Increasing your cardio

This week takes a look at how to gradually start increasing your cardiovascular training and how to start shredding for the summer.

When we talk about shredding we need to explain that this means stripping the body of excess fat and tone up with an increased effort in your cardiovascular training methods. This can be done via any means and we will look at some of the many ways you can begin this with different training methods.

Cardiovascular training can be done using a lot of techniques and one of the first we will discuss is intermittent running.

Using this method on the treadmill can really be a good way to slowly introduce some running work into your regime as it builds slowly with pace and doesn’t shock the body into full on stress. Aim for a solid 30 minutes of work and try to start with 2 minutes of walking and 1 minute of running. The split in the workload keeps the body guessing and the target heart rate should be being met during the work.

Alongside the usual gym work you can always branch out a little if staying inside isn’t your thing. Why not use one of your favourite sports to get the desired sweat going and try playing a pretty high intensity game of tennis against a friend or maybe use the local pool to go through a few lengths and get a full body workout in.

Using sports to break up the sometimes mundane routine of gym work and treadmills can be a great alternative in your training. As long as you are working for a reasonable amount of time you won’t even notice just how many calories you’re burning off as you will be too busy enjoying it.

Try to aim for an increase in the workload over the weeks and months of your shredding phase as you aim to really strip off the excess and unwanted fat and slim down your frame. Set yourself targets for each week and try to beat them in terms of your total time spent during exercising or the levels you are working at. This way you can see just how hard you have worked over the weeks and you can readjust your own goals/targets given your success rate.

Whatever you do to increase your cardiovascular training it should be a reasonably high effort whilst performing it and you should get a good sweat on whilst doing so. This should be a sign that your body is in the required zone to be able to work off fat and excess calories and you should always stay as hydrated as possible during this phase.

Have fun with your cardio and remember to build it gradually or run the risk of injury and fatigue during your weekly training regime. Be sure to stretch thoroughly throughout your training and become more flexible with the progressive cardio training. You should find that you enjoy your cardiovascular training as much as your other weekly efforts otherwise you need to look at changing your regime and finding something new that you can really enjoy being a part of. And remember to wake up and just ‘do the damn thing!’

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