In an interview about hardcore workouts, champion snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler advises people to never forget about their cardiovascular workout. She also underscores the importance of developing strong core muscles, which improve posture, strength, flexibility and agility. People ready to try their own hardcore workout should follow Bleiler's example and develop an awareness of their body and how to use it to maximize workouts while preventing injury.
Features
Get the most out of an intense workout by warming up properly. Spend 10 minutes stretching or doing a series of yoga sun salutations. Then you can step up the pace, doing cardiovascular exercise, or a combination of cardiovascular and strengthening exercises, for an extended time. Finish with 10 minutes of stretching for a cool down.
Function
Some people seek hardcore workouts to bump up their training. Others want rapid weight loss or to make the most of limited workout time. Mayo Clinic.com's guide to exercise for weight loss lists some of the cardiovascular activities that burn the most calories in an hour. Among them are high impact aerobics at 511 calories, jogging 5mph at 584 calories, running 8mph at 986 calories, climbing stairs at 657 calories, jumping rope at 730 calories and tae kwon do at 730 calories.
Potential
An NPR report describes the benefits of interval training, a hardcore workout that combines doing vigorous cardiovascular activity with working at an all-out sprint. Brief, 30-second sprints, followed by a slower pace for recovery time, raise your fitness level faster and burn more calories than if you worked at the same steady pace. Any cardiovascular routine can include sprints every few minutes, or you can program an exercise machine to an interval setting.
Expert Insight
Fitness expert Bob Greene describes the power of hardcore bootcamp-style workouts. His bootcamp routine for Oprah Winfrey includes eight workouts per week. You do 20-minutes of hand weights or resistance training six times per week. Five days per week, you do half an hour of cardiovascular exercise, and the sixth day features an hour of cardio. The workout hits hardcore level on two days a week when, in addition to the other workouts, you spend 30 minutes on combination cardiovascular and strengthening work, such as moving between a treadmill on an incline and doing a series of squats, lunges, pull-ups and push-ups.
Warning
If doing a hardcore workout seems too easy after some time, you need to step up the challenge level. Increase the length of time you work out or do your cardiovascular work while pumping hand weights.
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