After purchasing a very nice upright exercise bike,
I found myself wondering how would I ever keep doing this at least 3
times a week? It wasn't because it was not a good piece of
equipment. And it wasn't because I didn't want to inside.
But it was that keeping motivated to do my cardio has always been a
problem.
I just don't like doing cardio!
Then along came Sean O'Malley. A guy I'd
personally never heard of before. And before I knew it, I
bought Volume 1 of his Cardio Coach series.
Sean has done the world a favor when it comes to
cardio. You simply add each volume as a playlist to your MP3
player or you can pop in the CDs. Next thing you know, the 30
minutes are flying by as he takes you step-by-step thru each cardio
workout. Each workout is accompanied by very upbeat and
appropriate music. The music itself propelled me to do ever
better.
Reaching my target heart rates was simple. The
bike I own has a built-in handle bar type heart monitor. I
printed out the color chart that was part of the Tips and Tricks
file and added my own personal target heart rate number into the
zones. Now when I'm listening, I know exactly where I need to
be for each level of the workout.
Interval training has been proven to be one of the
most effective methods of fat burning cardio. Cardio coach
sessions do exactly just that but just better then your average
machine can do.
You get the proper warm-up. You get a steady
pace. You get some challenges that are tough but not insane.
And then you get a proper cool down period. All in a span of
30 minutes. Which is just the perfect amount of time. 45
minutes is much too long for my personal tastes anyway.
Pros:
-
Provides personal encouragement and motivation
with three cardio coach volume CDs (or MP3s).
-
Sean is a professional athlete. So you know
you are getting some good instructions.
-
No matter what your fitness level is, you can adjust
immediately for the necessary target heart rates. Unlike some
programmed workouts that have to be easy even for advanced athletes,
Cardio Coach does an excellent job of keeping the workouts
challenging.
Cons
Visit the Cardio Coach
If you compare these 3 volumes to the cost of a personal
trainer, there simply is no comparison. For the $10.00 I spent, I
just motivated myself to actually do the bike a whole lot more. In
fact it's too bad I can't do cardio a little more often.
There's quite a few products on the market today that
compete with Cardio Coach. I've tried many of them. And many
of them are easy for me even at my intermediate level of fitness.
The problem seems to be that most of them just don't push you as hard
and don't incorporate the flexibility that Sean is able to do in his
sessions. Some of them seem like 60 minutes when in fact it was
only 20. Somehow the 30 minutes that Sean promises will go by
fast, actually do.
By warming up, finding a steady pace and doing a series
of challenges all within 30 minutes, the maximum fat burn can be
achieved without draining yourself of all your energy. To the
contrary, after my 30 minutes, I felt like I gained energy. It was
challenging but not draining.
