Cardio Hacks: Top Alternatives To Running You Can Consider

When you are thinking about cardio, the first word that hits your mind is running . Running is the most common form of cardio exercise that people do throughout the world. The one major reason for running being a popular form of cardio is that people don’t really know about the other forms of cardio. Such cardio exercises are even better than running. They do a lot of things that running alone can’t do to your body. If you are fed up with running, then you need to find an alternative. You no longer need to be confused about the best alternatives to running as this article will list out all those alternatives that you can pick and start instead of running.

1. Top 5 Alternatives to Running You Can Consider For Your Daily Workout

Most people think that exercise involves only a few things, including running. You say exercise; they will listen to running. Running is a high-impact movement exercise. There is also a proper way of running, which many people don’t know. Also, there are many other exercises that will be better for your fitness than running. They will help you to reach your goals faster than running. So, if you have been running as your daily fitness workout plan, then quit running. Following are the top five alternatives you should consider if you are fed up with running daily;

1.1 Reverse Lunge

The first alternative that you are going to do to replace running is called the reverse lunge. This is really important because the reverse lunge has the same mechanics as running where you are stretching your hip flexors and strengthening the leg of the front side. But it is much safer and it is low impact. Following is the correct way about how you can do reverse lunges with good form.
Start with your feet right underneath your hips.
Your toes are facing straight forward from there.
It is helpful sometimes to put your hands on your hips. That way, you don't spin your hips. Keep them straightforward the entire time. Now, you are going to take a step back.
A big mistake most people make right here is as they step back, they almost try to balance on one line. That is going to make you feel like you are going to tip over. So, instead of that, imagine your feet are in straight lines. Don't put your foot across. Put your foot straight back. That will give you a much better balance. Drop the knee down behind you and hinge through the front hip and through this front knee. Drive into the front heel to come back up and stand and come to the starting position.
Start by stepping back. Keep the weight on the front heel. Mostly, we are going to try to push through the floor using our glute muscles. So don’t try to extend your knee. Try to push your heel down. Try to use the gluteal muscle to stand back up. As you go back and forth, start slow and control. Then, once you feel like your form is good, meaning you feel it in your glutes, you are keeping the weight in your heels, and you are watching your knee.
It is not wobbling. Your knee is going in the same direction as your toes. Then you can pick up the pace a little bit, and if you start doing this a little bit faster, it's going to be an amazing movement to strengthen your legs. And you also get that benefit of stretching the hip flexors right here on every single repetition.

1.2 Low Chair Plank

The second move you are going to do instead of running is called the low chair plank marching. You are going to have a chair that is about knee height, and you are going to put your hands on it and bring yourself into a plank position. Now, a really important thing to note here is a lot of people, when they plank, let their hips down sag, or they let their back sag and stick their hips out. Don't do either one of those.
Instead, rotate the pelvis, squeeze the gluteal muscles, and bring the body into a straight line. From there, keep this position as you start to march in place, so you are going to lift your knee up and then come back down. Lift the opposite knee up and come back down, trying to keep your hips straight forward towards the chair. So don't let the hips wobble from side to side as you do this.
Now again, move slowly and controlled at first, really feeling it in your core and perfecting the movement. Another thing that is important, too, is as you lift your foot up, don't point your toes down. Instead, lift your toes to your nose. That is going to flex these shin muscles, which are going to help strengthen the knee at the same time.
As you get better at this, you can start to move a little faster, and eventually, you can get to a pace where it's almost the same pace as running. But it has less impact, more work on your core, and is significantly safer for all of your joints.

1.3 Step Jacks

The third move you should be doing instead of running is called the step Jack, and just like it sounds, it is very closely related to the jumping jack. But it is a low-impact variation now, why you should do step Jacks because you are working the lateral motion of the body, which is incredibly important. Running not only works the motion straight forward, but that side-to-side motion helps strengthen our hips, strengthen our knees, and even strengthen our core.
So here is how to do step jacks. Start with your feet together like the toes pointing straight forward; hands are by your sides. Now, from there, you are going to step out and put your arms overhead, and then you are going to step your feet together on the other side and bring your arms back down. You are going to inhale as you step out and exhale as you come back together.
Now, at first, you should practice this slowly to make sure you are getting good coordination out of it, and then, as you get the rhythm, start moving a little faster. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, and continue just like this. You can do this along with the other movements to work the sides of your body to work your core, and work the mobility of your shoulders all at the same time.

1.4 Lateral Hop Bulldog Exercise

The fourth cardio exercise you can consider to replace running from your daily workout is the lateral hop bulldog exercise. The lateral hop Bulldog is one of the most common variations of the burpee because you can work not only your shoulders but also your abs in your quads. When you don't jump all the way back into the plank, you really target those quads even more, and because it has that lateral movement or that lateral hop, you can work on stability in that frontal plane of motion. It is key that we include moves that get us moving at every plane of motion in our cardio workouts instead of just forwards and backward.
By moving laterally, we can work on our explosive strength and the stability of not only our hips but also our ankles and even our knees. Just make sure that you build up to the movement. Make sure that when you do this move, you are super explosive in that jump laterally. And also, when you jump back, keep your knees stacked under your hips. This will work your quads more. You also should make sure that you are not shrugging your shoulders as you jump back. You should move as quickly as possible to really get your blood pumping.
If you are just starting out with this move, don't hesitate to step back instead of jumping. This can help you build stability. You might also find that you reduce the range of motion by doing it off the bench because of a lateral movement during this Burpee variation. It is a great way to also work your abductors and adductors to help improve your hip stability. So, if you want to work your inner thighs and your glutes a little bit more during your cardio workout, this move is a great one to include in your daily exercise.

1.5 Half Burpee

The final exercise you need to do instead of running is the half burpee.You should make your cardio workouts also contain a strength component. So try including push-ups in your cardio workouts. A half burpee is a great cardiovascular exercise that strengthens not only your chest, shoulders, and triceps but also works your core. It will really get your blood pumping and even improve your hip mobility especially.
If you want to do burpees but struggle with the down-up element, the half burpee is a great go-to option because you will still be jumping your feet outside your hands before jumping back into the plank to do the push-up. You are just not standing all the way up because of the fact that you are jumping your feet outside your hands. This will really work on your core strength as well as your hip mobility.
Make sure, though, that as you do this move, you don't turn the push-up into the worm. If you do struggle with the push-up, you can always do this move off of a bench or even go down to your knees for the push-up part and then come back up to your toes to jump your feet in really work to jump your feet all the way outside your hands. If your mobility doesn't allow that, just jump in as far as you can move quickly with this move and make sure you are not shrugging your shoulders but keeping your hands outside your chest.

2. Last Words

Now you know the moves that you should be doing instead of running to protect your joints and strengthen a lot of the rest of your body that running ignores. Well, how do you put it together? Here's what you should do. You can take movement number one, followed by movement number two, followed by movement number three.
You are going to do each one of those moves for 1 minute. Once you finish that, then you go back to the top, and you repeat that cycle for three rounds with a little bit of rest in between each to make sure that your body is recovering. Now, if you follow this routine using that method, it should take you anywhere between 10 to 12 minutes.
But it is going to be a fantastic workout that strengthens your legs, your core, and your cardiovascular system in a way that's much safer. That is low impact and strengthens the rest of your body.

3. Frequently Asked Questions

3.1 Why You Need to Switch Running to Other Forms of Cardio Exercises?

Running is a great form of exercise. But if you are only running, then it may not help you a lot in reaching your goals. Running is a high-impact exercise. You often may have felt that after running for even 10 to 20 minutes, you cannot do any other exercise. So with running, you cannot do any other exercise.
Instead of running, you can do other forms of cardio exercise, which will provide even better fitness benefits and help you more in reaching your fitness goals than running solely.
Another reason for switching your running with other cardio exercises is that you need to focus on other muscle groups of your body. You cannot only fix your leg muscles.
If you switch running with other cardio exercises, then you can easily focus on all muscle groups in your body and better reach your fitness goals.