From Health magazine
Mix and match the workouts below for a total of five to six cardio sessions a week. The mix of routines will help your body burn fat more efficiently and build endurance. Combined with our strength workout, you’ll see pounds melt away!
In each cardio workout, you want to move among four zones that represent how much effort you’re putting in. Here’s how to tell which zone you’re in.
Zone 1 = Easy
Zone 2 = Challenging but comfortable (you’re breathing
hard but could still hold a conversation)
Zone 3 = Challenging and uncomfortable (you’re breathing hard, difficult to hold a conversation)
Zone 4 = Breathless, really hard!
New-mom modification: If you’re a new mom (or are very out of shape), keep your intensity easy to moderate. Avoid Zone 4 until you’re three to four months postpartum.
Intense Interval Bursts (30 minutes)
Do this while walking outside on a long, steep hill or on the stairs, treadmill, or elliptical trainer.
1. Warm up with 2 minutes in Zone 1, then 3 minutes in Zone 2
2. Uphill, 1 minute in Zone 4
3. Downhill, 1 minute in Zone 2
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 nine more times
5. Cool down with 5 minutes in Zone 1
Middle-Ground Mix-It-Up (40 minutes)
Do it as a walk or run outdoors or on the treadmill, bike, stairs, or elliptical trainer.
1. Warm up for 5 minutes in Zone 1
2. Spend 8 minutes in Zone 3
3. Do 2 minutes in Zone 2
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times
5. Cool down with 5 minutes in Zone 1
Long, Strong, and Steady (60 minutes)
Bike, hike, walk, or skate outside, or mix it up at the gym by choosing three cardio machines and doing 20 minutes on each.
1. Warm up for 5 minutes in Zone 1
2. Work out 45–50 minutes in Zone 2
3. Cool down for 5 minutes in Zone 1
Get started in two easy steps:
1. Click here to download the FGW plan (PDF format)
2. Click here to join the FGW social network
Comments (57)
Hi teee… I wouldn’t do that if I were yuo. Don’t be going to the gym 6 – 7 days a week. That is too hard on your body. Especially if you’ve just started doing this now! Only go 2 – 3 days a week, at most. and just work out for a maximum of 2 – 2 1/2 hours a day. You don’t want to over-exert yourself, not right away. You can’t strain your body like that right off the bat. After you have worked out for a few months, then you can up your workouts to more days or longer sessions, but start off slowly. That’s what they told me when I joined the athletic club herea few years ago. Start off slow, then work your way up to more days & longer sessions. It’s better for your health and your body. So start slowly, then work your way to more days and longer workouts, OK? Cool. Trust me on this one. I went for 6 days in a row once, and that next week I was WIPED OUT!!!
WOW there’s so much to learn .. but its worth it. Thanks again so much, now i gotta go do some research! THANKS again take care =)
okay so ive just started working out at the gym.. my goal is weigh 125lbs, i am now at 138lbs. I go to the gym 6-7 days straight. I usually workout on the treadmill and not much of the skie or the bike. So should i mix it up by doing one day treadmill 60mins then the next day ski for 45mins and then the bike, then just repeat it everytime?
Hi teee. Yeah, that would probably be the best way to go about losiong those last 13 lbs oir so. Mix it up, do some other thing besides the treadmill, bike and skiis. Swimming is one that is very easy on the joints and every other part of the body. So you could do laps for an hour, or you could even look into some other workout like the rowing machine or one of those machines where you hold the handlebars and the feet are going like you’re running. (I forget what they are called, but HealthRider makes one of the models.) So try some other workout to see if that will get those last 13 lbs off quicker. Good luck to you, teee!
Hi James, thank you so much for your advice. I’m gonna take it and work really hard at it! Got another one..i want to work out my back muscles. Do i use the latpull soemthing like that? and is that gonna work out your arms too?
Hi teee,
I really don’t know what you would do to work your back. It’s been a few years since I worked out at a gym – the Wisconsin Athletic Club – and so I don’t remember what the machine is called to work your back on.One suggestion I have to at least strech your back muscles out is to lie down in bed or on some soft mat and turn over on your side. Then curl up in a sideways fetal position and really pull yourself into a ball for a few seconds. Then let lose and go the opposite way. So you are somewhat flat, but backwards – so your head and feet are behind you. Then just keep going back-n-forth – fetal, head-n-feet behind you. Fetal, head-n-feet behind you. But hold each one for a few seconds, maybe 5 or 10. It makes me feel better if I hurt from working out! Try it!