Let’s be honest, running just isn’t always the best. To some people this is an absolute blasphemy, but you likely agree with me if you are reading this article. We can all be here safe from those sickos who will run until the soles fall off their shoes. My wife is a runner and I am not sure how it’s humanly possible to run for over an hour, but something possesses her and folks like her to just keep going! I am not going to lie; I have run a 5k or two in my time, but you will be hard pressed to find me going a whole lot farther than that! We all know the cardiovascular and conditioning benefits of running, but what if like most people you just HATE to run? Don’t lose hope; there are alternatives to challenge yourself! Let's think outside the box and find some different strategies that can motivate you to work on your conditioning to ideally improve your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and burn some calories along the way.
First are the obvious options. Things like the stairmaster, bike, rower, or airdyne can be good alternatives to use if you have access to them. These machines can be used for low intensity steady state cardio, or they can be used in a higher intensity doing more interval based work. The stairmaster may be a little harder to do intervals on, but the other 3 can certainly be used to work in an interval manner. Intervals I like to do are 60 seconds on, 60 seconds off, or for a more intense push, you can do 30 seconds on and 60-90 seconds off. If you are using the rower you may consider using distance rather than time. I like to do 500 meter bouts in which I try to keep my time under 2 minutes for each round. I typically follow this with a minute or two of rest and then I repeat for 4 to 5 rounds. There are a million ways to do intervals, but the bottomline is they are a great way to get your heart rate up and burn some calories while fitting in a lot of work in a short amount of time.
Another great option is using a sled! No, not the kind you almost killed yourself on when you were a kid. Something your gym has that you can push or pull. There are a few different types of sleds which will dictate what you do with it, but doing several rounds of a sled push or pull (forwards or backwards) is a great way to introduce some conditioning without having to run. If you are at a gym that does not have a sled, try pushing a treadmill! Not literally, but kind of. Just climb on the treadmill, hold on to the grab bars, lean forward, and use your legs to manually propel the belt. This can mimic pushing a sled and is a killer way to get some conditioning done. I typically do 30 seconds on with 30-60 seconds off. Some treadmills offer light resistance so you may need to go longer. Others will feel like you are trying to move Thor’s hammer and will not require you to push very long before you begin to feel the touch of your sweet friend, THE BURN!
On the minute workouts can be a great way to take any ordinary move and turn it into a cardio or conditioning tool. Typically labeled EMOM (every minute on the minute), these workouts are when you perform a certain movement or movements for a set number of reps every minute for a pre-set amount of time. For example, let’s say you are doing a kettlebell complex of 5 swings and 5 cleans. If you set the time for 15 minutes, you would perform 5 swings and 5 cleans every minute for 15 minutes for a total of 75 reps of each. If it only takes you 30 seconds to complete the movements, you have the remaining 30 seconds to rest before you start again. Kettlebell movements or larger whole body movements are great for this type of training and can be a good way to create a dense workout in which you will develop strength and endurance.
If you are an outdoor person who likes non traditional fitness you may want to go for a ruck! Rucking is usually done with a weighted backpack, vest, or some kind of sandbag. If you have access to some trails, you can hike or walk and take in some of the great outdoors (just watch out for poison ivy!). This can be a great way to get some cardio training without directly having to run. You can go hit the trail with your weighted vest or backpack and just keep a fast hiking or walking pace for however long you are wanting to go.
There are a lot of different tools out there to work on your cardiovascular fitness; these are just a few options I have found helpful over the years. The benefit to doing some of these more interval based workouts is that oftentimes you may see some more muscular benefits as well that you likely would not realize with running. The best thing is to experiment with what you have available to you, finding what makes you excited to workout and what challenges you! And, worst case scenario, if you really need some motivation to run, you can always try a desperate approach like wearing red in a bull pasture or wearing a Duke jersey at a UK game. These will likely come with more bodily injury but they may get you moving!
