Cardio Coach Volume 3

Cardio Coach Volume 3 is the third CD of Sean O'Malley's guided workout series. (And my favorite.)For those not familiar with Cardio Coach workouts they are guided cardiovascular exercise workouts.

I use my treadmill for this but it can be used with any cardio equipment.

The workout is set to an original score composed by Todd Washburn for this CD.

The workout uses four levels of intensity and recommends using a HRM or perceived exertion. My HRM will not work with my treadmill so I use perceived exertion.

It begins with a warm up (on your equipment) Sean says "no burn no hard breathing" here. After the warm up you go into a steady state. After approx. 4 1/2 minutes he has you bump up to a level two exertion.

Next comes challenge one. Challenge one is six level three exertion sprints. Each sprint is 30 seconds with a 30 second break in between (the break is at a level two exertion). The music during the sprints is very motivating.

After a brief rest, Challenge two begins. Challenge two consists of two, three minute gradual exertion building hills. At the start of hill one Coach asks you to reach a level three by the end of the first minute. At the beginning of the second minute your goal is to maintain your heart rate at 75%-85% (level three)for one minute and the last minute you will reach a level four exertion or 85%-95% of max. heart rate. You then have a minute to catch your breath before you repeat!

Then Coach has you set your efforts to a level two for two minutes before you begin Challenge three the final Challenge. Challenge three is four level four sprints. Each sprint is only 10 seconds and there is a 30 second break in between.

The work out ends with a 4 1/2 minute steady state period to bring your heart rate down.

Next comes the cool down. It's a few minutes at level one effort.

Finally you get off your equipment and do a stretch on the floor.

The stretches are basic and last approx. five minutes. The music during the stretches is very relaxing.

I love this workout. It makes the time on the treadmill really fly.

Because you use perceived exertion I think that this workout would work for beginners as well as advanced exercisers.

The workout is approximately 45 minutes long.