The word “Cardio” or cardiovascular means “relating to, or involving the heart and blood vessels,” according to the Merriam-Webster medical dictionary. In other words, “Cardio” has nothing to do with spending countless hours on a treadmill, or watching a video of an anorexic woman doing aerobics.
Cardio basically refers to training the heart. And the best way to train the heart is not with boring jogging or aerobics, but instead high intensity bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. This is because I prefer to have fun while I workout. The following is a list of 24 bodyweight and dumbbell exercises that you can use to develop your own fun cardio workout:
- Dumbbell Push Press
- Dumbbell Jump Shrugs
- Bodyweight Split Jump
- Bodyweight Knee Raise to Side Push Up
- Bodyweight Free Squat
- Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift
- Bodyweight Hindu Pushups
- Dumbbell Alternating Hanging High Pull
- Dumbbell Front Squat
- Dumbbell Two Handed Swing
- Bodyweight Squat Thrust
- Bodyweight Step Ups
- Bodyweight Squat Jumps
- Dumbbell Squat Clean
- Bodyweight Rest Pause Pull Ups
- Bodyweight Butt Raises
- Bodyweight Ice Skater Hops
- Bodyweight Dive Bomber Push Ups
- Dumbbell Renegade Row
- Bodyweight Classic Push Up
- Dumbbell Bent Over Row
- Dumbbell Twisting Military Press
- Dumbbell Split Jerk
- Dumbbell Golf Squat
Create your Own Workout
There are numerous ways to develop your own workout, but the easiest and most efficient method is to use Supersets. Supersets are simply two exercises performed back to back with limited to no rest in between each set. So from the list above, simply choose one bodyweight exercise and one dumbbell exercise and perform them back to back.
