A Cardio and Strength Workout That Gets It All Done in 15 Min

All of us have an “ideal” fitness routine in our minds. But the fact is that few of us have the time to truly make it occur; it will possibly be logistically difficult to slot in enough separate cardio and resistance training workouts in a given week. Nevertheless, one time-saving workout hack is to do each cardio and strength training on the identical day—and even at the identical time.

Are you able to do a cardio and strength training workout in a single?

While advanced athletes might perform a cardio workout followed by a strength-training workout (or vice versa) inside the same training session, beginners—or those with limited workout time—may not have the luxurious or fitness to accomplish that. Fortunately, in case you structure your workouts with enough intensity, and the appropriate sort of exercises, you possibly can mix cardio and resistance training into one combo workout.

“If you happen to’re really inquisitive about constructing strength, it’s best to separate up your strength and cardiovascular exercises on different days, since you would like your body to deal with constructing muscle after each workout,” Matthew Scarfo, CPT, resident training expert at Lift Vault previously told Well+Good about methods to determine whether to split up or mix cardio and strength workouts. “Splitting up strength and cardio will help your body use all of its available resources, akin to rest and fuel.” Alternatively, he adds, “If you happen to only have three days to work out…it’s totally advantageous to mix your workouts so that you get one of the best impact on your time.”

Generally, one of the best strategy to do that is to make use of circuit training, which is a variety of workout through which you progress from one exercise to the following with little to no rest in between each exercise. By utilizing a circuit training format paired with full-body strength exercises and high-intensity cardio blasts, you possibly can keep your heart rate up throughout the duration of the workout. This offers you the advantages of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or longer steady-state moderate-intensity cardio together with the muscle-building advantages of resistance training in a single fell swoop.

The important thing to success when doing a cardio/strength hybrid workout is to ensure that that you just are pushing your body to the max through the cardio blast and transitioning quickly between the strength exercises in order that your heart rate stays elevated. That said, using proper form and moving through your full range of motion with the entire movements is paramount to make sure safety and maximize the advantages of every exercise.

Do this 15-minute cardio and strength workout

In the newest episode of Well+Good’s Trainer of the Month Club, Lululemon Studio trainer Lonnie Poupard takes us through a 15-minute routine focused on combining cardio and strength in a single workout to capitalize on the advantages of each in an efficient, full-body workout. You’ll perform quite a lot of high-intensity body weight cardio exercises (with low-impact variations if needed) together with a strength-training circuit using a pair of dumbbells.

That is an ideal workout to perform on days when your schedule is packed, but you must push your body and benefit from your workout time.

Format: Three body weight warmup moves, followed by two cardio exercises performed back-to-back twice, then two sets of three strength exercises, followed by a high-intensity blast of cardio for 2 minutes, rounded out with a bit of little bit of core work and a fast cooldown.

Equipment needed: One set of dumbbells and an exercise mat.

Who is that this for?: Anyone who wants a heart-pumping, efficient, fairly high-intensity workout that mixes cardio and strength. There are beginner-friendly, low-impact variations offered throughout.

Warm up

Arm swings

• Stand upright along with your feet barely wider than hip-width apart.
• Swing your arms across the body to open up the front of the body and the chest, and back out.

Alternating knees to chest dynamic stretch

• Bring one knee as much as your chest, hugging it in. Work in your balance as you stretch the glutes and hips.
• Lower the leg and repeat with the opposite leg.
• Keep alternating legs.

High plank

• Get down in your mat in a high plank position along with your hands stacked under your shoulders, squeezing your glutes, inner thighs, and feet together. Spread your fingers wide and take into consideration drawing your belly button in towards your spine, keeping your body in a straight line out of your head to your heels.

First cardio circuit

Stand back up to start the primary cardio circuit, which can be two exercises performed back-to-back twice.

20 seconds of drop squats (low-impact option is regular body weight squats)

• Jump your feet out as you bend your knees and sit your hips back to drop down right into a squat. Reach one hand all the way down to touch the mat.
• Jump back as much as standing.
• Alternate hands with each squat. Keep your chest up, back straight, and shoulders down.

20 seconds of jumping jacks. Use the complete range of motion with arms and feet.

20 seconds of drop squats again, attempting to go faster with more intensity.

20 seconds of jumping jacks. Be deliberate in how you’re moving. Bring your arms up consciously, and really jump your feet out wide. Move as fast as possible.

Strength circuit

Grab your weights. The strength circuit consists of two rounds of three strength training exercises, each performed for 45 seconds, moving right from one to the following.

Reverse lunges

• Stand upright holding a weight in each hand.
• Take an enormous step back with one leg, specializing in bending the back knee to a 90-degree angle. Lean your torso barely forward toward the front knee, but ensure that to hinge from the hips and don’t round your back.
• Bring your feet back together.
• Alternate legs, stepping the opposite leg back right into a reverse lunge. Your heart rate needs to be climbing, but don’t rush: Be certain you’re using your muscles and really working through a deep range of motion.

High plank with shoulder taps and a push-up

• Let go of the weights and move right into a high plank position along with your feet barely wider than hips-width. Engage your core and glutes.
• Lift your right hand and tap your left shoulder after which tap the appropriate shoulder with the left hand (two shoulder taps—one with each hand to the alternative shoulder). Keep your hips and shoulders square to the ground.
• Then, do a full push-up by bending your elbows and lowering your chest to only above the ground. Press through your palms to straighten your arms again.
• Then, do one other two shoulder taps after which a push-up.
• Keep going for 45 seconds.

Squats and single-arm overhead press (or weighted squats)

• Stand back up with the weights at your shoulder height, palms facing in.
• Either do a plain squat, keeping the weights racked here, or squat down after which perform a single-arm dumbbell overhead press, pushing the load straight up into the air as you rise up, one arm per rep and switching arms with the following rep.
• Lower the load back down as you seamlessly transition into the following squat.

30-second break (this is just not a full recovery; your heart rate should still be up)

Repeat this strength circuit another time.

2-minute cardio push

Two rounds of three cardio blasts performed 20 seconds each with no breaks

Switch kicks: Jump your legs forwards and backwards in a shallow lunge pose. Use strong arms, pumping forwards and backwards every time you turn legs.

Jumping jacks (or tap outs to remove impact)

High knees: Alternate bringing each knee as much as hip height on a jump, landing flippantly in your feet. Engage your core and move fast and robust. For a low-impact modification, you possibly can do a high knee march.

Repeat that cardio circuit over again in an all-out effort.

Core and funky down

Bicycle crunches: Press your low back into your mat, and produce your right elbow to your opposite knee, then switch. Beginners can keep the legs up higher off the mat to scale back among the intensity.

Hug the knees to chest and rock side to side for 5-10 seconds.

Repeat the bicycle crunches and knee hug over again.

Figure 4 piriformis and glute stretch: Lie in your back along with your right leg crossed over the left thigh like a figure 4, pulling the left leg towards your chest by reaching behind your thigh and pulling the leg in. Switch legs.

Cat-cow stretches in your hands and knees.

Downward dog, pedaling through the feet with just a few alternating little steps.

Arm swings: Stand all the best way up, and swing your arms across your chest just a few times to loosen up.