Case in point: Ashley Graham. As a model, she knows how important it is to get her heart rate up – for her health and the whole photographed-in-her-swimsuit-on-the-reg thing. Thing is, she’s not a fan of it at all.
“You guys already know… cardio is the part of my workouts that I HATE doing,” she recently wrote on Insta. “Finding a way to make it fun and having fun is the only way to get through it on a Wednesday.”
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The trick? Cardiovascular conditioning drills.
“Cardiovascular conditioning drills CAN be equal parts fun and effective,” her trainer Kira Stokes captioned a video on her Instagram account. In it, the pair can be seen passing 5kg medicine balls back and forth while running around the room.
“Allow yourself time away from the treadmill, bike, rower, etc… Get creative, get those endorphins flowing, let your inner child shine and insert laughter = bonus ab work.”
These short-burst hits of cardio are especially helpful for Ashley because she’s constantly on-the-go.
“I typically book 75-minute sessions with clients, but on days where Ashley is pressed for time and still wants to squeeze in a workout, I get even more creative with finding ways to effectively and efficiently challenge her strength, power and endurance while still having fun,” Stokes previously told Shape.
And as always, their goals for Ashley’s training remain clear: she wants to feel strong, build definition and strengthen her core – not lose weight.
“She’s a freaking athlete and wants to be trained like one too,” Stokes explained. “She has incredible body awareness. And most of all, she wants to be her best self.”
Her advice for others who aren’t big on traditional cardio? Think outside the box.
“People need to remember what we all did as kids. We played,” she added. “There is no rule that you can’t continue to do that your whole life. At the end of the day, your heart is a muscle and you need to condition it like any other muscle in your body. Finding ways to make it fun though, is the best way to do it.”
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