You have your main workouts and plan ready to follow.
There’s a good chance you have already noticed that it is all about the strength & there is no ‘cardio’ planned in.
This part is completely optional and up to you.
If you’re like me and really don’t enjoy cardio, I would recommend you focus on your step count. I would suggest you treat this the same way as your calories and work for an average over your week of at least 10,000 steps per day.
Firstly, it is important that you understand that you do not need excessive cardio to achieve fat loss. Your first focus for this should be making sure you are in a deficit. The most accurate way to measure this is to focus on your calorie target set and the workout plan in the app. However, if it is something you want to do or even enjoy around your training plan, there are plenty of different options to choose from.
Cardio equipment, sports and fitness classes are a common way to add cardio into your workouts. If possible I would suggest doing this on a different day or different time of day from your training plan. This is to ensure that you have enough energy to complete the exercises required to the best of your ability and get the most from them.
If this is not possible, please prioritise your training plan (days 1-3) on the app. If you still want to add cardio and can only do it in the same session, do it at the end of your strength training. If you are already tired from cardio, there is a strong chance you won’t have the energy required to complete your workout to your best ability. This also has a high risk of injury as form could be compromised, as well as your progress.
Outside of sports and fitness classes you may wish to perform your own cardio sessions.
This can be split into two main types:
- LISS: Low Intensity Sustained State. This should be performed at 20-30% of your max effort, for a minimum of 30-45 mins.
- HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training. Alternating between bursts of 100% max effort, followed by 20% or less active recovery.
This can be set to a range of timings of your choosing. If you’re new to this and want to try, I would suggest keeping it simple with a split of 30 seconds at 100% and 30 seconds active recovery. You can adjust this as you see fit, dependent on your own personal current fitness level and rate of recovery.
I would suggest doing this for anywhere between 15-30 mins max.
Some suggestions for either LISS or HIIT:
Gym cardio equipment – such as rower, treadmill, bike, ski erg.
Walking/ Running, Skipping, Boxing pads or bag work, Swimming, Outdoor cycling, Strength based circuits.
This can be all tracked on your app:
- Head to your members area dashboard.
- Click ‘+’ in the bottom right
- Click ‘Activity’
- Select from the list. If your activity is not included, you can select ‘General’ at the bottom of the list and add a note to keep a record of what you did.
Both types are effective in increasing cardio fitness, so if you are looking to add cardio in, pick the option you enjoy the most and go for it.
