Cardio Workouts

[LMM]

Cathe,

I have been doing your workouts for several years. You are the only instructor whose workouts I do. I love the intensity.

I have noticed that many of your recent cardio workouts have been circuit workouts. I really want to like them because I would like the variety in my routine (I also like the idea of the efficiency). But, I use a heartrate monitor during my workouts and I find that during the non cardio segments, my HR goes below the target. When I get back to the cardio segment, it seems that it takes the whole segment to get my HR back into the target zone. I get frustrated because by the end of the workout, I've only had 10 minutes in my target HR zone for a 60 minute workout. The HR monitor is important to me because I want to be sure that I am pushing myself to get maximum fat and calorie burn. I tend to zone out and will get lazy if I don't have the monitor to get me focused again.

Does your HR stay in the target zone when you do circuit workouts?

Should I do this workout even though my HR doesn't seem to stay high enough for enough time?

Do you have a suggestion how I can get my HR up (I already use a 10 inch step and I'm too short (5'4) to go higher). I'm an intensity junkie and I do all the bursts, jumps, etc.

I would love your advice.

Thank you.

Thanks!

 

[CathydsRNA]

Not Cathe but have advice and a question. What circuits are you using? If you are using a beginning to intermediate circuit like Body Fusion or the Intermediate High Step perhaps you should up the level of workout to something like Bootcamp or one of the Terminator Workouts. Also, upping the weight during the weight segments will help your heart rate stay up.

 

[LMM]

Thanks for the information. I have done bootcamp and I have done the terminators. I still have the problem that my heartrate won't stay up during the weight segments (even going heavy) and it's hard to get it back up when I do get back to the cardio.