Office Workouts Part 4

Cardio


Cardio is one of the easiest outside of the gym exercise sections but is the most difficult to do in the office. The limited space and professional nature of an office just isn’t conducive to cardio. Also if you are not covered in sweat you are not doing cardio right. A lot of people do not realize that the first 8 or 12 minutes of cardio exercise burns mostly glucose. What this means is that when you exercise hard for short intervals and you become winded you are not completely taxing your cardiovascular system and you haven’t even begun to burn fat stores. That is why when the average person does a short 20 minute cardio workout they do not see serious gains. If you want to make real gains and make the best use of your time, extend your cardiovascular exercise beyond 30minutes. The more of the body that is involved in an exercise the more fat it will burn also as you increase the intensity, while still staying at a level you can maintain for over 30 minutes you will burn even more fat.

Running is one of my favorite cardiovascular exercises. It is a high intensity and requires very little set up time as opposed to other forms of exercise. Another benefit of running is it can be done anywhere and in any weather with the right clothing. If you can’t run due to be in a de-conditioned state try doing a fartlek; Run for a minute, jog for a minute, and walk for a minute. This keeps your heart rate up and the intervals can be altered to work you into running slowly.

Jump rope was something I hated as a kid, but recently I have realized its many benefits. Jump ropes are cheap and very portable. Jump roping increases coordination and works the entire body. Jump roping doesn’t take up hardly any space, as long as you have a few arms lengths in any direction and a tall ceiling you will be fine.

Swimming receives an honorable mention even though it requires good weather or a facility it works the whole body and is a very practical skill to improve. Even though you can’t swim at the office take every opportunity outside of work to get in the pool, lake, or if you are so lucky the ocean.

Jumping Jacks similar to jump roping works the whole body and requires the least amount of space of any quality cardio work out. If you don’t think this is a solid cardio workout do jumping jacks for 30 minutes or until you are tired (I’m sure it will be the latter) and I am confident you will change your mind. This is a practical option for the office however you will most definitely be covered in sweat which may piss of your colleges (but I don’t care because I won’t have to smell you).

Cycling of any type is great and depending on how far you live from work you can make your commute a cardio workout and enjoy many other benefits beyond just physical health. Check out this link if you have any interest in bicycle commuting to see if you can take advantage of a government incentive http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/commuters/.

A quick word of advice cardio work outs include anything you do that gets your heart rate at or above 65% of your max heart rate. A quick calculation for this is 220 minus your age which should be close to your average. Take half of that plus 20%. Quick math for this looks as follows. 220 minus 30 years old equals 190 max heart rate. 190 divided by two is 95. Ten percent of 95 is 9.5 times two is 19 plus 95 is close to 120. Most can do the math in their head when broken down this way (for those smarter than I maybe you can do the exact calculation in your head). 120 beats per minute should be where your heart rate stays during the activity for at least 30 minutes. A little more easy math and it’s all just putting in work, 120 divided by 4 is 30 so 30 heart beats in 15 seconds and you are on track. If watches, math, and counting are not your style buy a heart rate monitor.