For many of us, this happens at the gym...we're working harder than hard, making great strides, noticing an inch gone there and an inch gained here - (in all the right places, of course) - and then: BAM! WHAM! SLAM! OUCH! You've hit THE wall of plateaus...
Let me ask you some more questions: do you often feel this frustration as you're about to mount the treadmill, for what seems like the millionth time that week? Clocking the same dreadful time? Booting the same monotonous pace? Falsely pleasing yourself with yet another 500 calories burned? Preferring instead to, perhaps, prance around the gym floor in a feuscha unitard?
If this sounds familiar, then it's no wonder you'd sooner skip the gym and hide your noble, yet halted, progress under a box Sausalito Soft-Baked Caramel Chocolate cookies, sobbing your disappointments into a liter of full-fat milk: poor kitten! You're body is a brilliantly smart machine and knows exactly what you have been doing to it; therefore, it anticipates those 45-minutes of 6.5 speed and will now know how to better conserve this "energy" (ie fat) you are attempting to "waste". It's a survival tactic that dates back thousands of years, so engrained in our genetic make-up that we're stuck with it for a while: a plus for the couch potato, a minus for those with fitter aspirations.
So, how do you break out of the rut of monotony and into a fitter, leaner body? Why, INTERVAL TRAINING, of course!
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) electrifies your level of fitness by boosting your metabolism, thereby igniting that extra fat that haunts every mirror you pass. No longer will you pray to the false gods of traditional cardio regimes, but you shall embrace a shorter, more intense way of training that will actually yield the results for which you've lusted. The secret to interval training is not how many calories you expend during your session, but how many calories continue to burn after your session is complete (ie EPOC: Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption).
With HIIT you mix high intensity bursts of exercise with moderate intensity recovery periods. Though a grueling method, its advantages are incredible: rather than numbing yourself with boredom for 45-minutes on a cross-trainer, interval training usually lasts about 20 minutes; instead of feeling compelled to do cardio everyday, interval training should be done only every second day; and, most importantly, instead of cruising on frustrating plateaus, you break through walls.
For beginners, it is a good idea to start on a bike.
5 minute warm-up
6-8 sets of 1 minute intervals with a 1-3 sprint/rest ratio: 15 second sprint, 45 second recovery (ie keep pedaling, don't stop)
5 minute cool-down
As you progress, add an interval set on each session, or change your length of sprint vs. recovery (ex. 30 second sprint: 30 second recovery).
For the more experienced gym bunny, hop on the treadmill.
5 minute warm-up
6 - 8 sets of 2 minute intervals with a 1-2 sprint/rest ratio: 30 second sprint, 60 second recovery (ie light jog, don't come to full stop)
5 minute cool-down
Again, as you progress, you can add an interval set to your subsequent sessions, or you can change your length of sprint vs recovery (ex. 20 second sprint: 40 second recovery or 40 second sprint: 80 second recovery).
Judge yourselves accordingly and challenge yourself to the best of your ability - improvements come quicker than you think...so don't be nervous or self-conscious about starting. Before you know it, you'll be pounding out the 1:2 ratios on the treadmill and shredding your winter layer of insulation.
This is a time when my motto, GO HARD OR GO HOME, truly applies...
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