Change Comes with Challenge

Concept

What does this mean?

Tips on implementing

Try a New Mode

If you always do the same type of cardio exercise, try something new. For example, if you walk, try cycling, rowing or using the elliptical.

Choose something new that works for you. For your first time trying the new mode, keep your session to 15-20 minutes to monitor how your body feels.

Increase the Incline

Adding inclines to your cardio exercise can target different muscles, increase your heart rate and burn more calories. You can adjust the incline on machines like the elliptical or treadmill. If you workout outdoors, choose a hillier route!

Start with a modest slope, especially if you are a beginner. Monitor how the incline feels on your lower legs and how your heart rate and breathing respond. Find something that challenges you, but remember to increase gradually.

Increase the Duration

As your stamina increases, you may feel ready to increase the duration of your cardio workout. This is one of the simplest ways to change your routine. If you are pressed for time, try another method to challenge yourself.

Increase gradually to prevent overuse injuries. Try adding 5-10 minutes at a time.

Wear a Weighted Vest or Rucksack

Wearing a weighted vest or rucksack is a low-impact way to increase the difficulty of your cardio workout. It combines cardio and strength training, strengthening your legs and core. If you add hills, it challenges your VO2 max (maximum rate of oxygen consumption during exertion). Downhill walking works stability and eccentric muscle contraction.

Start with no more than 10% of your body weight for 15-30 minutes. Gradually increase the weight by 5-10 pounds but keep the duration consistent.

Intervals

Interval training involves alternating between various levels of effort. For example, increase your incline or speed for a short period, then return to a steady state.

Intervals are helpful when you are starting to run. For example, walk for one minute, then increase your pace for one minute. Unlike HIIT training, the goal isn’t all-out effort, just varying effort.

HIIT Training

HIIT (high-intensity interval training) alternates short bursts of high effort with low-effort recovery periods. A typical HIIT workout lasts 10-30 minutes, aiming to raise your heart rate followed by a recovery phase.

This can be incorporated with biking, jumping rope, sprinting, walking or cardio-based exercises found in HIIT classes (like skaters or jumping jacks). Your all-out effort should leave you challenged and out of breath. Try a 20-second on, 10-second off format for eight rounds (Tabata training). You can also try a 1:1 ratio (e.g., 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off) or a 30–20–10 format (30 seconds low intensity, 20 seconds moderate intensity and 10 seconds high intensity).

Increased Weight

The simplest way to challenge yourself is to increase the load or weight used.

Follow the “2 for 2” rule: When you can perform two more repetitions than your goal for two workouts in a row, increase the weight by 5–10%. If you experience pain, stop the exercise and adjust the weight or technique.

Increase Repetitions

Increasing repetitions can challenge you and increase the load on your muscles. Depending on your goals, once you reach a specific rep count in consecutive weeks, increasing the weight may be more beneficial than increasing reps.

Increase reps by just a few at a time, ensuring you maintain proper form.

Compound Exercises

Compound exercises involve multiple joints and muscles. These exercises help maximize your workout efficiency and can elevate your heart rate.

Start with simple movements like a squat press.

Change Tempo

Adjusting the tempo, or speed, of your lifts can change the intensity. There are three phases in a lift: concentric (contraction), isometric (pause), and eccentric (lengthening). Varying these tempos increases your load, which enhances strength.

When adjusting tempo, the first number refers to the eccentric phase, the second to the isometric (pause), and the third to the concentric phase. For example, a 3:1:1 tempo in bicep curls means: 3 seconds to lower the weight, 1-second pause, 1 second to lift the weight.

Add Instability

Once you've built adequate strength, adding instability to your workout can increase its difficulty. Start with single-leg movements or unstable surfaces like a Bosu ball, air pad or unstable equipment like a TRX.

Instability can increase the risk of injury, so wait until you feel stable with regular equipment and surfaces before trying this.

Super Set Your Major Muscles

A superset involves completing two exercises for the same muscle group back-to-back, with little or no rest.

Combine exercises for major and secondary muscles used in the first exercise (e.g., chest press followed by triceps extensions). Or superset within the major muscle group (e.g., chest press followed by chest fly).