In the fitness world, there are three types of people: those who love cardio, those who don’t, and those who also aren’t fans but choose to do it anyway. If I were going to put myself into a category, I’d say I sit firmly in the latter.
From running and skipping to cycling and swimming, I try to keep things interesting by getting stuck into each of these different types of cardiovascular exercise in a bid to improve my heart and lung health and get those all-important endorphins pumping.
And while I feel on top of the world once I’ve completed any type of cardio session, actually mustering up enough energy and motivation to move is a different story entirely. On the days when I just can’t seem to find the willpower to put my runners on and head out the door, I turn to indoor cardio workouts, like this quick 10-minute sweat sesh from Canadian workout instructor Maddie Lymburner of MadFit.
What is this 10-minute cardio fitness workout?
“We are doing 10 minutes of cardio at home with zero equipment,” the fitness instructor explains. “All you need is yourself, there are no repeats involved, and there is also no jumping.” Meaning? Your knees will thank you later, and if you live in your apartment, so will your neighbours!
Ten exercises feature in total in this 10-minute cardio workout, and all moves are completed standing. To help keep things interesting, each exercise is organized into 45 seconds of work, followed by 15 seconds of rest.
But don’t be fooled into thinking this ‘rest’ period will involve you hitting pause. Lymburner suggests marching on the spot or completing some step jacks to keep your heart rate up and your body moving. The same goes for if you’re unable to complete any move for the full 45-second interval.
What I discovered from doing this workout
I’ve long been a fan of bodyweight workouts, and after completing this short session, it’s only heightened my love for them. Within 10 minutes, I was able to get my endorphin fix and dampen that guilty feeling I get when I pass on a workout or ditch a run. Instead, swapping this session in and my run out served as the ultimate cardio fix.
From just using bodyweight exercises like high knee drives, side steps with an arm swing and step squats, along with heel kicks and standing crunches, I was able to help give my full-body strength a boost and get my heart rate up a notch or two, too.
At first, I was a bit put out after discovering that there would be no rest periods in between each exercise. But this lack of rest essentially mimicked the ‘always on’ motion I experience when I’m out on a run or clocking up some kilometers on a stationary exercise bike.
This meant that even after the first couple of exercises, I could feel my heart pumping to keep up with my movement and my happy exercise hormones working their way around my body.
Plus, due to the fact that this workout only included standing exercises and zero jumps, it served as the ideal low-impact way to still tick off some cardio without putting pressure through my joints.
After the 10 minutes were up, I’d racked up just under 1,500 steps, which isn’t bad at all considering it’s 1,500 steps more than I would have done if I decided to ditch my bout of exercise entirely. And thanks to the short and speedy nature of this session, carving out another 10 or 20 minutes to complete this workout again could help me up my step count to 5,000.
I realize that 10 minutes of exercise a day won’t help you hit the American Council of Exercise’s guidelines — which state that you should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week — but I’ve long been a champion of any movement is better than none at all. And that’s a sentiment I stand by. Even when I’ve only got 10 minutes of motivation, my mind and body always feel thankful that I’ve moved. And this cardio workout was no different.
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