This week, our favorite personal trainer shows you the best cardio workout guaranteed to burn fat in no time.
Heidi Powell brought us many a five-minute workout. We’ve built muscle in our arms, blasted our booties, engaged our middles, and more—and we’ve been very pleased with the result. What’s left? Cardio, of course! You can get your whole body moving with this easy cardio routine that can be done in no time at all. We really think this is the best cardio workout we’ve seen yet and the fact that it’s also a five-minute workout? Absolutely perfect. Take it away, Heidi! —Hally Wolhandler
Heidi Says…
The five-minute workouts you have been completing (and mastering!) are designed to sculpt and shape your muscles. I’m sure most of you already know that the more solid muscle mass you have on your body, the more fat you burn! There are also ways to burn fat even faster—with shredders.
Shredders are the term we coined for powerful, fat-burning cardio sessions. Instead of cardio at a steady rate, ‘shredders’ are cardio sessions done at high and low intensities for 30-second intervals. The changes in intensity maximize the amount of fat burned. I like to call the intervals ‘thrilling thirties’!
You can start adding shredders to your collection of five-minute workouts three days a week, and can move up to six days a week. They can be done first thing in the morning, right before bed, in the middle of the day, or after your five-minute workout. Whatever is convenient for you!
The most important thing as you incorporate shredders into your workout plan? Make a realistic commitment. If that means only five minutes a day, only do five minutes a day. If you feel ready for more, then that’s awesome! But do whatever is true to you.
So what are shredders? Your favorite cardio activity! If you love the activity, you’ll keep doing it. Whether it is running, rowing, cycling, walking, basketball, tennis, or dance…you can shred it!
FIVE-MINUTE ROUTINE: THE BEST CARDIO WORKOUT
Shredders
Choose your form of cardio.
Set the clock for your time commitment—let’s say 5 minutes to start.
30 seconds of high intensity (about an 8 on a scale of 1–10)
30 seconds of low intensity (about a 6 on a scale of 1–10)
Repeat until your 5 minutes are up.