How Can You Get in Shape Without Cardio?
Cardio exercise is time consuming, and it’s often difficult to stick to a workout plan that consumes 60 or more minutes of your day. Aerobic exercise, the proper name for cardio, is important to your cardiovascular health and weight management. However, you can get the benefit of a cardio workout without spending 60 minutes a day on a treadmill or elliptical.
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Resistance Training
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Resistance training would include weightlifting, bodyweight exercises and any other workout that adds resistance to the movement. There are many benefits offered by resistance training, including improved cardiovascular health, increased lean muscle mass and lower body fat. After 10 weeks of training, you can increase your body’s metabolic rate by about 7 percent, according to a 2012 review published in the Current Sports Medicine Reports publication. A good resistance training workout doesn’t take more than 30 minutes. Do one to three sets of each exercise, and choose exercises that hit each of your major muscle groups -- hips, chest, back, shoulders, arms, abs and legs.
Eating Healthily
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Eating the good stuff and eliminating the bad is the quickest way to slim down. The healthy foods to focus on include vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, low-fat milk, whole grains and plenty of water. Avoid high-calorie drinks and snacks like soda and chips. Some high-calorie specialized coffees contain nearly 500 calories; it would take about 60 minutes of cardio for most people to burn that number of calories. Eliminating food and drink choices like this can help get you in shape quickly.
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Staying Active
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Living an active lifestyle can more than make up for not doing cardio on a regular basis. "Active" refers to activities like walking or biking instead of driving, taking the dog for a walk every night, or gardening. There are many other ways you can stay active at home and work -- taking the stairs instead of the elevator, for instance -- so always be aware of ways you can be more active in your day-to-day life.
Consistency
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The most important long-term factor in this equation is consistency. You have to remain consistent with eating healthily, resistance training and living an active lifestyle. It can take six to eight weeks before your jeans start to fit a little better, so be patient. A little slip here and there won’t necessarily hurt, but eating junk food for a week straight is definitely a setback. A great tip is to have someone else in your family join your no-cardio fitness plan, such as your spouse, friend or kids. Having someone else to talk to who can understand what you’re going through can be exceptionally helpful for long-term success.
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