If you want to improve your cardio fitness but don’t like going on a treadmill, there is another way. You can boost your wellness and wellbeing through a weight-room cardio workout. Lifting weights can get your blood pumping, and using total-body resistance moves that wear out your muscles can be a fantastic way to tone up and raise your heart rate at the same time.
Circuit training is one of the best ways to do this, as it is done at a fast pace and includes only short rest breaks, so that your heart starts pounding and keeps up a good pace in the metabolic cardio-boosting zone. Do the exercises with a set of dumbbells (around five or ten pounds each to start with) and do as many reps as you can within a minute, moving on to another exercise without stopping.
A great move to try is a squat to overhead press. You do this by holding a pair of dumbbells at about shoulder height, with your feet hip-width apart. Lower into a squat while pushing your hips back and keeping your chest upright. Your knees should be above your toes but not over them at the front as this is very bad for the knees. Push through your heels and return to a standing position with the dumbbells pushed up into the air overhead. Then lower the weights to your shoulders and sink down into another squat. This is one rep.
A bent over wide row can also be great for your cardio fitness. Lean slightly forward and hold a dumbbell in each hand, with your feet a little wider than hip distance apart. Hold your hands at your chest and then push out with your hands (not down) and then pull back into your chest as if rowing a boat.