Go the distance
Build stamina for the long haul.Add a weekly tempo or interval session for a touch of speed, keep the long one growing, and your range expands quickly. Just don't add distance and intensity in the same week.
Your plan at a glance
One long day
Your longest session — the backbone of endurance.
One tempo day
A sustained brisk effort, or some longer intervals.
2–3 easy days
Genuinely easy — they let the hard work absorb.
Distance OR intensity
Add one at a time, never both in the same week.
Worth knowing
The 10% rule: grow your longest session by roughly a tenth each week to build up injury-free.
How hard should it feel?
Your breath is the simplest intensity meter there is — no heart-rate strap required. Match the effort to the session: easy for warm-ups and recovery, moderate for most of your minutes, and short vigorous bursts when you want to boost fitness.
What a week looks like
A long day, a brisk tempo day, and two or three easy days. The long one leads the week.
Your sample session
The dose above stays the same whichever way you move. Pick your activity and grab a ready-made session to match.
The most accessible cardio there is. Walk briskly for moderate effort; add hills or short fast bursts to push harder. Kind on the joints and easy to keep up.
See the walking session →Efficient and easy to scale — jog gently for base fitness, or add fast intervals to spike it. Build up slowly and mix in walk breaks early on to stay injury-free.
See the running session →Low-impact and interval-friendly, indoors or out. Gentle on the knees, and hills or a turbo trainer make hard efforts easy to dial in exactly.
See the cycling session →Can't do it all? Do a little.
Even short bouts count — three brisk 10-minute walks add up to the same as one 30-minute session. The biggest step is simply starting; build from there.