One of the most common issues that people mention when they come to Franklin Rehabilitation is that they just don’t have enough time for cardio workouts due to their busy lives. Sometimes, it’s not only a time issue but also a matter of simply hating cardio in the first place. However, by adding more cardio into your daily routine, you can help improve your lung capacity and your heart rate.

If you want the benefits of cardio but find it hard to make the time to work out or you just hate exercising, we’re here to help. Take a look below at some sneaky ways to incorporate cardio into your daily life to help improve your heart and lung health.. 

1. Take it bit by bit

One of the main reasons that people dread cardio is that doing an hour or more may seem overwhelming. However, you don’t need several hours for cardio. You don’t even need a whole hour. You can keep it short and sweet or exercise in short bursts to help you get the benefits you need without taking up much time..

Shoot for half an hour of cardio a day, but chop it up into three 10-minute pieces. For example, a 10-minute brisk walk or jog before work could start your day. Add a 10-minute cardio session during your lunch break and a 10-minute session after dinner, and you’re set for the day — and you probably didn’t feel like you were doing a lot of hard work, either. Remember that high intensity matters when you’re doing these shorter sessions, so go hard for the whole session to get the best results.

2. Expand your horizons

When you think of cardio, you probably think of running. Running is a great way to engage your cardiovascular health, but it can be boring for some and, in many cases, running on the hard ground is rough on your joints. 

Expanding your exercise horizons is a great way to get in cardio in a sneaky way. There are several activities that engage your cardiovascular health, including:

• Swimming
• Biking
• Hiking
• Mountain climbing
• Dancing

What all the activities listed above have in common is that they’re fun — and one of them may be something you already love to do in your spare time. These activities get your heart rate up and allow you to get the cardio you need, but they’re not repetitive or boring. Talk to your physical therapist about a schedule. It’s ideal if you can schedule this exercise five days a week. 

3. Engage your interest

Staying engaged with cardio can be challenging — and fortunately, there are now apps for that. There are a number of apps that are designed to track your progress in a variety of cardio exercises. From tracking your number of steps each day to monitoring your heart rate and beyond, having an app can help you stay interested and accountable.

You can even try one of the gaming apps that reward you for walking, biking or running. Check out Ingress, Pokemon Go or Jurassic World Alive to keep track of your mileage while being engaged in an exciting virtual world at the same time. You won’t even realize how much cardio you’re doing because you’re too busy keeping up with what’s going on in the game world.

Visit Franklin Rehabilitation to help you start improving your cardio health

Do you want to improve your cardiovascular health but find that you hate the exercises or don’t have the time? Our team can help. We can work closely with you to develop a personalized treatment routine designed to help you reach your goals in a timely manner. Contact our team today for more information about improving your cardio or to schedule an initial appointment.