Strength training is another way of saying “increasing muscle strength.” Strength training works by the phenomenon known as the overload principle. If you want to build up more strength in your body but aren’t so keen to start an actual strength training workout session, perhaps you may be wondering what cardio exercises you can include in your activity plan that will help you build up more strength.
Although cardio by nature is not ideal for building up muscular strength, when the right variation is carried out, it can help you gain more functional power in all you do. No cardio will ever compare to that of strength training, but with the right selection, you can come close.
Let’s go over the best strength building cardio workouts to consider…
1. Elliptical Training. The elliptical trainer, also known as a cross trainer, is a stationary exercise machine for building up cardio fitness and endurance while also giving you some muscular conditioning benefits.
As you can easily adjust the resistance level on these machines to meet your current strength levels, challenging you to grow stronger in the process, you should see excellent strength gains after not too long.
Furthermore, this machine will also work both the upper as well as the lower body, which is something few cardio models do.
2. Rowing. Rowing is another interesting cardio variation to consider adding to your activity plan if you want to gain strength. Here again, this one will help you gain strength in both your upper as well as your lower body while torching calories in the process. The number of calories you burn will be up to 50 percent higher, and you will strengthen almost all the muscles of your shoulders down to the muscles of your calves.
The more resistance you use, the greater the strength benefits you will see.
3. Cycling. Finally, consider adding cycling to your cardio action plan. While cycling will target your lower body, it will do very well to build strength. Cycling will exercise the major muscle groups in your legs. Your strength and endurance will be increased and as a bonus you will lose body fat and burn calories by increasing your heart rate. Here again, the higher the level of resistance you use, the greater the strengthening benefits will be in your quads, glutes, calves and hamstrings.
So keep these cardio variations in mind. If you hope to maximize your strength level, start focusing on these as often as you can.
