Romance Copy Header: Take your cardio workouts to the next level and burn more calories in less time.

Welcome to the 7-Day Killer Cardio Challenge! Cardio exercise is a key component of a healthy lifestyle. This Challenge is going to help you maximize your efforts while minimizing your time commitment.

Aerobic exercise, such as cardio workouts like walking, running, cycling, swimming, Zumba, jumping rope, stair climbing and elliptical training, conditions your heart and lungs. It’s also an effective way to boost your energy, improve your mood, enhance your sleep and reduce your risk of heart disease,

diabetes, hypertension and cancer. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise a week.

You’ve probably heard this popular exercise recommendation. What you may not know is that you can work out less if you kick up the intensity. Vigorous aerobic exercise is like a double whammy. One minute of high-intensity cardio is equivalent to two minutes of moderate-intensity cardio. So, you need only 75 minutes a week—half as much, if you exercise vigorously!

Even if you don’t do all of your cardio at a vigorous level, adding higher intensity to your cardio—aka killer cardio—can save time and get you faster results!

Take Mindful’s 7-Day Killer Cardio Challenge to discover ways to take your cardio workouts to the next level. Try them all, and at the end of the week, continue with the higher-intensity methods that work for you.

• Day 1: Pick up the pace. Whether you’re walking, running, cycling or doing any other aerobic activity, going faster burns more calories and improves your fitness level. That means you’ll get less winded when you’re climbing stairs. Try these strategies to get you moving faster.
• Listen to high-energy music. The quick tempo can motivate you to speed up when you’re walking, running, swimming, cycling or dancing.
• Play catch up. If you’re walking or running amongst others, pick someone ahead of you and speed up to catch them.
• Pick a target. Focus on an object or spot far ahead of you as you walk, run, ride or swim toward it. One study found that people walked 23 percent faster when looking at a cone ahead of them compared to looking around as they walked.
• Beat your time. Time how long it takes you to walk, run, cycle or swim a set distance. The next time you do it, try to complete the same distance more quickly. Competing against yourself can motivate you to move faster.

• Day 2: Go vertical. Workouts that include an incline, stairs or steps increase intensity because you are lifting your body weight vertically instead of just moving it horizontally. Here’s how to add a vertical challenge to cardio exercise.
  • Choose a hilly route when walking, running or cycling.
  • Increase the incline on the treadmill or elliptical machine.
  • Hop on the stair climber machine at the gym or climb flights of stairs in a building or stadium.
  • Do step aerobics at home or take a class.

• Day 3: Recovery. High-intensity cardio challenges your body more than moderate intensity, so you want to build in recovery days to prevent burnout and overuse injuries. Recovery doesn’t mean sitting on the couch all day, though. You should still be active, but don’t push yourself as hard. Go for a leisurely walk. Take a yoga class. Stretch.

• Day 4: Do intervals. Adding short bursts of high-intensity activity, also known as HIIT or high-intensity interval training, to your cardio workouts can boost your fitness level faster and keep you performing at a higher level than if you do all of your cardio at a moderate intensity. Explore ways to add intervals to various cardio activities.

• Speed up. Turn a walk, run, ride or swim into an interval workout by going faster for 30 to 60 seconds. Then recover by continuing your activity at your usual pace for a minute or two before speeding up again. Continue alternating fast intervals with your regular pace. You can also do timed intervals on cardio machines, while jumping rope and even while dancing—just do what you’re doing a little faster.
• Add impact. You can create a high-intensity interval with plyometric or jumping moves like jumping jacks, knee lifts with a hop, jump squats or hopping side to side. If you’re doing a low-impact activity like walking, riding a stationary bike or using an elliptical trainer, stop what you’re doing and do 10 to 20 reps of some type of jumping. Then return to your usual activity for two to three minutes (you can do longer if you prefer) before doing more jumps. Continue alternating jumping intervals with your usual activity.
• Day 5: Use resistance. If you ever ran, walked or biked into a strong wind, you’ve experienced resistance and know that you have to work harder to overcome the force. Add resistance to cardio workouts to crank them up.
  • Turn up the resistance on cardio machines. Most ellipticals, rowers and stationary bikes allow you to adjust the resistance for higher-intensity workouts.
  • Slip on a weighted vest. Increased weight boosts your calorie burn and challenges your muscles because it’s harder to move.
  • Add swim paddles. Water already provides resistance, but you can increase it. Using swim paddles on your hands creates a bigger surface area that pushes more water for more resistance.
  • Mix in strength moves. Turn your cardio workout into a combo workout by interspersing strength exercises in between bouts of cardio. You can do bodyweight moves like squats and push-ups, grab a set of dumbbells for rows and overhead presses or use a resistance band for pulldowns and lateral walks.

• Day 6: Recovery or rest day. Take it easy; you deserve a break!

• Day 7: Increase duration. This option is a little different than the others. It’s not going to save you time because it actually requires more time. It may not be as vigorous either because it’s hard to maintain a higher intensity during longer workouts. But extending the length of your cardio workout challenges your body in different ways than shorter, higher-intensity workouts. Whatever activity you do, try to extend it to an hour or more, even if you have to slow your pace. Pushing yourself for longer periods of time means you’ll build endurance that can help you get through long days or tasks with more energy.