This 25-Minute, Low-Impact Cardio Workout Will Spike Your Heart Rate Without a Single Burpee

The term “cardio workout” immediately conjures images of a high-speed, high-impact, high-sweat fitness. But contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of ways to spike your heart-rate that don’t require running, jumping, or a single piece of equipment.

To help make getting your daily dose of cardio easier than ever, Le Sweat TV founder Charlee Atkins put together a 25-minute, low-impact cardio workout that uses nothing but your bodyweight and that you can do anywhere, any time. Aside from the fact low-impact cardio workouts, like this one, are super accessible (regardless of your fitness level), they also offers some notable benefits for your overall health. Since they're totally devoid of jumping, they put much less stress on your body than HIIT or other types of cardio. This allows you to increase strength and stamina without compromising your joints.

In Atkins' 25-minute session, you’ll start with a four-minute warmup that will loosen up your entire lower body (including your hips and inner thighs which are likely extra-tight from sitting all day). Then, she'll guide you through three circuits, each of which has four to six exercises that you’ll do twice. Moves like no-jump jumping jacks, swimmer planks, and bicycle crunches will work every muscle in your body, including—most importantly—your heart.

With these types of low-impact cardio workouts, it's important to focus on your breathing to make sure you're getting the most out of your moves. Atkins suggests relying on either "library breathing" (exhaling loudly through your lips) or "birthday breathing" (imagining that you're blowing up the candles on a cake every time you exhale) to do things properly. You'll also want to keep your core engaged as much as possible so that all your cardio work can double as an ab-strengthening session.

Ready to try some low-impact cardio of your own? Press play on the video above. You won't need anything but your body and 30 minutes of free time to get your workout in.