It’s all well and good trying to grow big arms or get stronger, but having some cardio in the mix is still really important. The thing with cardio is that people's minds often turn to things like running (which you either love or hate) or boring pieces of gym equipment, like the treadmill or stepper machine. But we’re here to tell you, cardio doesn’t have to be boring, especially with this fun, short circuit, which also works your abs too — result!
Incorporating cardio into your training is important for your body’s overall health. There’s so many benefits, but one of the most important ones is that it strengthens your heart. It does this by helping it to pump more blood around the body, supplying your muscles with more oxygen, which then helps it to function better. It also helps to strengthen your muscles and aids weight loss too, as it’s great for burning calories.
This cardio circuit is super short and could either be done as a full workout, or if you’re someone who does strength training, either as your warm-up or at the end of your workout. All you need is a skipping rope (don’t worry if you don’t have this, we provide an alternative exercise you can do instead, or you can buy one from our best HIIT workout gear guide). You’ll start off with 20 seconds of skipping then have four ab exercises to complete and in between each one you’ll do another 20 seconds of skipping. Here’s what they are:
- Crunches
- Jackknife (alternatively just do flutter kicks if this is too hard)
- Sit up with a twist
- Side plank and reach (just hold a normal plank for 10 seconds if this is too tricky)
- Do 10 reps of each exercise
If you don't own a skipping rope then you can do some jumping jacks in between. Although, we really do advise investing in one, not only are they an affordable piece of gym equipment, but skipping in general is great cardio and can burn between 15 to 20 calories per minute. If you're unsure how to skip efficiently, check out our skipping guide, or check out our other skipping rope workout that can help you can burn 150 calories in 10 minutes.
