Home    |    About TASG    |    Before and After     |     Weekly Meals & Exercise     |    TASG Goes Hiking  

Monday, August 17, 2009

Motivational Mondays: Crazy Guy on the Treadmill

So I went to the gym yesterday and decided to end my cardio session by doing some interval training on the treadmill. I thought I'd push myself to a higher level of endurance and intensity by upping the level, incline, and time. I normally do a 1:2 interval ration: 1 minute of "rest" at level 3 and no incline, and 2 minutes of "intensity" at level 5.8 and incline 2.

But I was totally feeling the vibe of the gym so decided to do 2:4 intervals; 2 minutes of "rest" at level 3 and incline 2, and 4 minutes of intensity at level 5.8 and incline 3.5.

I was halfway through my 30 minutes when this guy gets on the treadmill next to me.

He starts out at a brisk walk but within 5 minutes, he was PUSHING himself!!

He would full on sprint at some ridiculous two-digit level for a minute or two, then slam on the big red "STOP" button on the machine (presumable so he wouldn't fly off the treadmill), then walk it for two minutes and repeat the madness.

Besides keeping me distracted and not thinking about how much time I had left on the treadmill, he was actually a really good source of motivation. I figured if this crazy guy can sprint it full speed, I can definitely push myself to do the 4 minutes of jogging. Anyway I finished off my 30 minutes on the treadmill soaked in sweat, heart pumping, and feeling awesome. That was definitely the most intense cardio workout I have done in a L-O-N-G time!

So thank you, Crazy Guy on the treadmill... you allowed me to push beyond my comfort zone and burn a few extra calories!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post ! Good for you !!!!!! Don't you love HIIT !!!! I do it in some form everyday !

NOTWBTRFLY said...

HAHAHA... I can just imagine you trying to get "in the zone" and WHAM he hits the big red button. But HIIT workouts are the best. As soon as my knee is 100% and I going to work my way back to doing them. Best calorie burn. Glad you had a great (and entertaining) workout! Keep it up. OH... I looked at your hiking blog too, your pictures are amazing. A friend of mine is stationed with her husband there right now and I just live vicariously through her pictures... its just stunning.