Friday, July 5, 2013

Happy 4th! Now back to working out. ;-)

Belated Happy 4th of July to all of you! Hopefully you enjoyed your day off to celebrate our Nation's Independence Day.   Now that most of the holiday BBQ's are past us, let's get back to some good workouts!

My favorite workout lately has been driven by the limited amount of time I've had on my own.  Specifically,  I've been doing a lot of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  It's been a great way, , to get a good hard workout in in a short period of time.  This article from Shape provides a little more info: 8-benefits-high-intensity-interval-training-hiit.

Although you can do HIIT, in longer workouts, it's been a great fit for me when I only have 30 minutes or less.  For these short HIIT workouts, I set my stopwatch on my phone or Ipod and perform 30 one minute exercises.  The first 5-10 minutes starts with non-aerobic exercises, like a plank or foam rolling to get my muscles warmed up, then I build up the intensity of the exercises gradually at each consecutive minute.  Most often by minute 25, I'm incorporating, squat jumps or fast jump rope since I know I only have 5 minutes left in my 30 minute routine.  Although the time is short, I'm working hard 90% of the workout because of the intensity of the exercises I chose.   Note that I still strive to perform 5-6 days of  60-90 minutes workouts/week, these shorter intense sessions help keep me on track when the weeks get too busy.

If you've never done a HIIT workout, try one out at your local gym, or come see me for a few 1-1 sessions to get some examples of what you can do on your own at the gym, at home or outdoors.

Have a great week and hope to see you for a workout soon!

Barb


Drop in Sessions Next Week:

Monday, July 8th 6:15am - 5 person min to run the session. Meet at Southpark.  Yes, this is new.  I've had a few people ask if I could do any early morning session.  So I wanted to see if enough people would be interested in coming this Monday.  Email me asap if you'd like to join.

Friday, July 12th at 9:30am - 5 person min to run the session.  Meet at Southpark. Email me to save a spot for this day.


1-1 Personal Training Sessions
Looking for a refresher for your workout routine?  Or maybe just someone to help keep you accountable to your health and fitness goals this summer?  Contact me and I can help keep you on track via 1-1 Personal Training.  I am an NASM Certified Personal Trainer as well a TRX Suspension System Qualified Trainer and I would love to share what I've learned through my training and background in health and fitness in the last several years.  Looking forward to scheduling your first session!


Don't forget to check out barbfit.blogspot.com for past posts on health and fitness.