You can get a great cardio workout with the right kind of box jumping routines. I’m a certified personal trainer. If you’re skeptical that box jumping counts as actual cardio exercise, find a 12 inch plyometric stool or “box,” and repeatedly jump onto it and off, both feet at the same time, no pausing in between.
Stick it out for one minute (if you can), then take your heart rate-it will be quite elevated and you’ll be breathing heavily. If you’re not breathing hard, you didn’t move quickly enough.
Though box jumping can be done as a strength training exercise, this doesn’t mean that it can’t count as cardio.
This mode of exercise does not have to be done as fast as possible. Pause a few seconds in between each jump, either when on the floor or the platform.
Or pause only after a fast double or triple. The jumping and landing points can also be distanced from shorter platforms. Standard plyometric boxes and stools start at six inches in height and go up in increments of six inches.
Jump nonstop on a 12 inch box at a pace that feels natural, not rushed, and see for how long you can do this. Beginners may need to stop before they run out of cardiovascular energy, due to discomfort in their feet from the way their skin rubs into their shoes from the landing impact.
Another factor that can force a person to quit before their cardiovascular energy runs out is that of quadriceps (thigh) muscle fatigue or burning. The deeper the landing, the more fatigued the quads will get.
However, a straight-leg landing is not safe, as this can damage knee joints. The landing should always come with at least a little knee bend.
A variation of box jumping for beginners is to leap up onto the platform, but then step off. Or, step on, then jump off.
Another variation is to add a baby jump after you land before going back up onto the platform. Ultimately, you want to eliminate that baby jump and just keep springing up and down, up and down, varying the speed or pause times.
Don’t think that just because you get taxed within 20 seconds that this isn’t cardio exercise. It most certainly is.
If 20 seconds (or 10, or 45, or two minutes, etc.) are all you can do, then do this, then pace or walk in place for a few minutes to recover, or even step up and down on the platform to recover, then repeat the working segment. This is interval training, and is a very effective form of cardio exercise.
