5 Fun & Interesting Cardio Workouts to Try Now

If your cardio workout has you feeling burned out rather than burning calories, it may be the motivation needed to change up your exercise routine (after all, the more bored you become, the less inclined to make the effort to get fit). Keep these five cardio workouts on your radar the next time you want to try something new.

AKT
Even Super Bowl champ Michael Strahan looked afraid (and exhausted!) after watching his co-host Kelly Ripa’s cardio routine, the Anna Kaiser Technique (AKT). The fat-blasting workout comprises strength training, cardio, toning, and stretching—and serious high energy.
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Image courtesy of AKT in Motion

Tabata
Shimmy your way to a sleeker body with this four-minute workout program (yes, we said four minutes) comprised of eight intervals lasting 20 seconds each. The basic outline of this high-intensity training program method, founded by Japanese scientist Izumi Tabata, is designed to deliver similar benefits to a cardio workout: four minutes long; 20 seconds of intense training; 10 seconds of rest; total of eight rounds. Here’s a sample of a Tabata session from the fitness concept’s website:

• Pushups for intervals 1 and 3
• Body weight squats for intervals 2 and 4
• Medicine ball slams for intervals 5 and 7
• Sprinting or jumping rope for intervals 6 and 8

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Orangetheory Fitness
It might have a semi-confusing name, but the results are anything but.  This personal training, interval fitness technique is so intense, participants are able to burn up to 900 calories in 60 minutes—it’s even garnered the attention of the New York Times. The hour-long Orangetheory Fitness workout, performed in a group setting, is three-pronged, divided between treadmill training, indoor rowing, and weight training blocks; its heart-rate monitored training is formulated to maintain heart rates in a “target zone” that increases metabolism and energy.

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Image courtesy of Orangetheory Fitness

Bodyism
Based within the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, Bodyism has made Elle Macpherson, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, and Hugh Grant believers with its exercise program intended to leave clients with long, lean, athletic bodies. Results are typically visible in three or less months via customized nutritional, movement, and exercise programming, along with personal training sessions and Bodyism’s exclusive range of supplements and health drinks; the program begins with a Body Oracle Evaluation that includes a hormonal assessment and report on problem areas. Find out how you can try Bodyism in your area.

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SLT
Created to strengthen, lengthen, and tone, the NYC-based classes (choreographed against a pump-you-up soundtrack) include the Megaformer™/Lagree Fitness® method to provide clients a Pilates-meets-cardio-and-strength-training session that gets the heart rate up. We can see why SLT Founder and CEO Amanda Freeman dubbed this workout “Pilates on crack.”  ­Learn more about Megaformer and yoga classes at SLT.

As well, read: Shape Your Figure with The Figure Method.

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