Annette, I encourage you to try the HIIT on the elliptical for a session or two, I really like it! Quick workout, very effective, next to no impact on my joints. I was reading something somewhere here about doing a HIIT session, then stepping off for 5 minutes which allows a flood of triglycerides to the muscles, then hop back on again for steady state and get more fat burn as a result.
That's exactly the way I'm doing my HIIT. I play around with the sprint/recovery times. Today for example, I did 30 seconds "all out, gave all I got" sprints and then recovered for 1 minute. Repeated this 8 times, sat down for 5 minutes,drank some water and did 35 minutes of "easy" steady state cardio, keeping my heart rate around 128-141. I do this on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and after the HIIT/steady state cardio session I wait an hour before I have a protein shake AND then I wait another 2-3 hours before I begin my meals. This is Lyle McDonald's stubborn fat protocol and it must be working...I'm down 1% in my bodyfat measurement. I do this 3 times a week
Does anyone else feel "mentally" exhausted after a HIIT workout? My body is tired physically but it is like I am semi-brain dead as if I had been up all night.
Yes! I usually do HIIT three times a week first thing in the morning. All morning at work, I feel great, lots of energy, can think clearly. All afternoon, I am incapable of doing any work requiring actual thought. I have learned to schedule all important work in the mornings. I didn't make the connection though until I read your post - this started the same time that I started doing HIIT.
I've finally got caught up on some forum thread-reading and really enjoy your threads! I appreciate the discussions on HIIT and it is quite motivating to read your workouts. You look amazing!! You have the body shape and definition that I am striving to acheive!
Keep up your great work and I will continue to enjoy your threads!
Thanks Natalia! That's an aerobic step with some strips of gym floor on top. I headstand on that thing and then push up and down off of it. I'm not quite strong enough to push up from the floor yet. My goal is to get that strong, but right now, I can't budge myself from the floor, lol.
K, I did my HIIT this way for the whole HELL program. Then, I watched a video linked above, and the guy talked about how coming all the way down to a walk and then going to a sprint and back gave more metabolic bang for the buck because of the spike in metabolism from going from walk to sprint and back. That was the best reasoning I had heard. And, I think it works because I have been freaking starving after doing the runs that way.
mel
Speaking of starving that is exactly what happens to me on hill sprints day. I ate 2700 kcals yesterday and was still hungry. It was freak'n weird. That must be the right ticket then. I will try to emulate this on the tready.
I've finally got caught up on some forum thread-reading and really enjoy your threads! I appreciate the discussions on HIIT and it is quite motivating to read your workouts. You look amazing!! You have the body shape and definition that I am striving to acheive!
Keep up your great work and I will continue to enjoy your threads!
~Lori
Lori, thank you for the encouraging words. I'm just trying to give a little something in return for the massive amount of info and inspiration I am getting here from all you ladies.
I really enjoy hanging around with like-minded women here on jpforums. You all RULE!!!!!
Annette, I encourage you to try the HIIT on the elliptical for a session or two, I really like it! Quick workout, very effective, next to no impact on my joints.
I like the elliptical for that reason too! I have a back condition, so the elliptical is perfect for minimizing impact. I've been doing HIIT cardio for over a month now (though I just started NROL4W today) and it's done wonders for my health. I find it helpful to use the non-moving handlebars during the sprints and the moving ones during recovery. From time to time I do HIIT on a rowing machine, but I find it to be a bit less effective perhaps due to my short legs.
Would it be possible to do HIIT by jumping rope? Just curious.
I don't see why not. As long as you can elevate your HR to let's say 85-90% of your HRmax for 90 seconds and then stop for 60 seconds to bring the HR down.
The reason I ask is because I have an elliptical and I just don't feel I'm pushing myself enough on it. The time I exercise is early a.m. and it is still dark and cold out so not real thrilled about doing sprints at that time, so I though maybe jumping rope would be a good alternative.
__________________ "Don't ever give up on a dream due to the amount of time it will take to achieve it. The time will pass anyway."--Russ Ebsen
The better jump roper you are, the easier it is to get this to work. And, it's important to really get the intensity up while you are jumping, but it is definitely doable, heck you could do it with jumping jacks if you wanted to.
Maybe you can up the resistance level on the elliptical? I've had to up mine quite a few times now. Believe it or not, it actually does get easier. I'm up to a 12 now and I have incline level to where it works the whole leg. I usually up the level about every 4-6 weeks it seems.
Thanks for the ideas, I did what ZTAKPsi suggested and upped the resistance level and WOW I really felt the push today! I actually had to cut it down from 20 mins. to 15 mins. just couldn't go anymore. My elliptical doesn't have an incline so hopefully the resistance levels will keep me busy for a while.
__________________ "Don't ever give up on a dream due to the amount of time it will take to achieve it. The time will pass anyway."--Russ Ebsen
First, props to Natalia for the excellent info in this thread!
I have always put together music for lifting and energy system sessions, but I never knew how to crop out just a portion of a song. I spent some time creating a new interval-specific mix and I love it! It was fun to do and really made the interval session enjoyable. Thanks so much for this link ledove!
She suggests burning your mix to a CD and then uploading it again into iTunes. You don't have to do that. You can convert your cropped song (is that the right terminology? LOL) and iTunes will save it for you. You can then change the name and convert it back to mp3 or AAC. Here's the link where I learned how to do it: Music Editing with iTunes
She suggests burning your mix to a CD and then uploading it again into iTunes. You don't have to do that. You can convert your cropped song (is that the right terminology? LOL) and iTunes will save it for you. You can then change the name and convert it back to mp3 or AAC. Here's the link where I learned how to do it: Music Editing with iTunes
I'll have to investigate this when I get home. It reminds me (kind of) of foobar2000's sampler mode, where it would put the first 30 seconds of each song on a CD into one sound file. And nice avatar Link-Zilla.
__________________
Tom
No "happy hours" makes for a lot of miserable days. - Mahler
I'm such a techno-idiot. I tried using the Skwigg way and completely screwed it up. I'll try again with Lisa's link.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sue_H
Nutbar!!! I'm with you on loving John Denver! My heart about broke when he died a few years ago! I was lucky enough to have seen him a few months before when he was here in town...and we had front row seats....I'm so glad I had that opportunity!
Ooh, I'm so jealous! If you don't already have it, I highly recommend his Country Roads Collection (boxed set). It's an incredible collection of tons of his works (and not just the popular hits).
There's a fella that works at the local hardware store (I call him "Hardware Man") that looks rather like John Denver. I try to make up excuses for buying new hardware as often as I can.
There's a fella that works at the local hardware store (I call him "Hardware Man") that looks rather like John Denver. I try to make up excuses for buying new hardware as often as I can.
You are a sick, sick woman! J/K
__________________
Ginger
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." ~ John Bingham
Would it be possible to do HIIT by jumping rope? Just curious.
Yes.. look here for some more ideas... I really like this guy... there is a video towards the bottom . and don't forget to watch part 2... so many variations...
Yes.. look here for some more ideas... I really like this guy... there is a video towards the bottom . and don't forget to watch part 2... so many variations...
Yes.. look here for some more ideas... I really like this guy... there is a video towards the bottom . and don't forget to watch part 2... so many variations...
Man, I just checked out Ross' site last week and was utterly, fantastically amazed! That guy is an animal and so inspiring. I have 2 of his training manuals on order and am drooling at the prospect of a new form of torture!
Thanks Natalia for the great video. Good to see I'm doing it right. I'm nearing the end of stage one but I have been throwing in a few (reluctant) HIIT treadmill sessions in and Gooood they kill me. I used to be a endurance runner so I guess going all out for a minute is really difficult. I'm going to start doing it every other workout once I start stage II. One thing I find that helps is listening to some crazy, screaming, pumped up music.
I'm trying to figure out the best time to do my HIIT. I've been doing C25K (Couch to 5K) for the last 3 weeks, and in order to be able to do the running, I have been doing it before I lift, which I know isn't right. This week I'm going to lift first and then try to do my C25K (though I might run on your plan, Natalia, and see if I can do that with more intensity).
So do you guys do HIIT on lift days or on the other days? What's the most effective for you? I've been doing crazy cardio (like 60 min on elliptical doing intervals taking me from 65%-85% plus 30 min of C25K and then maybe 30 min of steady state walking), and I think it's been counter productive. I'm trying to get the most bang for my exercise minutes since I've got 50-80lbs to lose.
I did do lots of cardio last year to get down to 10% body-fat. But in retrospect I think it was detrimental to me in a couple of ways - losing muscle, pounding my knees on treadmill, and wasting way too much time. This time around I am doing 3 HIIT sessions (about 20 mins each) 3 times a week right after workouts. I guess you could do those on non-training days first thing in the morning. I just prefer to use as many days off as possible for recovery - I tend to train to the max while at the gym
I am not familiar with regiment for training for 5K, so maybe someone who has experience can chime in....
That makes sense, Natalia. Thanks for the reply. I know that Allwyn discussed the idea of doing endurance training while doing NROL4W during that podcast, too. I've downloaded it but just haven't found a minute to listen yet, so I'll make sure to listen to that, too.
I think that I'll try switching my running workouts to HIIT and do them after the lifting. Then maybe I'll try to do a longer run on Saturdays since that's usually just a walking around kind of day for me.
I'm doing my HIIT after my weights and then one slightly longer cardio session on Sunday. I'm going to run another 5K in a few months as well. I have ran one 5K before and from my training there I really think my HIIT training is getting me in shape for the 5K as much as my C25K did. I still do one about 45 minute jog on Sundays so I still have an off day (I do my NROL4W on Tu -Th - Sat).
I did C25K a few years ago and loved it! It helped me lose the last 25 pounds I had to lose, too, and I hope you will have good luck with it too.
In some ways, I think combining C25K with high intensity intervals would work; in other cases, maybe not. (After all, C25K IS interval training, it's just not the high-intensity stuff.) In the beginning when you're only running for 90 seconds at time, it would work great. But a few weeks in when you start doing 10 minutes at time - that's a big challenge the first time you do it, and sprinting as hard as HIIT requires is also a big (and conflicting) challenge. One is endurance and the other is speed.
This is just me - I have no idea what would work best for you - but I do HIIT in the mornings that I lift, take most of the day to recover a bit, then lift in the afternoon/early evening. I also do a long run on the weekends. Maybe you could do your C25K runs after you lift, and try to throw in one or two HIIT sessions sometime in the week, too? Or reverse it and do C25K in the mornings, recover, lift, and get it HIIT whenever you can?
Yesterday's HIIT-style workout was so fun. I swung a sledgehammer to help my husband remove a concrete stoop in the back of our house. His swings were more effective than mine, lol, but I swung 12 times over my right shoulder, then 12 times over my left, then rest (his turn). He couldn't swing over his left shoulder! HA! I don't know how long we worked on it. A long time. But we laughed and had fun together, which made it even better. That sledgehammer will get your heart rate up for sure!
That rest interval (from Natalia's HIIT intervals, I'm referring to the 90 seconds at about 128 bpm). Is that the time that you should have between those high intervals or should you make sure that your heart rate is at that lower ~128 level for that long. I did HIIT on the treadmill this morning, and sometimes it took me about 50-60 seconds of the rest time just to get down to that lower heart rate. Might be a stupid question, but maybe somebody can indulge me. lol
Martha, good point about the longer distances for C25K. I think for right now I'm going to focus on HIIT during the week and on getting those sprints faster, and then I'll try to do longer run intervals on the weekends.
Oh, and Lisa, I love that you were able to do HIIT while doing something fun with your husband (or at least not technically exercise-related). What a great way to get your workout in! And awesome that you could do both shoulders!
lol
Linear Mode
