No matter how much you love exercising, long cardio sessions can get boring. In addition, as we come into fall and winter here in the northern hemisphere, indoor cardio workouts can become a necessity which can lead to some mind-numbing treadmill or elliptical workouts.
Since boredom can kill the best of intentions, today’s episode of the Willpower Not Required Podcast has some tips to help you ditch the dull cardio. Listen on your favourite podcast player or watch below.
While we are on the topic of mixing up your cardio routine, jumping rope is an exercise that you can do just about anywhere that packs a lot of benefits in a short intense workout. Studies have shown that 10 minutes of jumping rope can improve your cardiovascular fitness just as much as 30 minutes of jogging! Now, if you’ve tried jumping rope as an adult you are probably thinking to yourself “10 minutes??!! I can barely do 1 minute!” Yep, an activity we might have been able to do for hours as kids can kick our butts in minutes as an adult. Don’t let that hold you back though! Jumping rope is effective, convenient and fun. As with everything, just start small and build over time.
As far as exercise equipment goes, jump ropes are portable, easy to find and extremely cost effective. I was recently approached by 75Workout and asked to try out their smart jump rope and provide my feedback. Here are my thoughts:
The smart rope takes the convenience of skipping up a notch as it connects to your phone via Bluetooth and automatically tracks your time and number of jumps and keeps track of your progress over time. You don’t actually have to use the smart phone app because the rope itself keeps track of everything as well. (I did find the app a little less user friendly and harder to navigate than I had hoped but I am told that updates are coming soon.)
The rope itself is good quality with aluminum handles and can be adjusted for any height. The battery doesn’t take long to charge and lasted me just short of a month with regular use. If you set the app or rope for ‘free jumps’, it will just start recording when you start skipping. It stops automatically when you stop, so if you trip over the rope (like I often do) the time will pause so you are only keeping track of actual skipping time.
Overall I really did like the smart jump rope from 75workout and found the owner very responsive to my questions & feedback (click here to check it out for yourself).
As always, make sure you check with your doctor before starting a new workout routine.
Looking for more exercise ideas? Check out the other articles in the blog here
Want to know how we can help you get stronger, leaner and pain free? Click here to find out more about Fired Up Fitness and our services.