erinsimmonsfitness

I get a lot of questions about the kind of cardio that I do. And while I have posted before about the fat burning benefits of low intensity cardio, there are also lots of benefits to high intensity cardio as well. These cardio workouts are adapted from my track and field career and will increase your speed endurance, acceleration, and general conditioning, so give one (or all!) of them a try!

“7 Arounds” – on a 400m track, sprint 100m and jog back 50m. From that point, sprint 100m again, then jog back 50m. Continue until you get back to your starting point, which should have been 7 100m sprints. Do 2-3 sets of these with 10 minutes rest between sets.

X’s – on the infield of a football, track, or soccer field, sprint across the diagonal of the field, jog along the end, and sprint back along the other diagonal, and jog back to your starting point. Do 2-3 sets of 3 of these with 6 minutes rest between sets and 4 minutes rest between reps.

Ladders – sprint 3x50m (rest = 1.5 minutes between 50s, 2 minutes before 100s), 2x100m (rest = 2 minutes between 100s, 3 minutes before 150s), 1x150m (rest = 3.5 minutes), 1x200m (rest = 5 minutes). Depending on your level of fitness, go back down the ladder.

Up-Backs – sprint 80m, rest 1.5 minutes, sprint back 80m, rest 5 minutes. Do this 5 times.

Shuttles – sprint 10m, do 5 pushups, sprint back. Sprint 20m, do 10 situps, sprint back. Sprint 30m, do 15 prisoner squats, sprint back. Sprint 40m, do 20 crunches, sprint back. Sprint 50m, do 30 scissor kicks, sprint back. Repeat 2-4 times with 10 minutes rest between sets.

Stadiums (or stairs) – sprint up steps, run to next set of steps, run down, sprint up next set of steps going across one whole side of a stadium. Repeat for 2 sets of 3 times with 5 minutes in between each rep and 10 minutes between the two sets.