hiit

Fitness Kick Start: Arc Trainer HIIT.

May 18, 2010 · 18 comments

See this thing?


I really hate it.

But, I kind of love it.

I’m pretty sure I hate it, though.


So, the question is – can you do HIIT? No, not intervals – not even 1-minute intervals. True HIIT involves much shorter bursts of exercise. Quick, dirty, and intense.


Anyone can do intense 1-minute intervals. But you can do true HIIT?


Arc Trainer HIIT

5 minute warm-up

for the next 15-20 minutes:

20 seconds ON: incline @ 5, resistance @ 75, strides @ 105

40 seconds OFF: incline @ 0, resistance @ 30, strides @ 80

5 minute puke session cool-down


It’s not for the faint of heart.

{ 18 comments }

HIIT, Bootcamp, and My Staple Circuit Workout.

November 18, 2009 · 12 comments

Mornin’ to ya!

 

It is so bright and sunny here in Pittsburgh, you’d think it was Summer. The temperature is not too bad either. Is it wrong to say I wish it was chilly?

 

I love brisk weather. Since I began decorating for Christmas, I need some snow in my life.

 

Some of you were interested in hearing exactly what my HIIT workout is. This is the Precor elliptical I usually use:

 

Luckily, ours have TV’s attached. I usually don’t watch TV while working out (I need upbeat music), but I do have it on as an additional distraction while I’m beating my own butt. I also don’t read ever while working out. I do not even see how that is possible. If I am not getting a kick-butt workout at the gym, I’d rather be outside walking around.

 

Remember, my HIIT workout is specifically for the above elliptical. If you try it on a different machine, it may be easier or more difficult. You may need to adjust the settings.

 

Precor elliptical HIIT workout:

5 minute warm-up

For the next 20 minutes:

20 seconds with settings at

  • ramp = 15
  • resistance = 15
  • rpms/strides = 155-160 (this is the killer!)

40 seconds with settings at

  • ramp = 15
  • resistance = 7
  • rpms/strides = 115-120

5-10 minute cool-down

 

Those 40 seconds allow your heart rate to slightly drop, then just when you start to feel slightly better, you are going full force again.

 

Please make sure you are active and fit before ever trying this workout. It is a doozy. I recommend being supervised by a trainer or performing it with a friend. I never pass this workout on to clients unless I know they are extremely fit and ready for it.

 

 

Another favorite? When I’m pressed for time (who isn’t?), one of my favorite quick workouts is this cardio and light strength training circuit. It is perfect for the weeks I have missed some of my strength training days.

 

 

Cardio & Strength Circuit

5 minute warm up

5 minutes of intense cardio cardio (elliptical, treadmill, etc)

50 walking lunges (no added weight)

30 pushups

20 pullups (you can use weight-assisted if needed)

60 second plank hold

Repeat 5 times

 

I love this one. It has been a staple of mine for about 4 years. I only do it every few weeks, but it is a fun one. The time also passes quickly.

 

What are some of your favorite workouts?

 

I mentioned before that last year I ran a women’s outdoor bootcamp. That was super fun. Here is another bootcamp workout I love. This can be done outdoors (for those of you with warm weather), or in a big open room, like the group fitness room at your gym.

Most gym’s are pretty acommadating and allow members to use the group fitness room when classes are not being held. All you can do is ask. :)

 

4 corners Bootcamp

For this workout, you need:

  • 4 cones or markers (you only need these if you are outdoors to mark 4 corners)
  • a mat
  • one moderate-heavy dumbbell (think 15-20lbs)
  • a set of light-moderate dumbbells (think 5-15lbs)
  • one resistance band

 

To begin, mark 4 corners if you are outdoors, creating a large square. If you are indoors, you already have your four corners.

 

Place:

  • the set of dumbbells in the 1st corner
  • the one heavier dumbbell in the 2nd corner
  • the mat in the 3rd corner
  • the resistance band in the 4th corner

 

From the distance from one marker to the other (or one corner to the other), each exercise is performed:

from the first corner to the second corner: bear crawls

from the second corner to the third corner: high knees

from the third corner to the fourth corner: crab walks

from the fourth corner to the first corner: sprint

 

The first set of exercises are:

1st corner: 20 alternating lunges with dumbbells

2nd corner: 20 plie’ squats with the single dumbbell

3rd corner:  20 pushups

4th corner: 15 side lateral raises with resistance band

 

The circuit should go: 20 alternating lunges, bear crawl to the 2nd corner, 20 plie’ squats, high knees to the 3rd corner, 20 pushups, crab walks to the 4th corner, side lateral raises, sprint back to the first corner. REPEAT.

 

Get it?

 

After completing it twice, we move on to the next set of exercises.

The second set of exercises are:

1st corner: overhead dumbbell shoulder press, while standing

2nd corner: 20 burpees

3rd corner:  plank hold, sing the ABC’s 5 times to hold it.

4th corner: 20 biceps curls with resistance band

 

The same traveling exercises are done inbetween corners. REPEAT.

  

It can seem complicated, but this is a very fun workout with friends or a group. Also, if you happen to be a trainer, I have performed workouts like these on hundreds of clients. They love the them – it is a nice change from the normal routine of free weights and machines.

 

If you’ve missed some of the other workouts I’ve posted, you can find them here:

Workout 1

Workout 2

 

If you have any questions about certain exercises, please feel free to ask.

 

Enjoy your Wednesday! :)

 

Remember, you can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

And if you’d like to subscribe, just click here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp

{ 12 comments }

What am I?

November 17, 2009 · 23 comments

My morning started out with one of my new favorite breakfasts. Multigrain tuscany bread with cream cheese and my beloved fig spread. 

fig toast

 

 

I had a protein-green monster on the side, but you all know what those look like by now. 

 

When I came home this evening I saw the darn cream cheese sitting out on the counter. I forgot to throw it back in the fridge. Ugh! No cream cheese and fig toast for me tomorrow. Actually, I may go dig it out of the trash since, like Mother Lovett, I eat expired things often.

 

Have you guys had this dried fruit you can get at Whole Paycheck Foods? 

justfruit

 

 

I love it, and it makes a tasty addition to yogurt.

yogberr

 

 

I have been sleeping in lately, which is very unlike me. I am a morning person, and have always rose early to workout. Even in high school, I would wake at 4:30 to get my workout in. Since I didn’t do this today, I had to workout this evening. Boo. Not a fan.

 

 

I did a shoulder workout, followed by 20 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training).

 

Not familar with HIIT? It is certainly NOT your old-school interval training. I can tell you what HIIT isn’t. HIIT isn’t doing intervals on the elliptical, where you go fast for one minute and slow for two minutes. HIIT is bad-arse. It is for serious candidates only. I usually do HIIT once or twice a week – that is all that is needed. My torture machine of choice? Elliptical. 

 

HIIT is performed to improved cardiovascular endurance and burn fat in very short sessions. 

Wikipedia states that,

‘Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 15–30 minutes. Most HIIT sessions have a 2:1 ratio in terms of time. For example, for running, a HIIT session may be something as 60 seconds jog, 30 seconds sprint.’

 

While I agree with the first part – HIIT should only be performed for 15-30 minutes, I do not agree with the second. First off, any ‘HIIT’ performed for longer than 30 minutes, is no longer considered ‘HIIT.’ If you can perform your HIIT for longer than 30 minutes, then you are not doing working at your ultimate potential.

 

As for the second part, I believe that HIIT is much more intense than a 2:1 ratio. This is why I always limit my HIIT to 20 minutes, at the most. My HIIT is vomit inducing. Just ask Kema - she has done it with me on sunny, Sunday mornings. :)

 

My HIIT consists of 20 seconds ON, 40 seconds OFF, repeated for 20 minutes. For 20 seconds I take the level and incline up to the highest possible level that I can continue to move, keeping my rpms between 150-160, on a Precor elliptical. I only do this for 20 seconds. It takes EVERY SINGLE THING out of me. For the next 40 seconds, I reduce my speed, incline, and rpms, and recover. Then repeat. That recovery period is SO short.

 

If any of you use a Precor elliptical, or are interested in one of my HIIT programs, let me know and I can post my exact HIIT workout for you.

 

My quick shoulder workout consisted of:

*overhead dumbbell presses: 3 x 10 x 30lb dumbells, super-setted with

*side lateral raises: 3 x 10 x 12lb dumbells.

*read delt flys: 3 x 10 x 50lbs super-setted with

*pushups: 3 x 20.

 

I rarely do single-body part workouts anymore. I prefer more bang for my buck with full body workouts or an upper/lower split, but I did not have the time for much more, being that I wanted to get home and eat, blog and destroy brain cells while watching 90210.

 

 

I found this coffee at Target this weekend.

coffee

 

 

 

I was super excited. Which is strange, since I don’t even like coffee. I like the occasional Starbucks cup, complete with fun flavors, cream and sugary garbage, but as for traditional coffee? No thanks.

 

The thing is, I want to like coffee. I always have. I wish I liked it. All the cool kids drink coffee. I want to be a cool kid.

 

So my verdict?

 

Tasted like plain, old coffee to me. Where was the chocolate truffle flavor???? I even added sugar and cream.

 

What is most important is what I did next. 

IMG_2225

 

 

 

I dipped an Oreo into the coffee. First off, I should mention that I cannot even remember a time in my life when I ever dipped a cookie into any drink. I never liked milk, and thankfully my mom never made me drink it. I couldn’t even be bribed with dipping cookies into it.

 

I also do not enjoy hot liquids very often. I don’t like the warming feeling in my stomach.

 

 

I also do not like Oreos very much. I had them leftover from making a cheesecake crust. 

 

 

But this combination – complete with the coffee I didn’t like, and the cookies I don’t like – was perrrrfect.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I consider myself to be many things.

 

I am an eater. 

 

I am a baker.

 

I am a wife.

 

I am a girl. Not a lady. (Note: please do not call me lady. As in a child saying ‘mommy, look at that lady over there.’ I feel old being called a lady. And as my husband can tell you, I do not act like a lady, so I certainly don’t deserve to be called one.)

 

I am a stuffed-turkey-hater.

 

Something I am not? A runner.

 

I have realized that it is ok to not be a runner. I do not have to run to be healthy and fit. I attempted running for a few years back when my husband, then boyfriend, and I started dating. He was training for a marathon, and I thought it would be so *neat* to run together.

 

I quickly learned 2 things.

 

1. Even if I did run, my husband would never run with me. It is his time to decompress – his only real ‘alone’ time, due to his busy schedule. He is also very fast. I am not. I rival The Slowskeys in speed.

 

2. If I ever attemped a race with my husband again, I would quickly be signing divorce papers afterwards.

 

Ok, not really on that second part. But I did try a 5k with him. I complained, moaned, groaned and whined the entire time. To say I highly disliked it would be an understatement. I am not proud of my whiney ways during the race, but that was 2 years ago. I like to think I am much more mature now. :)

 

A few weeks ago I began a 5k training program – not to run a race (I have no desire to run competitively), but just to have a program to follow. It’s not that I never run. I do treadmill sprints for some cardio intervals (not to be confused with HIIT!), running at 8.5 for 60 seconds and walking at 4.3 for 2 minutes. But to leisurely ‘go on a run?’ I have never done it. Never.

 

It’s times like these, when I think that in all of my 27 years, I have never been able to ‘go on a run,’ that makes me want to learn to run. Yes, I said it. I need to LEARN how to run. I have zero patience, so I have to channel my inner self, pray for some patience, and just do it. I’d like to run about 3 miles at the most. I’m sure many people are sitting there thinking, ‘once you get into running, you will love it! It takes time. I never thought I could be a runner, and now I am!’

 

I highly doubt that, but I hope you can prove me wrong. 

 

Running is not quite an endurance issue for me. I just feel very uncomfortable doing it. Not pain, just discomfort. I am not sure if it is because I began lifting weights at such an early age, and have continued consistently? If it is because of the anaerobic/aerobic difference? I can easily bust out 45-60 minutes of high intensity cardio. I have taught spinning, kickboxing, cardio-dance aerobics (Bodyjam), and during all of those times, running was still difficult for me. I trained for fitness competitions for months, completing a 2 minute routine full of one-arm pushups, high kicks and jumps. Still – I couldn’t get into the running.

 

You guys have to hold me accountable! I am going to try another 5k training program, for fun. I will mention that strength training is my first true love. Running and heavy strength training aren’t exactly the best of friends. I will always strength train, no matter what. By Christmas, however, I’d like to be running 2 miles straight. I know for some it seems like a silly goal, but for me, it is huge.

 

Most importantly, I am still very healthy and fit, even though I don’t run. Running doesn’t have to define your fitness. It is a wonderful thing, and I admire those who run distances (like my hub!), but you don’t have to do it if you don’t love it. Do what you love.

 

 

Now it’s time to numb my mind while watching high school kids talk about things I didn’t even know about in college. As my dad would say, I’m going to watch trash.

{ 23 comments }