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Friday, October 28, 2011

A little more info

Got some emails about one of my last posts about my workout schedule and thought I'd try to address them here.  The main thing I wanted to say above everything else... I do NOT workout for hours on end.  On average I exercise less than an hour a day, give or take depending on how much time I have.  Some days my 30 min of steady state cardio is broken down into 3 or 4 short walking sessions.  A couple of 5 or 10 minute sessions throughout the day count!

Here's what my weeks have looked like:

Sun: 30 min steady state cardio + 30 min circuit weight-training(WT)
Mon: 25 min HIIT
Tue:  60 min circuit WT
Wed:  25 min HIIT + 30 min steady state cardio
Thr: OFF  =)
Fri: 45 min full body heavy WT
Sat: 25 min HIIT + 30 min steady state cardio

steady state cardio - any type of cardio to get your heart rate up, with not much variation in intensity.
Example: jumping on the treadmill and keeping the speed and incline level around the same for the entire workout, going for a walk, etc.

circuit WT - doing a strength moved followed immediately by a cardio move.
Example: bicep curl followed by 30 jumping jacks followed by shoulder presses followed by 30 high knees followed by one-arm rows followed by 30 mountain climbers followed by push-up followed by 30 jumping squats.  Rest 1 - 2 minutes and repeat 3 or 4 more times.

HIIT - short burst of high intensity work followed by a longer lower intensity recovery period
Example: 45 seconds of sprinting followed by 90 seconds of a slow jog/walk and repeat 10 times

heavy WT - using enough weight so you can only crank out 6 - 8 reps per set
Example: 8 reps of 20 lbs. bicep curls, 6 reps of 40 lbs. chest press, etc.

Right now, my circuit trainings are made up of upper body strength sets followed by lower body cardio sets because my lower body gets a good workout when I do HIIT 3x a week and the full body heavy WT. 

My HIIT workouts get rotated between the treadmill, elliptical, stairmill, running stairs and jump roping.

This is what works for me.  As with any exercise or workout program, I believe the best program is something that you will do and more importantly enjoy.

3 comments:

Salina Lyn said...

It's been a while since I checked in on you. Rockin IT! Awesome. So happy for you.

Nellie said...

As long as it works for you, that's all that should matter! I hate it when people act like they know what's best for you even though they only read very little tidbits of what you choose to share. Good luck with this process! Oh, my word verification is hooker...I just thought that was funny and wanted to share :) Have a great weekend.

Kyle said...

I know that I should be doing HIIT more considering the studies indicate that it is much more efficient at burning fat than straight up cardio, but something about it always stops me. I guess I'd rather pump along for an hour burning calories, than to burn myself out in 20 minutes through HIIT. Like everything, it is a mental issue of mine.