardio companion. Try jumping for 30-seconds on, followed by 30-seconds of rest for ten sets.
That will give you five minutes of cumulative jump roping. It may not seem like much, but you’ll feel it in your calves during those last minutes! As you improve your balance and coordination, try adding different jump rope techniques into your workout.
Rowing Machine: 15 – 20 minutes
If you happen to live near a body of water, you may own a paddleboard, raft, or kayak. Don’t let this great piece of exercise equipment gather dust in your basement or garage. Grab a paddle and take it out onto the water. Rowing is an excellent upper body workout that will strengthen your shoulders, triceps, traps, and upper back muscles.
Which Cardio Exercise Will You Choose?
What are you waiting for? Pick your cardio workout and get started! We encourage you to try a different option each week so that you can force your body to adapt to different kinds of exercises. Want even more great workout options? Take a look at our 31-day workout calendar.
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