I KNOW I’m not the only one!
Upon coming to college, I made a goal to be “in the best shape of my life.” I was beyond determined. The summer before my freshman year, I spent nearly an hour every evening in the campus fitness center. (No, I do not think this was healthy, as working out became an obsession and no longer an activity that I enjoyed.)
After making the cheer team, I was required to participate in team workouts and additional individual workouts. This saved my relationship with fitness, quite honestly. Working out was fun again! I felt like I was working out to be strong and able-bodied—not to just “look” fit.
But in the off-seasons, I tend to struggle with maintaining a workout schedule that doesn’t take priority over everything else that fills my days. And further, I HATE running. With a passion. A fiery passion.
My knees hate running too, and it simply does not make me feel like I have accomplished anything to run. I want to feel a burn during and after a workout! But all I feel after running is pain in my joints and out of breath.
So, to get my cardio in, I have adopted a few other methods of exercise that leave me feeling accomplished and stronger than before, AND they don’t involve running for long periods of time or distances. Here they are!
Stairs
Yes, I know, this is referred to as “running” stairs, but I promise it does NOT feel like running. This is my favorite activity for toned quads and calves. I try to keep my weight on my toes as much as possible to really work on my calves, and pull those knees as high as they’ll go. This always gets my heart rate up just as much as running circles around a track.
Lunges
I know, you’re probably thinking, “I thought this post is about cardio, not stretching??” Well, what I do is more of a modified lunge to build on my explosiveness and, in turn, increase my heart rate. After I reach the deepest point of my lunge, I jump into the air with my arms up just like in a burpee before going into the next lunge. Trust me, you’ll feel this one in your glutes and hamstrings. I like to lunge the length of the bleachers at an outdoor track, or, if I’m indoors, the length of a basketball court. I’ll do this once per set, and I usually repeat a set three times.
Mountain Climbers
Ah, mountain climbers—my favorite. This will increase your heart rate while strengthening your core and toning up your arms a little too! If you’re not quite ready to be completely horizontal on the ground, a good modification for this is to use the stairs of bleachers so you will not be completely parallel with the ground. This will be a little easier on your abs and not as likely to discourage you from incorporating mountain climbers into your cardio routine in the future.
These are just some ways that I enjoy cardiowithout running, and I hope you enjoy them too!
Thanks for reading!
Annie Lark
ANNIE BOYD SOWELL 