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The beginners guide to cardiovascular (cardio) exercise...

The benefits of cardio...

a leaner body, a figure, toned muscles and a healthy body. But only if you keep it up.

also:


Any of the following exercises done three times a week (properly) for 20-30 minutes should give the above results. [working up to doing 4 or more days a week will give even better results, but dont forget to take breaks inbetween otherwise you could injure yourself or put your health at risk]

A good way to plan your exercise (with the three day exercise) is:

first day: Hard| Day after: break| second day: medium| Day after: break| third day: hard

If you are doing a short exercise (20 minutes) make your work out more intense, if you are doing long (an hour) then ease up a bit.

A good cardio exercise is running.

If available find a good track and run for about 20 minutes three times a week (three times a week is recommended), try to work up to 30 minutes. REMEMBER: go at your own pace, beginners cannot run a mile in 4 minutes!


running helps with your thighs, calves, lower abs, and butt area.

You cant go wrong with jumping jacks

Im a big fan of jumping jacks, do jumping jacks before a cardio work out for one minute straight. good work out, gets your blood flowing.

skip like boxer

skipping is an effective but intense way to do cardio. skip for five minutes continuously. do not jump wit both feet at the same time as it will hurt you knees. hop from foot to foot, try not to kick up/back your feet as this will tire you. the smaller the hop, the longer you can go.

Bicycling - stationary or outdoors is a great cardio exercises, depending on resistance and speed can but 250 to 500 calories in 30 minutes.

rollerblading (unless its intense and continuous) isnt a great cardio exercise... but i guess if you do a lot of it then it might help

I have that problem, but it's minimised since I started working out about 13 weeks ago (not doing a lot, but doing some), I've found that doing hamstring curls really help.

If you have a swiss ball:

Lie flat on your back and put your heels up on the top of the ball
Arms out wide
Lift your bum up so that you are resting on your shoulders (on the ground) and your heels (on the ball) - your arms are on the ground to stabalise you
Roll the ball in with your heels by bending at your knees
Roll it back out
Do this as often as you can



But try not to lift up on your shoulders too high as it could hurt your neck

I found that this aided (with cardio work) to tone the muscles. It works more then your hamstrings as when you're doing it, you need to use the rest of your body to try to remain as still as possible.

And another good one for your adductor muscles (inner thighs):

Place the swiss ball inbetween your legs just above your heels (middle of the ball)
Squeeze the ball with both legs hard - but still comfotably
Hold it for a couple of seconds and release the pressure



Other good exercises you can do with a tyre tube which you can buy from a hardware store for around a $1 or less.

Tie it into a circle
Place it around something secure (like a bed leg)
Put your foot in the circle and step out until the tyre is showing some resistance (the further you step out, the harder the exercise)
Stand with feet together
Move your leg you're working across past your other leg
Hold for a second or two, return and repeat



(Sorry bout the bitmap image, but couldn't find a real pic online showing it)

These aide, but not help it completely. I'm still working on it, but I have lost enough there so far that the rubbing is minimised, just need to loose some more so that I don't get the rubbing at all.

So still need to do cardio work with it smile

Swiss balls are really versitile and good for toning up and stengthening.