Take Your Lunges For a Treadmill Walk

FitSugar — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:00 -0800

Lately, I have been pressed for time and have been searching for ways to combine strength training and cardio equipment. Trainer Jackie Warner, of Bravo TV's Workout, shared this tip with Prevention, and after trying it last night, I am going to share it with you. Add lunges to your treadmill walking workout. Not just any old lunges. Nope. Lunges with the incline set to 15 percent. To make this action doable, you must slow the belt down and decrease the treadmill speed to two and a half or three miles per hour.

You can incorporate this move into your walking workout like this: after warming up, alternate two minutes of walking lunges, holding onto the handles if you need to, with two minutes of power-walking at a one percent grade followed by two minutes of recovery walking at an easy pace.

Not only does this get your heart rate going, but this move will also tone your glutes and thighs. Try it and tell me what you think.

Get It Up, Your Heart Rate, That Is: StepMill and Rowing Machine

FitSugar — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:30:00 -0800

Thanksgiving is still over two weeks away, and I already feel pressed for time. I came up with a time-saver cardio routine that combines two pieces of cardio equipment that also strengthen different parts of the body. These machines are also always free at the gym, which means no waiting around time. I'm talking about the StepMill and the rowing machine, two of my neglected faves at the gym. The StepMill gets my heart rate up while strengthening my legs, and the rowing machine keeps my heart rate up and strengthens my upper body from the palms of my hands to between my shoulder blades. Talk about doubling up!

I do want to encourage you all to experiment with the StepMill. I know many people find it intimidating, since it looks like an escalator going the opposite. But it is a great way to work your legs. Walking sideways on a StepMill, holding onto the handles of course, works the outsides and insides of the legs wonderfully - which in turn saves you even more time at the gym, since you won't have to strength-train those spots later.

To see this 30-minute workout, read more.

StepMill for 20 minutes

Time	Level
0:00-5:00	5.0
5:00-10:00	6
10:00-15:00	7
15:00-17:00	6.0 Sideways
17:00-19:00	6.0 Switch sides
19:00-20:00	5.0

Rowing Machine for 10 minutes
Set damper to a point between 4 and 5

Time	Strokes per minute
0:00-5:00	25-28
5:00-6:00	35-40
7:00-8:00	25-28
8:00-9:00	30-35
9:00-10:00	20-25

I followed this workout with some donkey kicks for my hamstrings and some ab work on the captain's chair. I stretched my legs and my upper back and went home to a lovely dinner made by my hubby. Sorry, dinner is not included with this workout.

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