4 Ways to Kickstart Your Cardio Routine

It’s that time again.

You have just finished another grueling weights workout. It was tough, no doubt about it, but you also got a kick out of it. In some weird, twisted way, there’s a lot of pleasure in squatting until you see stars, and making your legs so sore you know you’ll struggle to walk up stairs the next day.

Just as you’re thinking back to that new deadlift personal best from 30 minutes ago, it hits you – it’s cardio time.

Your heart sinks as you look round the gym – do you go for the cross trainer, slog it out on the treadmill, or take the very slightly easier, yet still completely monotonous option of the recumbent bike?

Whatever you choose, you know it’s going to be horrid. Try as you might, the motivation just isn’t there, so you grab your shaker bottle, sling your gym bag over your shoulder and head back out to your car to head home. You pop yourself in front of the TV or computer, and top the experience off with some chips.

If this scenario sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Apart from “sucking it up” there’s not too much you can do to get yourself motivated for aerobic work, make your cardio more interesting, and kickstart your routine. Or is there?

Let’s take a look at the mental side of cardio training first. As a hardened lover of barbells, bench presses and biceps, cardio probably doesn’t do much for you. But if you look at the benefits it provides in terms of general health, performance and fat loss (or minimizing fat gain when you’re bulking,) you’re far more likely to get the motivation needed to power on through.

Even with this newfound positive mindset, it can still be difficult to look upon cardio as anything other than a dull, mind numbing necessity.

This is when it’s time to spice things up.

But how?

Read More: Facts and Myths About Cardio Training

If your idea of cardio is the aforementioned steady plod along on one of the gym machines, perhaps while reading a magazine, or trying to zone out watching TV, then you’ve got it wrong. This type of cardio is boring, no doubt about it, so it’s hardly surprising you’re struggling to get motivated for it. Not only that, but it’s not very efficient to do cardio in this way either. By switching up your routine to include different conditioning drills, you’ll get much better results and can get the drive to kickstart your cardio routine.