Working out and keeping fit is essential to both our physical and mental well-being, but sometimes life gets in the way. This is where the 30-day cardio challenge comes in. If you decide to take part in the challenge, you will be committing to performing a variety of different cardio exercises to improve your strength, stamina, and endurance – but the exercises only take 10 minutes, so you can fit this challenge around your busy lifestyle! Read on to find out more about it.
Benefits of cardio
Thinking about taking the leap to start the 30-day cardio challenge? You’re going to want to know the benefits that come with it to keep you motivated! The workouts you’ll find with the cardio challenge are mainly based on body weight – you don’t need any fancy equipment to reap the rewards. The main objective of the challenge is to burn energy and improve strength, which can lead to improved fitness, weight loss and increased muscle mass. It’s important that you make sure you’re performing each exercise correctly to get the most from your workout, but you’ll also need to keep your heart rate up.
Working your muscles and increasing your heart rate means you will increase muscle mass around your body which burns more calories at rest. The exercises are quick, so if you struggle to fit in a workout, all you need to do is take 10-15 minutes out of your day to stay on track – no room for excuses here! So, whether you’re looking to improve your cardio fitness, lose weight, or gain muscle, the 30-day cardio challenge could be for you.
What to expect from the challenge
As you could guess from the name, the challenge requires you to perform 30 days of various exercises, one each day. You will have instructions on how to complete them, and how many reps or for how long you should perform each. At the end of the week, the challenge then combines the exercises you’ve done over the last 7 days, so you can see how many rounds you can get done in a certain length of time. As we mentioned above, many of the exercises are focused on body weight, however, if you’re more advanced, or you’d like to make it harder for yourself – you can add weights in if you prefer.
Exercises included in the challenge
Before starting your cardio challenge, getting an idea of the exercises that are included can be advantageous, so you know what to expect. Here are a few of the exercises that you might find crop up within your challenge, so you can be prepared to give it all you’ve got!
Squats
No matter how advanced you are when it comes to working out, we’ll all have an idea of how to perform a squat – and this exercise will really have you feeling the burn. All you must do is stand up with your feet shoulder-width apart. From this position, keep your back straight, bend your knees and push your bum backwards, as if you’re about to sit down. And stand back up. You’ll need to perform 15 of these each minute for 8 minutes.
Burpees
Many of us dread this exercise, and yes, it can be challenging – but the way these challenge works means you only have to perform a few of them to feel the benefit. Start from a standing position and squat to put your hands on the floor. Jump your feet back so your chest, stomach and toes are parallel to the floor with your hands in a push-up position. In a plank position, hop back up to standing – from here, jump and reach up, bending your knees on landing. This exercise will require you to perform 5-8 reps, for 8 minutes.
Tuck jumps
This exercise is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy! Tuck jumps are a tough workout, so you’ll definitely feel it in both your legs and your lungs. Make sure you have supportive shoes, and the correct flooring to perform this exercise – especially if you have downstairs neighbours! Start with your feet shoulder-width apart. Like with a slight squat, push your bum out and bend your knees. Jump from this position and bring your knees to your chest, landing back in the same bent knees position. The challenge asks you to do this for 20 seconds, and then have a 10-second rest. You will be asked to do this for 8 minutes. Can you keep it up?
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