Cardio at home — effective exercises without equipment

As research suggests, cardio training – particularly when done on an empty stomach – can be an effective way to burn fat, which is why it is becoming increasingly popular among those keen to stay in shape. We tend to associate cardio training inextricably with the great outdoors. Of course, exercising amidst the beauty of nature is the most rewarding. But what should we do when it’s pouring with rain, blowing a gale or snowing outside, and it hadn’t occurred to us earlier to get a stationary bike or a treadmill…? Can we manage to do a cardio workout at home, without the aid of modern technology…?

1. A few words about cardio
2. Marching – active walking
3. Running on the spot
4. Dancing
5. Freestyle
6. Step
7. Get creative

A few words about cardio

Aerobic exercise, commonly known as cardio training, refers to any type of physical activity performed at a steady pace for at least 30 minutes, at 60–70% of maximum heart rate. Although cardio training owes its name to the scientifically proven fact that, when performed regularly 3–4 times a week, it supports the proper functioning of the heart muscle, its popularity amongst physically active people stems mainly from its effectiveness in aiding the fat-burning process.

It is worth noting here that for cardio training to be effective at burning fat, only three conditions need to be met: a steady pace, a minimum of 30 minutes of activity, and 60–70% of your maximum heart rate. So now it’s just a matter of figuring out how to meet these exercise requirements without equipment, at home…?

Marching – active walking

Marching, or active walking, is not a leisurely stroll, but a fast and energetic form of movement. When marching, we maintain our heart rate at 60–75% of its maximum. The average length of the largest room in a block of flats is 5 m, which is enough to maintain a marching pace whilst moving from wall to wall, back and forth. Admittedly, 30 minutes of this form of exercise isn’t the most exciting task, but it is the simplest way to do cardio at home without equipment.

"Aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well as lower the chances of developing other chronic diseases, by improving blood pressure and lipid levels and reducing inflammation. At the same time, aerobic exercise helps maintain mental health and improves mood." Kinga Żuralska – Personal Trainer and Dietitian

Running on the spot

Another idea that is as simple as it is uninspiring is running on the spot. This way, we can reach the same maximum heart rate as we would by walking, in situations where our studio flat isn’t big enough to build up a walking pace. A 30-minute spot run can be made more enjoyable by the view outside the window, as apparently the sight of raindrops has a relaxing effect, and with headphones on playing your favourite music.

Dancing

Speaking of dancing, we move on to more exciting ideas for equipment-free cardio at home. Basically, we all like to dance, and through dancing we can maintain the maximum heart rate typical of a cardio workout. Of course, it should be dancing at a moderate pace so that we can keep going for 30 minutes. The dance routine can naturally be anything you like, but we can also use so-called aerobic dance or cardio dance routines, which incorporate elements of popular aerobics and can easily be found online.

Freestyle

Since dancing doesn’t always appeal to men, we have a rather interesting – though rather unconventional – suggestion for them…

The freestyle routine is one of the events in bodybuilding competitions, involving the presentation of the physique in the form of a choreographed routine performed to music. A freestyle routine usually lasts 60 seconds, but if we repeat it 30 times, it turns out to be an extremely effective cardio workout. We can easily find freestyle routines by famous bodybuilders online.

So we can choose the one we like best, put it on the TV screen and mimic the competitor’s movements, repeating the same routine 30 times. A recommendation for this idea comes from the opinion circulating in bodybuilding circles that a freestyle routine repeated many times is an excellent way to refine a lean, bodybuilding physique.

Just a quick note… You should not repeat the competitor’s movements with full muscle tension, as full tension is extremely exhausting; consequently, it would prevent us, firstly, from repeating the routine the required number of times, and secondly, could lead to excessive muscle strain.

Step

If you live in a multi-storey house, you’re lucky enough to have stairs. And now you can use those stairs as an obstacle course for a cardio workout. Simply walking up and down to the next floor for 30 minutes will provide a decent cardio workout.

However, we can just as easily use only the first step of the entire staircase, much like a step in step aerobics exercises. The simplest way to use the first step is, of course, to step up onto it and step down from it for 30 minutes. But as this is again a monotonous movement and not a particularly exciting activity, we can search online for step aerobics videos and choose exercises that can be performed for 30 minutes to the beat of lively music, on the first step of the stairs in our home.

And here’s another word of caution… Any exercises where we’re fighting gravity particularly hard place a heavy strain on the thigh muscles and knee joints. So if you haven’t done step aerobics before, or if your age calls for caution, it’s best to give this method a miss and focus on the ideas mentioned earlier. After all, we do cardio for our figure and health, so safety should always come first.

Get creative

The ideas presented above are just a few of many suggestions. If bad weather keeps us stuck at home, this is the perfect time to let your imagination run wild and put your own creativity to the test. After all, the lack of specialist equipment doesn’t mean you can’t have an effective cardio workout at home.

Sources:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6172294/