At first I thought about just blowing off the whole workout but couldn’t since I was supposed to work chest & back the day before and blew it off. I couldn’t do that twice in a row. I just determined to work quickly and try to get in enough sets for both chest and back before the gym closed.

After a couple minutes warm up I grabbed a couple of 85 lb.

dumbbells and did a slow controlled set of 8 reps of flat dumbbell bench presses. 3 second negative, 2 second positive. That felt pretty good, so I rested about 60 seconds and managed to squeeze out 5 reps with the same dumbbells on the next set.

After only another 60 seconds rest, I decided that I wanted to do some higher rep sets. So I picked up a pair of 65 lb.

dumbbells and lowered myself to the bench. All of a sudden those 65 lb. dumbbells felt almost as heavy as the 85’s! I could only squeeze out 8 reps! What gives?

Still wanting to do at least 12 reps, I dropped down to the 55’s, once again after only a 45 to 60 second rest. I could only squeeze out 8 reps with the 55’s and they were feeling mighty heavy, too!

Ok, this was getting ridiculous. I dropped down to 45’s (normally I use these for my warm up) and finally was able to squeeze out a set of 12 reps but my chest was on fire during those last several reps. I was huffing and puffing like a steam engine.

Onto my back workout:

Same thing! Resting only 45 to 60 seconds was fatiguing my muscles rather quickly and making me drop to lighter poundages to stay in the rep zones I wanted to be in.

See, I usually do heavy sets of 5 to 8 reps with a good 2 to

3 minutesrest in between. Cutting my rest times to 60 seconds or less drastically increased the intensity of my workout.

The next day I was more sore than I’ve been in a long time.

Obviously I had imposed a stress that my body wasn’t used to.

If you’re going a little stale in your workouts, try reducing the rest between sets to 45 to 60 seconds and see what happens.

You might be pleasntly surprised!

Walking is the most common of cardio exercise. Walking is a very low-impact exercise, and is one of the few cardio exercises that can be incorporated into your own lifestyle. Another way walking can be used is power walking. Power walking at the gym is easy because you can just hop on a treadmill and take off.

You should choose a walking routine that emphasizes incline movements and you should alternate paces.

Jogging is the most common exercise known to the public. Most jogging program’s paces are determined on one’s physical conditioning. Beginner joggers should practice speed walking before they progress to a jogging routine. Jogging is not for everyone because it can be hard on your knees and is simply not an option when it is zero degrees outside. Jogging is a very good cardiovascular exercise because it burns twice as many calories per hour than that of walking.

Sprinting is running as fast as you can until you cannot run any further. This method of cardio should not be used by beginners.

Sprinting is the quickest way to do cardio that can be performed to burn calories because it only takes five to ten minutes to get an effective workout. However, sprinting can be dangerous to your body if proper warm-up isn`t in place. Make sure that you stretch thoroughly prior to sprinting because the quick movements cause an injury.

Dance is another popular method of cardio and is actually one of the few cardio exercises that are fun. Everywhere you look, it is almost certain that you can find a dance class to join. There are so many different dance styles available that it would be impossible to list all of them.

Indoor cycling, also known as spinning, is a new health club craze.

This intense workout targets the lower body, giving the quads, glutes, and hamstrings a good workout. Using stationary bikes that aim at increasing endurance, classes using the spinning exercise is a perfect way of getting a good workout and motivational boost at the same time. Almost every health club has a cycling class that you can join and the application process is easy.

Each forty-five minute session that you perform will burn 500-700 calories, who wouldn’t want to indoor cycle?

The best part about swimming is that it is not stressful on your body. Water aerobics offer the same support as swimming, but instead of propelling your body from one end of the pool to the other, you use the water as resistance to burn calories and tone muscle. Both methods are refreshing alternatives to boring cardio and will give you a good workout without getting sweaty.

Another reason swimming is a good exercise is that the water decreases the stress on your joints, and it helps people with joint problems incorporate exercise into their lifestyle.

For people who live in cold areas, ice skating is the preferred method over rollerblading. However both methods serve the same purpose and that is to get you active. These exercises are fun to do and are great for the lower body. If you want a more challenging exercise you can simply rollerblade uphill, but be careful when you are going back down because the excess speed may cause you to crash. Which brings me to the downside of rollerblading. It is a very dangerous exercise and you must wear protective equipment at all times. You also might try to show off when your ability levels are not so great and you could injure yourself if you are not careful.

Cardiovascular exercise wouldn’t be fun without the different methods that are available. Try them all out and determine which ones that you like best. If you’re a beginner, I suggest that you start out by going on a walk or a harmless swim. But once you get more advanced, then start incorporating more of the techniques that I explained above. Cardio doesn’t always have to be hard, it can actually be fun if you approach it properly.

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Other Zack Bashore Articles: Post-Workout Nutrition, Fat Facts

Tags: Cardio, Cardiovascular, Exercise