Cardio Finishers: What Are They, When Should You Do Them, and How to Add Them to Your Next Workout

One of my secret weapons in my training is cardio finishers. These are high intensity exercises that drain every last drop of energy from my body at the end of my workout – hence cardio finisher.

But there is a subtle art to the cardio finisher, which I will explain in this article so that you can start adding in these workout weapons into your gym routine 🔥

What is a cardio finisher

As I mentioned above, a cardio finisher is an exercise, or a set of exercises that is placed at the end of your workout.

The exercise/set of exercises needs to be high intensity, with little to no break, so you get every last ounce of energy out before your cool down.

When you should do a cardio finisher

A common theme on my blog is safety when working out. We want to minimize risk of injury so that you never miss a workout.

Cardio finishers are not for the faint of heart and should be approached with some caution (although they are meant to be fun). If you are feeling really worn down and faint at the end of a workout, don’t try and squeeze in a cardio finisher.

A cardio finisher should only be added to the end of a workout where you feel like you still have something left in the tank. Your workout playlist is strong, the pre workout is still buzzing through your body and you want to answer the question “am I as awesome as a I think I am?”

The answer is always yes, you are in fact awesome, but the cardio finisher will confirm this.

So let’s get into how you put together a cardio finisher.

How to add a cardio finisher to your next workout

I am going to give you 3 of my favourite cardio finishers that you can try, or modify, for your next workout.

1. The cardio machine cardio finisher:

Pick a cardio machine of your choosing. You’ll do a quick warm-up to get the body used to the machine, 1-2 minutes will do. Then I want you to pick an interval, either a 1:1 or a 2:1 work to rest interval.

From there you choose how hard your working set is and your rest set is. For example, I like to do an 11.5kph sprint for 1min, and then stand on the side of the treadmill for my 30s rest. If I need it, I’ll take a full minute rest, or switch it up to 30s on, 30s off.

2. The killer countdown

I’ll be honest, this one is my favourite. It is both very challenging, but I also find it is the most effective at achieving that drained-of-energy feeling.

Set your timer for 12 mins. Then grab an EZ Bar or a 15lbs barbell. Press start on your timer and do 3 overhead presses. Put the bar down, and do 1 burpee, hop over the bar, drop down do another burpee, hop over the bar and do a third burpee.

You’ll then repeat this overhead press, burpee combo, increasing reps by 3 every time.

The goal is to get to 21 reps of each or get to the end of the timer. at my absolute fittest, when I would do this at the end of most workouts, I got up to 18 burpees.

Trust me it is killer, but SO good.

3. HIIT Circuit

Last, but certainly not least, the HIIT circuit. Ol’ faithful. When I use a HIIT circuit for a cardio finisher I like to combine complex movements. They’ll be full-body exercises that use equipment I wouldn’t normally use, like a stepper and a medicine ball.

If you want it to be a true cardio finisher, make you keep those rests short. Try EMOM, or every minute on the minute.

Recommended Reading: 3 Ways to Modify an Exercise