Get Your Sweaty On! My Indoor Cardio Workouts

Moving on from the craptastic 13 miler fail last Sunday.

Revenge match will most likely not come till December as they are forecasting mad rain this weekend. Which means workouts will need to be indoors.

With the time change, and the changing of seasons, I bet a lot of you have/are recently moving a lot of your workouts inside, away from the dark, cold, wind, and rain.

Though nothing beats a great run/ride outside, there are times when I do need to take my training into the gym. And you know what? I can still get in a kick ass workout!

I wanted to share with you two of my favorite kick butt elliptical and spinning workouts, along with some of my favorite workout songs of the moment!

Shveaty Elliptial Workout:

(Image source)

I used to HATE the elliptical and wanted to shoot myself out of boredom. However, this workout keeps things interesting, and I've actually come to like the elliptical! I love it for when my legs can't take another run or another beating. This workout can be shortened or lengthend easily by adding/subtracting sections, or making each section longer. This plan is for 30 minutes.

Warning: You will be SWEATY!

PS- Resistance and incline difficulty really depends on the machine. My levels are just based on the particular elliptical I use.

Minutes 0-5: Warm up at a steady pace. (Incline: 5 Resistance: 5)
Minute 5: Hill sequence 1 (Incline: 5 Resistance: 10)
Minute 6: Incline: 5 Resistance: 11
Minute 7: Incline: 5 Resistance: 12
Minute 8: Slow Down at Incline: 9 Resistance: 4
Minute 9: Backwards Hill Sequence 1 (Incline: 5 Resistance: 10)
Minute 10: Backwards at Incline: 5 Resistance: 11
Minute 11: Slow Down at Incline: 9 Resistance: 4
Minutes 12-15: Repeat Hill Sequence 1
Minute 15: Slow Down at Incline: 9 Resistance: 4
Minutes 16-18: Repeat Backwards Hill Sequence 1
Minute 18: Slow Down at Incline: 9, Resistance: 4
Minutes 18-26: Sprint repeats
Set to Incline: 5 Resistance: 5 or 6

1. Pedal easy 20 seconds, Sprint 20 seconds X3
2. Pedal easy 30 seconds, Sprint 30 seconds X3
3. Pedal easy 20 seconds, Sprint 20 seconds X3

Minutes 26-29: Repeat Hill Sequence 1
Minute 29: Cool Down

Awesome kick ass sweaty workout!

I also love to do solo spin sessions.

I get so incredibly sweaty by the end of this thing. It's adrenaline pumping, calorie torching, quad burning spin sesh. (bike image source)

Spin Session

Song 1: Warm Up. Light to medium resistance; work through all the positions on the bike, warm up each individual leg.

Song 2: Hills. Every 30 seconds, add a full turn of resistance. Once you can no longer physically continue pedaling sitting down, stand up and pedal.

Song 3: Sprints. Medium light resistance. Start at mountain position (postion 2) and pedal easy for 30 seconds. Then sit down and sprint for 30 seconds. Stand back up and ride easy for 30. Sit down and sprint for 45 seconds. Stand up and ride easy 30 seconds. Sit down and sprint for 30 seconds. Repeat till end of song.

Song 4: Rhythms (Jumps). Fairly heavy resistance. Ride Mountain Position for 8 counts, Position 3 for 8 counts. Alternate between 8,4,2, and single counts for remainder of song.

Song 5: Endurance Ride. Medium resistance. For the entire song, either in the saddle or off, ride at a pace beyond your comfort level.

Song 6: Hills (same as above)

Song 7: Sprints (same as above, except ride easy in the saddle, and sprint in Position 2)

Song 8: Lunges (medium to hard resistance) Position 2 for 8 counts, lunge back for 8, Position 3 for 8, lunge forward for 8. Repeat with 4 and 2 counts.

Song 9: Butt Blaster (heavy resistance) Start in Position 2. Whenever the chorus comes on, push back your butt over the saddle (like Position 3) and take all the bounce out of your ride. Really hold your abs in tight, and concentrate on busting through your butt and quads.

Song 10: Endurance Ride (same as above, but make it faster, or add more resistance)

Song 11: Hill Sprints. Start at light resistance, in saddle, ride for 30, sprint for 30. Add a full turn of resistance. Ride easy for 30, sprint for 30. Add more resistance and repeat.

Song 12 and on: you can repeat any of the above or cool down.

This is an awesome workout and you'll be gasping for air! I really try to crank up the resistance to get myself ready for the hills in Napa! I usually just ride until I reach about an hour.

Now onto my current Music Obsession: David Guetta! Seriously awesome musice to workout to.

Fave songs include:

• Memories,


• On the Dance Floor (featuring Will.i.am),


• Revolver (featuring Maddonna and Lil Wayne) and


• It's the Way You Love Me (featuring Kelly Rowland),


• Club Can't Handle Me (Flo Rida)

I also LOVE Pitbull's new song Hey Baby (Drop it to the Floor).

Having great music makes SUCH a big difference when working indoors.

So don't let the crappy weather keeping you from getting your sweat on! Let me know if you have any questions! Maybe I'll post my gut and butt blasting workout soon too.

Enjoy your Thursday!