We already know how great aerobic activities are for your heart, body and mind. After all, regular cardio exercise has been shown to reduce body fat, decrease total cholesterol, boost mood, lower resting heart rate, and improve heart and lung function but how can we add to traditional cardio fitness to keep your workouts interesting.Try something fun, something that you wouldn’t really think is a cardio workout. Get your trainer involved too. They will keep your cardio routines fresh so you don’t start dreading it. You may not realize that a lot of the activities you may do around the house, or do with your kids are great cardio workouts.

There are hundreds of cardio options out there. The trick is picking a few that you like and then doing them at an intensity that is high enough to count as cardiovascular exercise. To be considered a cardiovascular workout, you need to meet two principles. 1) Intensity has to be high enough to elevate your heart rate into an aerobic zone which is 55% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. 2) For any activity to count as cardio, it has to last at least 10 minutes per session. And for best results, you need to do at least 3 days of cardio (with no more than 2 days off between sessions) per week.

There are fun activities that we did as kids and may do now while playing with our kids. Try some out to get your heart rate pumping and those lungs working.

• Walking the dog
• Playing Dodge Ball
• Tag
• Hula Hooping
• Obstacle Courses
• Jump Rope
• Water games
• Skipping
• Hop Scotch
• Jumping Jacks
• Trampoline Jumping

There are many other forms of cardio activities that you can add to your regular fitness routine including classes or group training so speak with your trainer to discuss what’s available.

Have fun finding some new favourite cardio exercises. There are so many choices now, there’s no excuse to get bored or dread cardio ever again.

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