The best form of cardio

From time to time doing personal training in Cleveland I am asked what is the best form of cardio.  There are hundreds of ways that a person can engage in activies that increase their heartrate, burn calories, and increase overall quality of life.  When I am asked this question, I usually respond with "whatever the person sticks with".  This is a very simplistic and straight forward answer, and I realize that.  The reason I make this statement is because I see so many people (especially around New Years) that have great intentions to get in shape, but quickly fizzle out after a few weeks, simply because they hate what they are doing.  If you have encountered this problem before, please continue reading as I will offer some suggestions that may help you.

Think back for a moment when you were younger...back to when you were in Junior High or High School.  What sports did you play?  What after school activities did you participate in?  Chances are that what you did required some form of physical activity whether it was football, golf, marching band, or even the drama club.  In addition to this you may have swam in your friends pool, played backyard tag, ran around the woods and played war with the neighbor kids, kicked around the soccer ball...the list goes on and on.  I have often thought about how sad it is that as we get older so many of us forget how to play and have fun.  In the movie "Hook" (One of my favorite movies), there is a moment in the movie where an older man (who used to be one of the children in Neverland) asks a police officer "Have you forgotten how to fly?"  The police officer replies, "One does".  I've always thought this was sadly indicative of how many of us forget how to play, or how to fly so to speak.  The reason I point out this sad reality is because when you were younger and in school, you probably did not say to yourself, "I better go and shoot some hoops because I need to get some exercise".  You probably didn't say "I'm going to go play ghosts in the graveyard because I need to get some exercise".  You did it because it was fun!  It's time to put the fun back into your workouts!  This is your task, and if you can do it successfully I can assure you your workouts are going to better.   

Now that we've discussed the fun factor, let's talk about what most people do for cardio.  For many people, cardio means getting on a treadmill, bike, or stationary machine.  If you do this and you enjoy it then absolutely keep doing it!  However, if doing so is little more than another chore for you; something you dread, then I would say that your long term prospects for success are low.  Consider thinking outside the box of conventional wisdom and think of fun forms of cardio that you can work into your routine.  Let's look at a few examples.  Do you like shopping?  One way you could increase your cardio routine would be to go to the mall and walk around.  Do you see a store you want to go into?  See something you like?  Well force yourself to do one lap around the mall before you will allow yourself to go in and look at the item.  You'll probalby notice you walk faster anyway!  Do you have kids?  Tell yourself your going to get down and wrestle with them a little bit a few times a week.  Do you like animals?  Get a dog and walk him/her every evening.  Get involved in a paintball club, a softball league, a kayaking club, learn to Salsa or take up a martial art.  The point is to do something fun, and for many people this will mean interacting with new people and learning or doing something new. 

It's a sad reality of your daily lives that we so busy.  For most of us, an eight hour work day is a light day.  Time is often limited.  The good thing about choosing some alternative forms of cardio such as I mentioned above is that you can often spend time with family or friends while doing these activies.  Consider it multitasking.  You get a good workout in and spend time with someone at the same time. 

To conclude, I want you to think about what you did as a child or what activities you did while in school.  Consider changing your cardio routine to one where fun is the focus.  If you can do that, you many notice greater success and consistancy than you had before.  Good luck and thank you as always for reading.  Please feel free to check out my main website at http://www.paulowens.org.  You may also contact me at paulspersonaltraining@gmail.com