Functional Cardio To Do at Home
With the holidays right around the corner and colder weather approaching, it is easy to start getting off track or losing motivation in your fitness journey. Do not let the environment around you stop you from reaching those fitness goals you made for your New Years’ resolutions at the beginning of the year.
If your goal is to burn body fat, increase strength, and build lean muscle while doing a high-intensity workout, functional cardio is the right workout for you.
Functional cardio is one of the best and fastest ways to sweat those calories right off. This form of exercise is compacted with a variety of past-pace movements that will maintain your heart rate up and provide you with energy and lots of adrenaline. It is fun and will for sure keep you active and in the greatest shape of your life. Doing these types of workouts regularly will definitely guaranteed to increase your fitness capabilities.
The best part about this type of workout is that there is no need for a gym or any equipment. This workout can be done outside, or from the conform of your home. It can be done with friends or on your own. Functional cardio is overall a very universal workout that adapts to many different lifestyles.
There are many functional cardio workout YouTube videos out there that you can follow along to by simply doing a quick search. Many gyms and fitness studios also offer a wide variety of group cardio workout classes one can take by just signing up. If you are in the search for a more personalized type of functional cardio, you can get a personal trainer as well, who can help you find the perfect fit for you based on your personal capabilities, they will also encourage you to constantly reach higher goals to increase your stamina.
Here is a quick summary of how functional cardio works. The workouts should be very high-intensity/high-impact workouts that last around 5 to 30 minutes non-stop depending on one’s fitness levels. This functional training consists of a set of a few exercises each containing a certain amount of reps. Once you have completed the first round, you will usually get a short rest in between to catch your breath. You can then repeat the same set of exercises 1 to 3 more rounds depending on your personal fitness capabilities.
This type of training is very practical for people who do not have much time to dedicate to fitness, yet want to stay in shape and are in search of a way to do so.
Functional training cardio exercises can be tailored to any area of the body one may want to target directly.
One can do an ab circuit to target and exercise their core.
Here is an example of a simple circuit
- Floor side oblique crunches: X30 on each side.
- Laying on your back, alternate toe touches: X30
- Lying leg raises: X30
- Reverse crunches on your back: X30
- 1-minute plank
Once you are done with the first round, repeat the entire circuit 3 times. Remember to do a full range of movement for each exercise to get the best results and gradually increase the strength in your core.
Next, if your goal is to target your lower body, which includes legs and glutes, here is an example of a training circuit. One can use a resistance band for higher intensity and faster results.
- Jump squads: X15
- Side to side crab walks: X30
- 1-minute wall sits
- Squat holds while clenching your glutes: X30
- Donkey kick with pulses: X30 on each leg.
Once you are done with the first round, repeat, and perform the entire circuit 3 times. Remember not to straighten your knees all the way when doing the exercises to prevent any future injuries.
Lastly, if you are wanting to target both the upper and lower body to achieve a full-body workout, here is an example of an effective circuit.
- Squat, up, side crunch: X30 on each side.
- Burpees: X15
- Alternating cross-body wall climbers: X30
- Standing cross-body crunches with squad hold for 30 seconds each: X30 on each side.
- Alternating lateral squad kicks: X30
Once you are done with the first round, repeat the entire circuit 3 times. Remember to fully complete all the movements of each exercise for maximum impact.
Functional training is a very effective fat-burning workout many swear by. Training in this manner a couple of times a week and doing all these exercises will eventually increase your performance and strength. The more you move and the faster you complete each circuit, the more fat, and calories you will burn.
It may be hard to commence doing something you are not usually used to doing at first but after training this way a couple of times a week, it will become a habit. You will be impressed by the increasing improvement in the way you perform.
Make sure to follow us on socials for more awesome exercises @campuslivettu, and check out another of our functional cardio posts from CL staff member Anthony!
Story by Fernanda Tronco, Journalist intern for Campus Live