Marks cardio program

As one of the main goals of this health and fitness program is to get me to lose some weight, it is important to be burning more calories on a nearly daily basis, weights and body-weight training are all good but I think a general increase in my activity levels daily would be a great benefit.

So I’m cycling into work every day.  This equates to:

2 X 20 minutes cycling 5 X a week

I vary my pace, at the start of the week it’s a pretty high intensity sprint and might only take 15mins and at the end of the week when I’m knackered it’s a 25min gentle roll.

I’m also including some high intensity sessions, maybe 1-2 per week.  These will look something like this:

Skipping 3mins

Bodyweight circuit

Press-ups 10

Squats 10

Burpees 10

Lunges 10

Repeat 3-5times

Cool down stretch and some core work (plank)

I did one of these sessions this morning (and some time on the heavy bag) before my bike ride in! It was a killer, barely managed three rounds before I was totally out of breath.

I like both kinds of training, the cycle rides get the blood moving around your body and keep your metabolism up day to day. The high intensity stuff really gets your lungs moving air, encouraging that deep powerful breathing and generally gives quite quick gains in endurance. For martial artists its absolute essential to be doing this type of training (and most are!), as it more accurately reflects what happens in a fight; maximum effort with whole body movement for short periods of time.