ugh. cardio. bleh.

[ladyhutch]

So I am doing NROLW and lo and behold, there is cardio in the form of interval training. Seriously? I hate .... HATE cardio.

can I skip it? Or it is necessary for NROLW to work?

[oregonchick76]

Cardio is mostly a function of burning X number of calories, thereby allowing you to either eat more or have a larger deficit. You can skip cardio if you adjust your calorie intake. But have you done HIIT? It is short and intense - I actually love it, but I HATE steady state cardio for the most part.

[ladyhutch]

Cardio is mostly a function of burning X number of calories, thereby allowing you to either eat more or have a larger deficit. You can skip cardio if you adjust your calorie intake. But have you done HIIT? It is short and intense - I actually love it, but I HATE steady state cardio for the most part.

I haven't done HIIT. I just dread the treadmill and elliptical and bike and stair stepper. I hate that whole part of the gym and avoid it at all costs.

[IrishLassie78]

Cardio is mostly a function of burning X number of calories, thereby allowing you to either eat more or have a larger deficit. You can skip cardio if you adjust your calorie intake. But have you done HIIT? It is short and intense - I actually love it, but I HATE steady state cardio for the most part.

^^^^
This! HIIT can be really fun, and there is no need to use the dreadmill, elliptical, or any of that stuff. I like to use body weight or plyometric stuff like burpees, mountain climbers, jump squats, box jumps, jumping lunges, push-ups, etc. Way more entertaining than parking my butt on a piece of equipment for 40 minutes or however long . Kettlebells are also fabulous for HIIT. I've been using kettlebell swings for HIIT on a pretty regular basis and it kicks my a$$ every time.

[amiaow]

Agree that cardio in the gym is boring. But HIIT is great and if you're doing it flat out you should only be able to do about 10 minutes of it unless you're superwoman. It's actually quite fun!

[cc21507]

I completely agree with the other ladies here and I find that if I track my progress I don't get board because I am always trying to beat my last workout... you can change things like speed, incline, or duration of sprints if your on the treadmill for example. Also I love to switch up my cardio so sometimes I do silly things like jump rope and see how many jumps I can do in 30 sec or so.

[LHarwood]

How often a week are you meant to do hiit? I enjoyed hiit when I did it. Currently bulking atm but when I go to maint ill be doing it again.

[rockangel]

if you don't enjoy cardio on the reg equipment, then you can always find something that you love to do and do that instead of the treadmill.

If you like to dance, then go take a dancing class or youtube it or buy a dvd.

Take a class at the gym (try them out at least), you might find one that you love.

Depending on where you live, there could be lots of fun things to do. Here we have hiking, paddle boarding, kayaking, surfing, horseback riding, road cycling or trail cycling, rock climbing. And then there are separate studios for all kinds of things.

Cardio doesn't have to be just about killing yourself in the gym.

And also, you don't need it if you adjust your cals as the other ladies have said.

But I think its a great chance to explore what else is out there in the world other than just the gym...

[JulieC26]

if you don't enjoy cardio on the reg equipment, then you can always find something that you love to do and do that instead of the treadmill.

If you like to dance, then go take a dancing class or youtube it or buy a dvd.

Take a class at the gym (try them out at least), you might find one that you love.

Depending on where you live, there could be lots of fun things to do. Here we have hiking, paddle boarding, kayaking, surfing, horseback riding, road cycling or trail cycling, rock climbing. And then there are separate studios for all kinds of things.

Cardio doesn't have to be just about killing yourself in the gym.

And also, you don't need it if you adjust your cals as the other ladies have said.

But I think its a great chance to explore what else is out there in the world other than just the gym...

I loved what she said! My alternative to cardio is swimming