Are you still doing all your cardio by hammering away at the air bike? If your goal is to burn calories and you think that traditional cardiovascular exercises are the only way to do it, then you are wrong. Gareth Sapstead is going to demonstrate to us how he gets the heart pumping in a limited space without specialised cardiovascular equipment.

Limited Space Loaded Carries

Instead of performing a loaded carry over a set distance you can perform this carry by doing it on the spot. By having two Kettlebells racked in front of you, your scapulas have to stabilise independently and your core has to be braced to prevent you from being pulled forward. In addition to this, your core has to contend with you shifting your weight from one leg to the other. While one leg is stabilising and strengthening the gluteal muscles, the opposite leg’s hip flexors are activated to lift the leg off the floor.

Supercharged Sandbag Carries

Similar to the loaded carry above, this sandbag carry has the weight in front of you, which requires the body to stabilise through the core with the back and shoulder muscles working to carry the weight. By including an exercise band around your waist you will resist your forward movement. This requires that your glutes work harder during the carry.

Skipping

Skipping is one of the ultimate small space cardio exercises. It can also boost your heart rate and burn calories in a short amount of time. In addition to getting your heart rate going, using a Speed Rope can help strengthen the bones as you adapt to the impact of jumping as well as developing endurance in your shoulder, core and calves muscles.

Jumping Jack Variations

Like skipping, jumping jacks are a full body exercise that increases your heart rate. It requires no equipment and very little space. By adding in variations with the arm movement you can change the stimulus on the rotator cuff muscles, giving the shoulders a good workout.

Kettlebell Swings

This explosive hip hinge movement targets the muscles of the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, latissimus dorsi, abs and deltoids. In addition to increasing the strength of these muscles, kettlebell swings also increase your heart rate, making it a fantastic exercise to get a cardio workout done in a confined space.

Battle Rope Variations

Battle Ropes largely target the muscles of the upper body including the shoulders, arms, back and core. By adding variations into battle rope exercises such as side lunges or reverse lunges you can recruit more muscles from the lower body which requires an increased heart rate to pump the blood to the greater number of working muscles. You can also increase the resistance of movements such as Jumping Jacks by incorporating the battle rope. You can do a complete HIIT workout just by selecting a few different battle rope variations.

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are common pieces of gym equipment when it comes to core and stability training. What is less common is using the resistance bands to increase the heart rate. By performing movements such as single arm banded rows in an explosive manner you will get the heart pumping and calories burning.

Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers essentially involve you holding a plank position. This position targets the arms, shoulders and core muscles while you alternatively move your legs backwards and forwards, giving the leg muscles a workout. Mountain climbers can be performed in a slower manner which focuses more on strength, or they can be done at a high intensity which rapidly increases the cardio and burns calories.

Medicine Ball Thrusters

Thrusters are a true full body exercise. They combine a front squat with an overhead press, working a range of muscles in the process. These muscles include the glutes, quads, hamstrings, core, shoulders and triceps. Using so many muscles in a single movement increases the energy requirement which raises the heart rate. A Medicine Ball eliminates the need to have barbells and plates. You just need to pick up the medicine ball and get going.

Sandbag Over Bar

This exercise starts off similar to a deadlift when you lift the sandbag off the floor. As you lift the sandbag to your chest your core strength, grip strength and upper body strength becomes important. Perform a couple of these movements in a row and before you know it your heart rate will be boosted.

As Gareth has demonstrated, you can get a great cardiovascular training session done with minimal equipment and without the slog of running on a treadmill. These exercises will also elicit a greater level of post exercise oxygen consumption compared to traditional cardio. So if endurance is not your game but you would like to get the heart rate up and burn the calories try these exercises or develop your own routine and have fun training.

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Tags: Exercise Type > Cardio ; Misc > Mirafit Ambassadors