Our current exercise regimen is 2 days/wk of mostly weight work, 2 days/wk of cardio, and 1 day/wk of calisthenics. In the fall, will switch to 2/wk of calis and one of cardio to mix it up, but when we can we put in one additional day of cardio on a weekend if there is no physical outing planned. This fits, because church in summer is 10 AM instead of 9.
What we call "cardio" is really endurance-maintenance and endurance-building for people with sedentary (ie less than 6 hours/wk of short-of-breath exertion) lives. The idea is to keep heart rate far above walking or recreational biking, with sprints of max heart rate, for 1 hr+. At this point, I can tell how hard my heart is pounding without looking at any gauge.
Our current cardio routine gets us moving with vigor and lots of sweat, and the time flies:
- 15 minutes elliptical, moving resistance up and down the scale from 3 to 15
- 30-60 second sprint on assault bike
- 15 minutes treadmill at incline of 4, moving speed up and down from fastest walk possible to moderate walk (3.2 for me). I will not run anymore - I ran enough in past years with great pleasure, but the thrill is gone.
- 2 minutes Jacob's Ladder semi-sprint
- 15 minutes stair machine, moving the speed up and down the scale (I just go from 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 then back down. At 5, I sort of need double steps
- 200 meter sprint on ski machine
- 3 sets of 1-minute jump rope with 30-second plank/rest between sets. Sometimes the heavy rope, sometimes a speed rope.
That's just a bit over an hour if you take very little rest to breathe - which you are not supposed to do.
