Cardio Moves (30-60 seconds)
Marching/Jogging in Place:
Low Impact: Start marching with your feet together. You want to make sure
that you are standing tall. Don't slump your shoulders.
High Impact: Jogging in place. If you want to make this harder you
can bring your knees up high.
Front Heel Taps:
Low Impact: Start with your feet together and your hands down. Take one
foot and tap the heel out in front of your and bring the foot back to your
starting place, so heel out and back, out, back, out back.
High Impact: You add a hop on the opposite let that is pressing its heel out.
Think of pressing your heel forward and hopping on the opposite leg.
Side Lunge
Low Impact: Turn slightly and step your foot out and step together. At the
same time your arms go the opposite direction. Step out, step together, step
out, and step together.
High Impact: Add a little hop in there. Your feet go off the floor.
Around the World
Low impact: Start with your feet together and hands down. Use
one leg at a time and tap to the front, to the side, to the back, and
to the middle and then switch legs and repeat.
High Impact: Add a hop on opposing leg as you move, front, side, back, together. And same
on other leg.
Angela Flickinger RD, MPH, CPT, Family Living Educator *Rock County UW-Extension * 608-757-5689
Angela.flickinger@ces.uwex.edu * http://fyi.uwex.edu/strongwomenwisconsin/
Page 1
Alternating Knee Lift
Low impact: Start with both feet on the floor, then bring your knee
up to at least a ninety-degree and pull your arms down at the same time.
High Impact: Add a little jump in the middle.
Butt Kicks:
Low Impact: Standing tall, step sideways with right foot, then bring left heel toward
buttocks; pull elbows into sides. Alternate sides.
High Impact: Add hop on opposite leg.
Side Shuffle
Low Impact: Get into a partial squat with arms slightly bent and in
front of you, and feet a little wider than hip-width apart. Keep knees
bent and feet low to the ground as you shuffle sideways to the right
for four counts by stepping sideways with your right foot, then
bringing your left foot to meet it. Keep body centered.
High Impact: Add a shuffle hop.
Jumping Jack
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Low impact: separate one leg at a time while keeping opposing leg secure
to the ground.
High Impact: Stand with feet together, then jump, separating legs and raising
arms overhead. Land with feet hip-width apart, then jump feet back together
and lower arms.
Angela Flickinger RD, MPH, CPT, Family Living Educator *Rock County UW-Extension * 608-757-5689
Angela.flickinger@ces.uwex.edu * http://fyi.uwex.edu/strongwomenwisconsin/
Page 2
EXTRAS - Advanced:
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Stair running: run/walk up a flight of stairs, pumping your arms, then walks down.
Vary by taking two stairs at a time.
Jumping rope or skipping: Do a basic boxer's shuffle or two-footed jump. Stay on
balls of feet, not jumping too high off ground, elbows by your sides.
Burpees: Beginning in the squat position, place hands on the ground in front of you,
and jump your feet back into a push-up position. Immediately jump feet forward
into the squat position and leap as high as possible.
Mountain Climbers: Beginning in the push-up position, quickly alternate bringing
your knees to your chest while holding yourself up in the push-up position.
Squat Jumps: Stand with feet hip-width apart. Bend knees and lower hips into a
squat. Jump in air and straighten legs, lifting arms upward. Land softly, lowering
arms.
Split Jumps: Stand in a split stance, one foot a long stride in front of the other, then
bend knees and jump, switching legs to land and pumping arms in opposition to
legs. Alternate legs
Step Ups: Step up on a curb, stair, or sturdy bench with one foot, then the other, then
down one at a time; repeat.
Side-to-side leap: Place any long, thin object (such as a broom) on floor. Leap
sideways over object, landing with feet together.
Increasing the intensity of your workouts can elevate your metabolism and accelerate your
health goals. Incorporating cardio burst exercises between your strength-training sets to
help burn fat and improve your overall health. Include high-intensity exercise into your
exercise routine decreases your risk for developing chronic diseases such as breast cancer,
heart disease, diabetes and depression.
Jumping is a way to get a quick high-intensity cardio burst to elevate the heart rate.
Jumping exercises can take the form of jumping jacks, jump squats or jumping rope.
Any exercise involving jumping is a high-intensity, high-impact exercise. This means
that it is effective at fat-burning, disease prevention and improving bone density.
However, if you have osteoporosis or a high risk for developing
osteoporosis, jumping exercises is not recommended.
Angela Flickinger RD, MPH, CPT, Family Living Educator *Rock County UW-Extension * 608-757-5689
Angela.flickinger@ces.uwex.edu * http://fyi.uwex.edu/strongwomenwisconsin/
Page 3
University of Wisconsin, U. S. Department of Agriculture and Wisconsin counties cooperating. UW-Extension
provides equal opportunities in employment and programming including Title IX and ADA
Angela Flickinger RD, MPH, CPT, Family Living Educator *Rock County UW-Extension * 608-757-5689
Angela.flickinger@ces.uwex.edu * http://fyi.uwex.edu/strongwomenwisconsin/
Page 4