HIIT me...

The other day I tried my first ever round of HIIT (high intensity interval training) – or at least, my own made-up version of it.

I know what the basic idea of HIIT is – to get your heart rate up in short quick intervals, to burn maximum calories in minimum time.

It was Wednesday, cardio day on the 12wbt and to be honest, the program set out by the lovely Mish for that day seemed a bit boring to me.  I also knew there was no way I was going to burn anywhere close to 500 calories doing that workout, as I struggle to burn close to that doing a 10km run in 1 hour!  I also think maybe I am starting to plateau recently as my weight has not shifted and my metabolism must be cranking, as I am hungry ALL THE DAMN TIME!!  I also think there is a strong possibility my body has decided this is the weight it wants to be and is going to steadfastly stay there now (although again, these could all be subconscious excuses).

So anyway – back to cardio day.  I thought I would mix things up a bit and it ended up looking a bit like this:

·         Warm-up – nice and gentle on the treadmill for 5 minutes. 

·         Elliptical – 2km in 10 minutes ranging from level 8 to level 14 and back again.  The elliptical is a machine I am not very familiar with and generally feel rather uncoordinated on, kind of like I am about to swing myself out the window.  After 10 minutes I was starting to develop a nice sweat (oxymoron?) and my heart rate was definitely getting up.  I did a kind of pyramid thing, where I started on level 8 and then went up 2 levels each minute, ending at level 14, and then going down again to level 8 – for about 10 minutes.

·         Rower – 2km in 5 minutes (approx).  I have not used a rower for years, but I loved it!!  It truly felt like a whole body workout, I could feel my legs, quads, glutes, arms, chest, the works, all being pulled and stretched and worked.  Will definitely be coming back for more. [sidenote: the next day I was a bit sore through the arms and chest but otherwise ok – this is good]

·         Bike – 5km in 10 minutes.  I managed to keep my 2min/km pace time but actually kept the resistance fairly low as this was more of a recovery period for me.  Also I was conscious of moving to the treadmill afterwards and thought some easy brick training (for triathlon transitions) would be better than knocking myself out here.

·         Treadmill – 4km in 20 minutes.  I was so stoked with this as it meant a 5min/km pace time, which is my ultimate goal for longer time/distance running (I am currently around 6min/km pace time).  This consistent of a level 1 incline, 12km/hour speed, with 10 secs off and 20 secs on – running flat out. 

All up I really enjoyed it, both the individual components and the whole workout.  Including warm-up and stretches at the end I managed a 578 calorie burn in just over 1 hour. 

Gotta be happy with that!