I hope y'all have had a fabulous week and a great start to your weekend :)
So this post is going to be about why I love high intensity interval training or how you see me post it all the time, HIIT.
We all know my back story, if you don't go back to my first post and read up! I started my adult fitness journey by learning how to love running. Pretty much the majority of last year I ran a "distance" (4-6 miles) runs 5-6 days a week. In April I ran my first 10k with my bff Maddy. It was so fun. I LOVED racing and imagined myself running more 10k's, half marathons and maybe even a marathon someday. And then: I. just. stopped.... After 4/7/13 I did not run 6 miles again (until today!). I don't know what happened. Well that's a lie, I know what happened. I got bored. I get bored easily (it really is not a good quality) and I get bored REALLY easily when it comes to working out. I don't like doing the same thing day after day week after week. Which is probably why I thrived in doing "fire station" work outs with my husband. 1: I didn't have to plan them, he did. and 2: they were different (or variant) every time.
So I guess after I hit my goal of my first 10k I just kind of jumped off the bandwagon of distance running. I ran 3 miles here, 4 miles there but most of my runs were 2-2.5 miles just to say I "ran" that day. The last time I did steady cardio was on May 21st. I know this because my map my run app told me :) Since the end of may all of my cardiovascular training has been in the form of HIIT and I am hear to tell you why I love it.
But first I'll give a little more clear explanation of what HIIT is. As I said previously, it stands for high intensity interval training. HIIT is done by performing a short warm up, followed by 3-10 episodes of high intensity exercise that is separated by lower or medium intensity exercise and then followed by a cool down. The purpose of HIIT is to improve athletic capacity, improve glucose metabolism and to improve fat burning.
This is how I do my HIIT-
I usually 1 do a combo of stair/running HIIT training:
5 rounds of 1:2 ratio (1 minute all out, 2 minutes walking) on the stairs. I run the stairs as hard as I can for 1 minute and then walk around for 2. I usually do this as a warm up. I then lift weights and resistance train for about 30-45 minutes and end with HIIT running.
5 rounds of 1:2 ratio- run all out for 1 minute and then walk for 2 minutes.
That is a typical work out for me when I have weights/stairs available (about 4 days a week) the other days I do 10 rounds of 1:2 ratio running at the track.
Typically I burn about 300-400 calories in 10 rounds of HIIT running. Now let me point something out thats amazing about that. In 29 minutes (the time it takes me to do 10 rounds) I am only actively running for 10 minutes. And I burn that many calories! Now if that's not amazing I don't know what its.
My goal in HIIT is to always try to lower my heart rate as much as possible during my rest periods. Typically, my heart rate for the majority of the rounds is between 160-170. I then try to lower it to at LEAST 120 during my rest periods. Sometimes I can get it to the 110s or lower (especially in the first few rounds) This is important because it shows how quickly my heart can recover, which shows endurance and cardiovascular strength . I have been pretty consistence in getting my heart rate as low as possible during my rest periods and I also find it is harder to get my heart rate elevated in the first 1-4 rounds of HIIT (which is why if I am only going to do 5 rounds, I do it at the end of my work out when I'm already pretty fatigued) The last round I always try to max out and get my heart rate up to 180 (my max heart rate is 184). This is always a good challenge at the end of my work outs!
Okay, this brings me to today. As I said above the last time I ran 6 miles was in April. The past few days I have just been itching to start distance running again. I told myself I was going to wait until the weather cooled down a bit (I just couldn't imagine running 6 miles in 104 degrees). But I woke up today and the desire was just too strong. So I laced up my trusty nike frees and hit the pavement. Before I started I had decided I was going to do at least 4 miles but I really wanted to do 5. About 1/2 mile in I decided to do 6 and I just kept my mind focused on that the whole run.
The first 2-2.5 miles were a breeze- I felt FANTASTIC! Around mile 3 I started to struggle a bit. Mile 4 (which is always my most difficult mile) was rough. And I pushed through miles 5-6 with a vengeance. I felt so accomplished (and exhausted!!) when I finished. Was this the best run I had ever had? No. Did I make a PR or even keep a consistence pace? Definitely not. The point of this is to explain what an amazing effect HIIT has had on my body. I have not ran that kind of distance in 4 months- any runner knows that you have to get your body accustomed and trained to run certain distances. I would say (most) anyone could go out and jog a mile or 2. But when you get up to 3, 4, 5, 6 and beyond it takes a little bit more getting used to. Although I haven't been training my body for these type of runs for a few months, my cardiovascular strength was still intact from HIIT. Also, my muscles were so much stronger from all the weight lifting and resistance training I have been doing this summer.
My face pretty much explains how I felt after I finished.
Now, will I be running 6 miles 5days a week again, NOPE! But will I be doing it maybe once a week or every other week, definitely! Because I love it!
Another difference between distance and HIIT is the amount of time my body stays in "fat burn" vs "fitness" mode. My awesome polar heart rate monitor watch (Polar FT40F if you're curious) lets you know how much of your work out is spent in fat burning vs fitness mode. In a typical work out that I do 5-6 times a week I will burn between 400-600 calories and at LEAST 30% of it (more like 40-50%) is in the "fat burning" mode. When I did my run today I ended up burning over 1000 calories (by the time I got my heart rate to resting) but only 15% of it was fat burning (probably the 10-15 minutes it took my heart rate to lower! ha!) My heart rate for the first 2 miles was in the high 150s to the 160s, by mile 3 it was in the high 160s and miles 4-6 it was in the 170s the whole time. So, although it was a great cardiovascular work out today, it wasn't the best for "fat burning" which is why i will limit my distance running to only once a week. I am trying very hard to put on muscle right now.
So that's my thoughts on the benefits of HIIT. The important part is finding a workout that you love and can see your self doing consistently for long periods of time. It doesn't matter what it is, just get up and move your body! This just happens to be my current choice of exercise :)
In case anyone is wondering vegan week 2 has been awesome. Besides being tortured by my husband with a delicious PTerry's cookie and milk I have had a great week :) I have made so many delicious vegan meals and my body just feels like its working so much more efficiently. I can't wait to see what I continue to feel like these next four weeks.
Alrighty kids its time for me to pop in a movie and enjoy a relaxing Saturday night at home. (Man, I'm old!)
Until next time,
Live the fit life,
xoxo Katie :)
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