We are in Day 3 of our Perform Beautifully Workout Challenge and one of the most popular questions I’ve seen is about cardio and breaking up the workout. I recommend that when you are first starting a workout program that you don’t break up your session. Why? keep reading…
What if I can’t do 60 minutes?Â
This week’s challenge is to workout 60 minutes 6x week with each workout broken down into: 30 min cardio, 20 min strength training and 10 min core. However, some people have said 60 minutes at once is too much, so they’ve been breaking it up. This ok to do if you can’t set aside a full hour, but I’d rather you schedule 60 minutes each day just to focus on yourself. This will get you in the habit of working out each day and making it a priority vs. trying to squeeze it in and putting other things first. Breaking up workouts into 2 sessions works if you are a little more advanced and want to get in longer or more intense cardio session (like doing a long training run for a race) and then prefer to do weight training later or vice versa. This only works for those that are more dedicated and have no problem committing to a workout schedule. But – if you are at the beginner/intermediate level or need to lose weight – I recommend you get it all done at once. If it’s too hard and you aren’t used to working out that long – just decrease the intensity of your cardio and also take mini breaks to catch your breath and drink some water. Set your timer for 60 minutes and just knock it out!
I’m sore – should I still workout?Â
Yes – just take down the intensity. Read my blog post here:Â https://www.cari-fit.com/2012/09/dealing-with-soreness/Â
How hard should my cardio be?Â
For cardio – it’s good to mix things up. Some weeks (or workout days) do a steady session and work on increasing your endurance. Other times, do interval workouts mixing high, medium and low intensities. However, if you are following my challenge – this first week we are doing 30 minutes of steady cardio. Basically, I want you guys to focus on steady intensity at a medium pace – whatever that is for you. Since this is our first week, I’d like for you try to do cardio for 30min without stopping. If this means mixing in some walk breaks, marching in place (if you are doing a dvd, etc) or you slow your pace on the bike – that’s totally fine. If you are more advanced – try to do a steady 30min workout that is at medium to med/hard effort. We will change this up next week!
