8 Simple but Highly Effective Cardio Workouts in 20 minutes or Less

"When I run, I feel God's pleasure." -Eric Lidell, Chariots of Fire

I love to run.  But, I’m not a big fan of long distance running or of running for more than 30 minutes.   The good news is that running more than 20 minutes is not necessary, unless you’re training for a specific long distance running event.  You can get just as much benefit from running less than 30 minutes, and I usually aim for 20-25 minutes 3 days per week.
 
Right now, I’m doing 1 3-mile run, 1 sprint interval run, and 1 cardio machine workout each week on Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday.  For the cardio machines, I do 5 minutes on a rower, a versaclimber, a treadmill, and an elliptical.  That’s it for the week, 3 total workouts of cardio, in addition to 3 days of weight training, and some martial arts and tennis mixed in.
 
Here are 8 different workouts, all of which I use:

• Jog 2 Min, Run Fast 1 Min, jog 1 Min, repeat until minute 18, then jog 2 min cool down.
• Run 10 minutes, turn around and come back.
• Jog ¼ mile track loop, Run ¼ mile track loop.  Repeat for a total of a 2-mile run.
• Jog 100m, turn around and sprint 100m, complete 10 sprint reps and 10 jog reps.
• Find a big hill.  Run up fast and down slow 5-10 times. 
• Burn 50 calories on 4 different pieces of cardio equipment as fast as you can.
• 5 minutes on 4 different cardio machines, burn as many calories as you can. 
• Sprint 30 seconds, jog easy 30 seconds.  Repeat for 20 minutes.

 
Some general tips:

• Take a couple minutes to warm up and cool down.
• Focus on intensity more than duration.
• Interval training boosts your metabolism more than long and slow does.
• Make your harder intervals towards the middle of the workout.  Try to peak about 10-12 minutes in.
• Breathe slowly and through the bottom of the chest cavity.  Relax and keep your shoulders down.  Try not to raise your chest when you’re running or breathing hard.
• Stay out of the sun.  Find some shade and stay in it because the sun can really overheat you.

Now get out there and run!