In part 1 of my leg-shaping cardio, I talked about how during the filming of our series “Mix It Up,” I noticed how weak my cardiovascular had gotten. As I have mostly been lifting heavy and doing steady-state cardio for a few years now, I have built plenty of muscle on my legs. Now I wanted to use my cardio to not only improve my endurance, but also shape my legs— not build anymore!
I started by covering a workout for the treadmill, as most people have access to this piece of cardio equipment, and then I covered the StepMill and gave you a workout for that as well. This week I am going to cover the Cybex Arc, if your gym has one, or you can use the elliptical. These machines are designed to take the impact out on your legs of your cardio, so they are great for alternating days with other pieces of cardio equipment.
In part 2, I gave you a cardio schedule for the week in which you could alternate the treadmill and StepMill workouts. Now if you have an arc or elliptical in your gym, you can alternate your cardio schedule the following way.
Sample Cardio Workout Schedule
Monday: Treadmill Workout
Tuesday: StepMill Workout
Wednesday: Arc Workout
Thursday: Treadmill Workout
Friday: StepMill Workout
Saturday: **Optional** Arc Workout
Sunday: OFF
If you missed the treadmill workout, find it here: Leg Shaping Cardio: The Treadmill
If you missed the StepMill workout, find it here: Leg Shaping Cardio: The Stepmill
Here are the moves we will be doing for the Arc workout:
Pushing through your heels — this is the most important to keep in mind. This will keep the work in your glutes and hamstrings.
The Arc/Elliptical Workout
5-Minute Warm-up
2 minutes moderate pace (level 8-10)
1 minute working about 70% max (level 6)
2 minutes moderate pace (level 8-10)
1 minute working about 70% max (level 6)
2 minutes moderate pace (level 8-10)
1 minute working about 70% max (level 6)
Complete three rounds
27 minutes + 5 minute warm-up = 32 minutes total
