Where's the Beach?

To say that it's hot outside is putting it quite mildly. Summer has hit us hard here with heat indices well over 100 degrees. Even if I wasn't injured and unable to run, I would be highly tempted to take more of my workouts indoors. While I can't run or do any weight bearing exercises, I found that I can ride the bike (outdoors or spin with it set up on the bike trainer). Of course, just pedaling indoors can get old really fast, even if you're watching tv. One way that I like to break up a potentially monotonous workout is with intervals or HIIT (high intensity interval training). Not only will intervals make the time go faster, they are an excellent way to rev up your heart rate fast and burn fat all in a shorter amount of time. Who wouldn't want that? Ready to get started? All you'll really need is a timer, either your watch or a phone app, a bike (or cardio equipment of choice) and at least 25 minutes. On the 5s HIIT Cardio Warm up for 5 minutes ...

Lately I've been breaking my weight lifting down to short splits - maybe even only working one muscle group a day. This allows me time to get it done during lunch and also to really focus on that particular muscle group. My cardio has typically been very much steady state aerobic with running and cycling. Since my weight workouts have been short, I thought it might be fun to add in some good old anaerobic or metabolic circuit training - often thought of as HIIT (high intensity interval training). HIIT workouts are bouts of high intensity work followed by short rests. The benefit is that they can be "fun," they're short, and they offer a longer EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), which is translated into continued calorie burn. During EPOC, oxygen is used to restore the body back to its resting state, replenish fuel stores, oxidize lactic acid and fuel the body's increased metabolism. During this period, there is an elevated consumption of fuel. F...

Happy Hump Day! I wanted to thank everyone for their comments on yesterday's post: Be Kinder to Your Body. Calories are Not the Enemy . It sounds like it resonated with many of you. Today I wanted to share a new workout with you. I've been working on interval workouts for some of my clients. I try to give them the most bang for their buck (time). I know that in an ideal world, we would all have time to do longer workouts. There would never be scheduling conflicts, sick husbands or kids, or sick us. In reality, workouts need to be effective and efficient. And they don't have to be lengthy to be effective and efficient either. There's no need to spend hours in a gym to get in a good workout. Interval workouts like HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) or tabata, or even interval running are great ways to get in a fantastic workout in a short amount of time and have many benefits. You can read more about Tabata workouts  here . The benefits of this...

HIIT IT I found some kickbutt workouts from  the Blonde Ponytail's GNC Lean Legs: Workout 2 and Workout 3 . I knew right away I wanted to try out the workouts, especially a few of the exercises she used. I will definitely do these workouts as prescribed, but on Friday, I ended up doing a little mix of a workouts to incorporate the bike trainer along with compound moves and some of her exercise for a full-body, cardio crazy circuit that took just under 35 minutes with the cool down. While I used my bike trainer, you could definitely do this same workout using a spin bike at the gym, treadmill, or even an elliptical. It's probably not a true HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout, but it's pretty darn close. There are 3 Rounds Each round includes 2 minutes of full-speed cycling (with decent amount of tension) followed up by 2 different exercises to incorporate both upper and lower body (with the exception of the last round), followed up by a cardio move.  ...