Fitness

6 Effective No-Equipment Cardio Exercise for Men

Published

2 years ago

September 5, 2022

6 Effective No-Equipment Cardio Exercise for Men

Cardiovascular train, additionally referred to as cardio or cardio train, is vital for good well being. It makes your coronary heart beat sooner and raises your coronary heart fee. This offers your entire physique extra oxygen, which is nice to your coronary heart and lungs. Common cardio train may assist you drop a few pounds, sleep higher, and decrease your danger of getting a long-term sickness.

But, issues come up when you may’t go for a run outdoors on a regular basis or do not wish to go to the fitness center. Nevertheless, there’s a answer to this predicament since you may nonetheless do loads of cardio workouts at residence. Take a look at six cardio workouts that you may simply do at residence for a wonderful exercise.

No-Tools Cardio Workouts

1) Squat Jumps

Squat jumps are a good way to make your exercises tougher and actually get your coronary heart fee up. Add them to the tip of your common cardio exercise for an additional enhance, or do them a couple of instances throughout your exercise once you wish to make it tougher or just change issues just a little.

That is a sophisticated cardio train that’s laborious in your joints, so land with gentle knees to guard them. If the hit is just too laborious, make the transfer with out leaping. Take your time and begin with small jumps when you’ve by no means accomplished this transfer earlier than.

Here is how you are able to do this train:

Begin along with your ft about hip-width aside and your core tight.
Get as little as you may and attempt to contact the ground along with your fingertips.
Be sure that to push the hips again in order that the knees do not get an excessive amount of stress.
Leap as excessive as you may and attain your arms up as excessive as you may.
Land again into your squat with gentle knees, and do that for 30 to 60 seconds.

2) Plyo Lunges

Plyo lunge is a superb plyometric transfer that helps construct energy and energy within the decrease physique. This transfer can also be nice for getting your coronary heart fee up, burning energy, and dealing your hips, glutes, and thighs. This high-impact, high-intensity train is difficult, so if you cannot deal with it at first, it’s best when you persist with static lunges.

Here is how you are able to do this train:

Stand along with your proper leg in entrance and your left leg behind you.
Lunge by bending your knees and reducing your physique.
Leap up rapidly and change your legs in order that once you land, your left leg is in entrance and your proper leg is behind.
Land with gentle joints, drop right into a lunge, and repeat, leaping and switching sides.
Repeat 1–3 instances for 10–60 seconds every time.

3) Jogging

For those who’re caught inside, one straightforward technique to get your coronary heart fee up is to jog in place. It isn’t as laborious as jogging outdoors since you’re not shifting ahead and there is no wind resistance. However jogging round the home or up and down the steps will assist you sweat extra when you use your arms and transfer ahead.

Here is how you are able to do this train:

Transfer ahead whereas protecting your knees up and your arms shifting.
Begin with a light-weight jog, protecting your ft near the bottom so you may get a really feel for the train.
Each time you jog, deliver your heels nearer to your buttocks.
As you jog sooner, pump your arms overhead or carry your knees.
Repeat as many instances as you may for 30 seconds to so long as you may.
This transfer will also be accomplished as a part of a cardio circuit.

4) Burpees

This cardio train stands out as a result of it really works the entire physique and will get the guts fee up in a brief period of time. Although the train is straightforward, it is extremely laborious on the guts, lungs, and muscle tissue. Add it to your common cardio exercises to extend the depth and work in your energy, agility, and endurance.

Here is how you are able to do this train:

Stand along with your ft in regards to the width of your hips aside.
Squat down and put your arms on the ground in entrance of you.
While you land, try to be in a push-up place, in your arms and toes, along with your physique in a straight line.
In your toes or knees, do a push-up (that is non-compulsory and provides fairly a little bit of depth).
Leap the ft again to the beginning place straight away, rise up, and do that 10–15 instances or for 30–60 seconds.

5) Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are barely harder and a sophisticated cardio train that may get your coronary heart fee up and make your exercises tougher. This transfer will make your legs stronger and assist you get sooner, making it an ideal all-around train.

For those who’ve by no means accomplished this transfer earlier than, take your time and begin slowly. For this transfer, you will want loads of core energy and higher physique endurance.

Here is how you are able to do this train:

Begin in a push-up place, along with your arms and toes on the ground and your again flat and your abs tight.
Deliver your proper knee in towards your chest and put the foot of that knee on the ground.
While you bounce up, change your ft within the air by bringing your left foot ahead and your proper foot again.
Maintain switching your ft as rapidly as you may for 30 to 60 seconds.

6) Pace Skaters

Pace skaters are a good way to get your coronary heart fee up and work your physique by shifting facet to facet, which is one thing we do not typically do.

This cardio train is nice for the guts and in addition works on the skin of the thighs. Pace skaters are an ideal addition to workouts like lengthy jumps the place you progress ahead and backward.

Here is how you are able to do this train:

Begin along with your ft collectively and bounce so far as you may to the appropriate.
For a steadiness problem, land in your proper foot and cross your left foot behind you.
Once more, take a really vast step to the left and land on the left foot.
Maintain going from one facet to the opposite, and check out to not bounce up within the air. As an alternative, hold your actions low and vast.
Maintain switching sides for an additional 30 to 60 seconds.

Carry out these cardio workouts often to rev up your metabolism.

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Fitness

The pros and cons of exercising after 8pm

Published

6 hours ago

May 27, 2024

Press Room

“Insulin sensitivity is down to an interaction between the hormones. Cortisol and insulin are almost inverse; cortisol breaks down while insulin builds,” explains NHS GP and personal trainer Dr Amos Ogunkoya. “We know that cortisol levels are higher in the morning and cortisol tends to hold onto fat. That means exercising later might allow you to actually do a better workout – especially as most of us have time limitations in the morning but more time in the evening.”

We know exercise has stress-relieving properties and further studies link evening exercise to falling asleep faster and spending more time in deep sleep. So, knowing how good it is for me, could I, a sworn morning person – who frequently goes to sleep in full daylight and to the sound of young children playing outside – switch my routine around? Could I become a fitness owl?

Monday evening yoga class

Not wanting to throw myself into anything too brutal straight off the circadian bat, I opted for a Monday evening yoga class. To get there involved a short bike ride in the setting sun. Which was picturesque until an enormous brown rat ran across my path. That’s one problem with being out and about in the evening – so are the rodents.

Somehow, the slowness of yoga – all that breathing and stretching and listening to your body – can feel frustrating to me in the morning. But after a full day of work, childcare, unpaid domestic labour and the news, I relished the idea. As a beginner, I found my muscles shaking like a Polaroid picture after even just a few seconds of downward facing dog.

Verdict

Yoga’s seriously good for you. One 2016 study by the Rockefeller University in New York showed that participants doing yoga three times a week significantly improved bone mineral density in their spine, hips and thigh bones. The slow breathing has been shown to have a calming effect on our nervous system and reduce our stress levels too – both conducive to getting eight hours of sleep, which also happens to be linked to good heart health.

Tuesday evening run

With my metabolic processes in mind, I had an extremely early dinner on Tuesday with my son to be ready for a run after his bedtime. It felt completely bizarre, bordering on scandalous to be pulling on a pair of Lycra shorts at 8pm.

But, honestly, how else are parents to small children supposed to capitalise on all this evening insulin regulation? I may have provocatively suggested to my partner that “vigorous physical activity in the evening is widely acknowledged as a therapeutic strategy for improving cardiometabolic risk factors,” but I’m not sure it was quite the seductive line I’d hoped. So, I was stuck with running.

The problem with something as high adrenaline as a jog down the towpath, at night, is that by the time I got home a little over an hour later, sweaty and with my pupils dilated, I was in no fit state to fall asleep.

Verdict

Despite a hot shower and cup of chamomile tea, I lay in bed for at least an hour and a half, completely unable to switch off. Indeed, studies show that in order for evening exercise to improve sleep it needs to be moderate intensity, not vigorous and end at least an hour before bedtime. Lesson learned.

Slower exercise definitely seems more conducive to good sleep but I don’t want to give up my running. Thankfully, Dr Ogunkoya reassures me that doing something is always better than nothing – whatever the time. “The biggest contributor to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer is a sedentary lifestyle,” says Dr Ogunkoya. “So, if you find cardiovascular exercise in the morning easy then go with that. And maybe do weights in the evening.”

Fitness

Fitness tips: The pros and cons of using incline on a treadmill

Published

13 hours ago

May 27, 2024

Press Room

Fitness tips: Incline treadmills are fantastic for enhancing your workout experience. They allow you to simulate hill running while indoors, providing a challenging and effective workout. Here are some pros and cons of using incline on a treadmill.

Fitness

Heart rate zones on Apple Watch and iPhone – 9to5Mac

Published

20 hours ago

May 26, 2024

Press Room

Heart rate zones on Apple Watch and iPhone – 9to5Mac

A handy health and fitness feature with watchOS and iOS is the ability to see your heart rate zones on Apple Watch and iPhone. Read on for what they mean, how to see your max heart rate, manually edit your zones, and more.

Apple Watch and iPhone – with watchOS 9/iOS 16 and later – automatically create your five heart rate zones based on the Heart Rate Reserve method. Max and resting values are updated automatically on the first day of each month.

Here’s how Apple describes the feature:

“Heart Rate Zones are a percentage of your maximum heart rate and are automatically calculated and personalized using your health data. On Apple Watch, Heart Rate Zones are presented in five segments—effort levels from light to increasingly harder. By monitoring your Heart Rate Zone, you can make your workout more efficient and challenge yourself to improve your fitness.”

How to see heart rate zones on Apple Watch and iPhone

See heart rate zones during a workout

Make sure you’re running watchOS 9 or later on Apple Watch and also have your birthdate entered in the Health app on iPhone
Start a cardio-focused workout like a walk, run, or cycling (Apple hasn’t shared exactly which workout types include heart rate zones except for “cardio-focused” ones)
Swipe down on the first Workout screen to see your heart rate and which zone it’s in

How to see heart rate zones on Apple Watch 1

See heart rate zones after a workout

After a workout, head to the Fitness app on iPhone to see heart rate zone data
Choose a workout from the main Summary screen or tap the rings or Show More to pick a different date/workout
Once you’ve picked a workout, swipe down until you see Heart Rate, tap Show More

Now you’ll see the breakdown of how much time you spent in each heart rate zone:

How to see heart rate zones on Apple Watch 2

How to manually edit your heart rate zones

While the heart rate zones are automatically added based on your age, height, and weight, you can manually change them (usually for advanced athletes).

Head to Settings > Workout > Heart Rate Zones on your Apple Watch and choose Manual at the top
Or on iPhone go to the Apple Watch app > Workout > Heart Rate Zones then choose Manual at the top

How to see your max heart rate?

Going beyond your max heart rate is considered unsafe by medical professionals. To see your recommended maximum:

Head to Settings > Workout > Heart Rate Zones on your Apple Watch, swipe down to find your max heart rate
Or on iPhone go to the Apple Watch app > Workout > Heart Rate Zones, swipe down to find your max heart rate

What do heart rate zones mean?

Understanding your heart rate zones can be useful in a variety of ways. But some of the most practical applications are using heart rate training (properly rest or push yourself), targeting fat-burning or carb-burning heart rate zones, and awareness for those who have health conditions.

The Cleveland Clinic has a helpful article on understanding what kind of calories you’re burning in different zones. This won’t map directly to the five heart rate zones with Apple Watch, but is a good starting point.

Use your max heart rate (details on finding above) to figure out the numbers from the below calculations:

Lower-intensity zone: You’re exercising at 50% to 60% of your max heart rate. At this point, 85% of the calories you burn are fat. The downside? You’re burning fewer calories overall than you would if you were exercising at a higher intensity. You’re generally able to sustain this zone the longest amount of time.
Temperate zone: You’re exercising at 60% to 70% of your max heart rate. Roughly 65% of the calories you burn are fat.
Aerobic zone: Working at 70% to 80% of your max heart rate puts you in the aerobic zone. About 45% of the calories you burn are fat. But you’re burning a higher number of overall calories compared to the other heart rate zones. You generally sustain this zone the shortest amount of time.

For heart rate training, the big idea is to “train your aerobic system without overstressing your skeletal and muscular systems, explains personal trainer Erin Carr.” Check out this article from Runner’s World for all the fine details: