How I'm Staying Fit at Home with Cardio Cards

In partnership with Cardio Cards. As always, all opinions are my own.

How's your quarantine fitness routine going? For many of us, our homes have suddenly become some combination of work-space, school, gym, place of worship, and even restaurant (hello, date night at home). And it's perhaps more important than ever to keep our bodies moving. It helps clear the mind and maintain good energy levels. And we do want to emerge from this looking and feeling amazing, right?

Going into this period of self-isolation and social distancing, I knew I would need to purchase a few things if I was serious about staying fit at home but was wary of buying a bunch of equipment that I might not use much once things return to normal. I also needed to keep space in mind because, unfortunately, I don't live with Drake. (Have you seen his manor?!) This post will walk you through my current at-home fitness routine, including my awesome experience with Cardio Cards, inexpensive at-home workout equipment ideas, and even a playlist for your next sweat session. Let's get into it, sis!

What Are Cardio Cards?

Cardio Cards is an at-home fitness tool developed by Texas fitness guru, Tyson the Transformer, and his wife, Kween. Kween created it to get back into military shape from home after giving birth! This deck of cards is like a pocket personal trainer because it not only gives you a full collection of fat-burning exercises, it also includes clean eating ideas! Cardio Cards can go anywhere and they make a game out of cardio, which I need because I. do. not. like. cardio. It's my least favorite part of working out but this little deck makes staying fit at home easy. Well, let's not say easy because the movement sequences make up a REAL workout, y'all. Going through the Cardio Cards deck gets me sweaty, gets my heart rate up, and I feel it the next day. So it's actually more accurate to say that Cardio Cards makes at-home workouts simple. Like anything worth having, you still have to do the work!

Tips for Using Cardio Cards for At-Home Fitness

To make your Cardio Cards workout fun and the most effective, blast your workout playlist, set the timer on your phone, and stretch for a couple of minutes before you get started. Here is my current getting fine from home playlist.
The Cardio Cards workout can be done pretty much anywhere. All you need is enough space to spread out your wingspan and maybe a mat if you're outdoors.
Cardio Cards take about 30-45 minutes to complete and you can do the cards for time to challenge yourself. For a competitive element, challenge your fitness buddy to work the deck at the same time as you and see who finishes first! If you don't live with your fitness buddy, you can still do this virtually with a video call.
All you'll need for this workout is body weight but you can add in simple fitness equipment like resistance bands and hand weights to make it even more challenging.
Be sure to thoroughly shuffle your Cardio Cards deck before each use, including your first use, unless you want to wind up doing back-to-back push-up challenges without the Instagram glory! Shuffling the cards keeps things interesting and ensures no two workouts are exactly the same. And aren't we all trying to beat boredom right about now?

Weekly At-Home Fitness Routine

Keeping my body moving at home has been such a blessing and is not very expensive at all. Here is is what my at-home fitness routine currently looks like on a weekly basis.

Cardio: 2-3x per week I play with Cardio Cards to get my heart rate up and sometimes add resistance bands and kettlebells for more of a challenge.
Long Walks: - 2-3x per week I get out of my house and walk for a couple of miles along the bayou near my home. The fresh air and sounds and sights of nature work wonders for my state of mind and the sunlight (with protection) keeps my melanin popping. 🙂
Pilates or Yoga and Meditation: 3-4x per week I stream practices from my fitness studio and Youtube.
Strength Training: 2-3x per week I'll stream a HIIT class from my studio or a resistance band workout from YouTube.

Inexpensive At-Home Fitness Tools I've Found

Cardio Cards (use code "dashofjazz" for a free Cardio Boost workout program with your order!)
- And let me add that Cardio Cards is a local, black-owned business. 🙂 Their service is super friendly and shipping is quick!
Soft Kettle Bells
Resistance Bands
Yoga Block
Yoga Mat

Keeping up structure like doing certain workouts on certain days, eating my meals at regular times, virtual Sunday worship, and even posting to this blog have helped me maintain some semblance of normalcy right now and I hope these fitness routine tips and tools help you get your body moving in a way that works for you. Thanks for reading!