Tag Archives: fitness challenges

Fitness Challenge Week 8: HIIT, Tabata, and Semantics

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Hellooo Blogosphere!

So after a week hiatus due to my obsession with the Olympics, the fitness challenges are back. Which brings me to the question…is it week 8 or week 9? I couldn’t decide, so here we are back at week 8….It’s almost as if we’ve gone back in time. I told you guys I would give you 12 weeks of these, and 12 weeks I shall give you, damn it.

Even if no one is doing them.

As you can see by the title of today’s post, this weeks challenge is a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout. It was originally going to be called a Tabata workout, but then I did some extremely scientific research, and had to slow my roll a little bit.

See, I’ve used the term Tabata on here before, and honestly this type of workout has became even trendier than leggings with crop-tops (seriously…can we leave that trend far, far behind?), but what I learned through my research is that most of what the fitness world calls “Tabata” workouts, are not exactly that.

What is Tabata?

Tabata is an exercise protocol that was developed by Dr. Izumi Tabata in 1996, after he and his cronies published a study in which they  found HIIT to be more effective than steady state cardio at improving aerobic fitness.  The specifics of the study were that the intervals were 20 seconds of high intensity (170% of VO2 Max) to 10 seconds of rest, repeated for 4 minutes.

Nowadays, the fitness world is a-buzz with “Tabata” workouts, where people perform sets of squat jumps, lunge jumps, push-ups, bicep curls, barbell presses…etc. And if they’re doing it with a 20s work to 10s rest time interval, they’re calling it the T word.

This is all swell, but after reading a few articles including this one, it’s abundantly clear that the widespread use of the term Tabata is not exactly correct. Yes, people are doing 8 rounds of 20 seconds of high intensity work coupled with 10 seconds of rest, but this does not a Tabata make. A true Tabata includes that crucial component — 170% of your VO2 Max. This is a level of exertion that is near impossible to create with push-ups, burpees, squat jumps, or whatever other exercises are being used for the so-called “Tabata”.  Not to mention that this level of exertion is ridiculously difficult for the average-joe to work at, even for just 20 second intervals.

Semantics, I know, but after reading up on it I just couldn’t bring myself to call this a Tabata workout. Maybe Tabata-style? Tabata-ish? Baby Tabata?

Who’s a cute little Baby Tabata!

Hmm…Maybe we better just stick with HIIT.

So regardless of what you call it (I’ll be honest here…Baby Tabata is starting to grow on me), here is your workout for this week! You will perform each group with the 20s work/10s rest interval, and you will take 1 min of rest in between each group. The entire thing will only take 20 minutes, but if you’re working hard enough, 20 minutes will be plenty.

For those of you who are beginners, or who have not done HIIT before, I recommend starting out with just 2 groups instead of all four. Trust me, if you’re working as hard as you can, 10 minutes of this will leave you in a puddle of sweat on the floor.

Another bonus — this is a circuit that you can do with very little equipment, so if you don’t have much time, or can’t make it to the gym… No excuses!

Ready?

Burpees: Begin in a standing position. Squat down, placing hands on floor. Kick legs back to high plank position, quickly bring them back to your hands, and jump straight up. That is one.

Squat Jumps: Do a bodyweight squat, immediately  jump out of squat position and straight up. Continue without pauses between squats, keeping good form in mind.

Lunge Jumps: Lunge forward with R leg. Quickly jump up, switching legs in the air, and landing in jump position with L leg forward.

Lateral Ski Jumps: Starting on R leg, jump laterally to your left and land on L leg, with knee bent. Immediately jump off of L leg to land on R leg. Focus on height and distance of each jump, with proper landing mechanics.

Soup Stirrers: Begin in plank position with forearms on physio/stability ball and feet on floor. Keeping core tight (think of a straight line from head to heels), move arms in a steering-wheel sized circle. Move clockwise for the first set, counterclockwise for the second set, and so on.

A few notes:

If you don’t have a kettlebell, or have not been trained in proper KB swing technique, substitute Frog Jumps for this. (Begin in a squat position. Jump as high and far forward as you can, landing again in squat position. Repeat this.)

If you don’t have a physio-ball for the soup stirrers, substitute side-planks, alternating sides each time you perform that exercise. 

What exercises do you like to include in circuits? Do you do “Tabata-style” workouts? What Olympic sport have you enjoyed the most so far?

Fitness Challenge and Other Thoughts

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It’s Monday!

It’s also the last week of my summer vacation.

It’s also the last day of my 20′s.

EEK.

I know. I feel the same way. 

So since I’m on the verge of a traumatic breakdown over the loss of my youth, today’s post will be a little random.

First order of business: Your Fitness Challenge for this week! Did anyone do a sprint workout last week?

Anyway, your challenge this week is inspired by a couple of things.

1) My friend Cal, who I just found out does 100 pull-ups per day(!) He mixes up the grips, and does sets of pull-ups, chin-ups, and neutral grip pull-ups, to combine for about 100 per day. This is impressive, no? Heck, I don’t even do 100 per week, ever.

2) My pull-up game has been slacking lately. I’ve gotten up to 3 unassisted chin-ups (I’ve done a set of 4 once), but I seem to have stalled there. And I know exactly the reason why: I don’t do them nearly enough. I add them into a lift probably once per week, with about  20 total interspersed throughout my workout.

We all know that practice makes perfect, and that applies to getting stronger and improving on exercises/lifts too! The more you do something (without overdoing it) the better you’ll be at something. So the fact is, I really just need to do more pullups. A whole lot more pullups. I’m trying to get to 5 unassisted chins,and 3 unassisted pullups. Reasonable, right? So my challenge to myself to kickstart this progress, and thus my challenge to all of you, is this:

If you can’t do unassisted pull-ups, that’s ok! You can do them assisted with a resistance band, with a partner, or you can even count your pull-up negatives for this challenge. (I described those in this post).

Of course it will take more than a week to increase my reps, but you’ve gotta start somewhere, right? And there’s only one way to get better at something. Do it (a lot). If you have a goal of increasing your pull-ups, or even of doing your first unassisted pull-up, I encourage you to tackle this challenge!

Random thought #1:

I’ve recently added more cardio back into my training sessions. Not long, steady state cardio, but I’ve been adding in more metabolic work at the end (Tabata sessions, intervals, bodyweight circuits, HIIT, etc.). I have been running a little bit more, trying to get out to do stadiums 1-2 times per week, and also riding a bike to the gym on most days (about 5 miles each way). For a good portion of the year, I was hardly doing any cardio and was really just focusing on increasing my strength and improving my form for my big compound lifts (back squat and deadlift). I know a lot of you out there don’t do any cardio and have great results with that, but I have realized that for me it just wasn’t working. I started out this summer a little bigger than I should have been, and since I’ve added more cardio back in, I’m seeing a lot of improvements in body composition. Just goes to show– what is best for one person may not be best for others!

I just ordered these bad boys. Woo! I’ve always been an Asics girl when it comes to running (the little bit of it that I actually do). I love my New Balance Minimus for lifting, but nothing has ever beat Asics for running in my book! 

Random thought #2:

As much as it pains me to say this, I may be staying away from back-loaded barbell lifts for a little while. (I’m shedding a tear for back squats, the love of my life). For the past several months, I’ve been having a very point specific pain over one vertebrae in my thoracic spine. After trying to ignore it for a while, I’ve finally been getting some deep soft tissue treatments on the area surrounding it for about 1.5 months now. While I do feel great improvement in general, the second I load up that bar and put it on my back, I feel that one specific point of pain. I haven’t decided for sure, but I may try avoiding back loaded lifts, increasing my upper back work, and sticking with front squats for the time being. (Blegh).  I reluctantly did front squats on Friday and miraculously had no pain without the weight of the bar across my back, so I’ll let you guys know if I actually do this, and if it helps!

I really don’t enjoy front squats. But I might just have to suck it up for a little while! 

Random thought #3: 

I’ve realized recently that I have 2 rather serious addictions. String cheese and buying sunglasses. No, they’re not related (although I wouldn’t put it past me to be eating string cheese while sunglasses shopping), but I’m starting to realize I have a problem. I guess there are worse problems to have!

That’s all the random thoughts I’ll leave you with for the moment, since I’m sure most of you don’t really care very much about my addiction to string cheese.  Who’s going to join me on the pull-up challenge? Do you do cardio or just lift? Do you front squat regularly? Does anyone else share my strange addictions? 

Fitness Challenge Week 6: Sprint!

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Since I gave you an easy week last week with the lunges, this week I’m cranking it up a notch and giving  you a sprint workout that will probably make you want to slap me.

Source

Why sprinting?

Well, for starters, because I like it. Second of all, for all of you steady-state-cardioers out there, adding in 1-2 sprint and/or HIIT workouts each week will really help you to kick your fat-loss into gear. *Note: I am not suggesting that interval/sprint training is the end-all, be-all of cardio. I really believe, based on research that I have read, that both types of cardio have a place in a training program. But if all you do is steady state, adding in some sprints or intervals could really help increase your results, when paired with a balanced training program and nutritional plan.

And although it’s not the only thing you should be doing, sprinting is a valuable tool in a training program, be it for fat loss, strength, or energy-use efficiency. If you lift weights (which most of you do), adding sprints to your program can help with your body’s ability to power through the end of those tough sessions in the weight room. Sprints will also help your body to burn more calories post-exercise, and who doesn’t want that?

So without further ado, here is your workout:

As it says above, you’ll need to set up cones, or some sort of markers, at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 yards. Or better yet, you could use an already lined football field!

This picture is actually perfect, because you won’t need a full 100 yard space, only 50 yards. This is because each sprint (besides the 10 yard ones) will be done with a cut and turn at the mid-point. Why? Adding in the cuts gives this workout a little more difficulty… and for any current athletes that are reading, makes this a more functional workout.

This workout wont take you very long, but it’s tough! I would not perform this on a day of, before, or directly following a heavy leg day in the weight room.  And if you are very new to working out, or have never ran/done sprints before, I would do a very modified version of this. Try starting out with half the reps of each distance and see how you do. I would even omit the full 100 yd sprints if this is your first time doing a workout like this.  And if you are advanced, I would add 1-2 reps of each distance after the 20s. As always, safety needs to come first! If you have a pre-existing injury or feel pain/shortness of breath/dizziness, please discontinue the workout and consult with a medical professional.

Now get out there, get motivated, and get going!!

yes yes yes.

Do you do sprint workouts usually? How often do you incorporate sprints or HIIT into your training?

Summer Fitness Challenge: Week 5

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Hello, and I hope everyone had a weekend as excellent as mine was! More on that later this week. For now, let’s get into your challenge.

This week’s fitness challenge is not really a “challenge” exactly, but a little experiment I want us all to do. I recently read a blog post somewhere but I honestly have no idea where.(I’m really sorry. I know I keep doing this and I really need to start writing these things down). However, the author of this blog (who is a personal trainer) said that he has all of his clients perform a series of light, bodyweight exercises immediately upon waking. They do this not as a workout, but to sort of “wake up” and activate the central nervous system. What I got from this blog post was that he believed that this would help to activate the healthy movement patterns that we use both in our workouts and in our normal daily lives, in order to encourage those movement patterns from the get-go.

Give your CNS a little Wake Up Call 

So what I’m doing this week is just a little spin on this idea and taking it to a really basic place. I’m really not asking you guys to do a lot this week. This is more of an experiment… and also a little break before I kick your butt with a killer sprint workout next week.

Your challenge for Week # 5 is:

For those of you who aren’t familiar, a reverse lunge is exactly what it sounds like — you are stepping back into a lunge instead of stepping forward. Start standing on both feet. Step back with right leg and bend until your right knee is barely touching the floor, and left leg is at a 90 degree angle. Step back far enough so that you can have both legs in a good position without your front knee coming out over your toes. Push off your right toes, activate your left glutes, and return to start position. Switch legs and repeat. (Complete 20 each leg)

This is a “good” lunge. You can see some pictures of “bad” lunges for reference below. And on another note, you probably won’t be outside. But Hey… if you DO wake up outside, I’m not judging you, I swear. 

 Key points to remember when doing these lunges (especially when completing them first thing in the morning:

  • Catch your balance at the bottom and top of the pose before progressing. If you’re wobbling around at the bottom of your lunge, chances are you’re not going to get into a true good lunge position, and you also risk injuring yourself.
  • Take your time! Rushing through these with poor form will completely defeat the purpose.
  • Make sure to keep your trunk/torso elevated; avoid leaning too far forward.
This is TOO far forward. Engage your core and sit up straight, just like your mother taught you. (It was actually really difficult for me to lunge like this…We had to take several pictures before I was actually leaning enough to notice it, and this isn’t even that bad)
Another no-no. The lean is a little better in this one (but I felt like I was leaning for days!), but my feet are not far enough apart, which is giving me bad angles at my knees. 
  • Make sure that your front knee always faces forward; do not let it “cave in” towards your midline.
Ignore the stank face and notice the horrible knee posture. This is the BIG no-no: Letting your knee cave like this is a recipe for disaster and injury. 
  • If you absolutely can’t do a lunge without your front knee caving in, chances are you’ve got a lot of work to do on your gluteus medius and other hip abductors/stabilizers! (That’s a whole other post in itself… and will probably be coming soon).
  • No, this is NOT your workout for the day. Don’t skip your normally scheduled workout because I asked you to do 2 minutes of lunges in the morning. Think of it as a supplement; instead of asking you to take a fish oil pill every day, I’m asking you to do lunges. Simple as that.

The second part of your challenge is very simple. Take a moment each day to notice how you feel. Do you hate me the first day, but then find them getting easier each day? Does doing this help you to wake up a little bit quicker? Do you feel more energy throughout the morning when you do this? Does it give you more motivation for your workout later?

I’m not even sure how I feel about this yet. I might hate it, I might love it and do it forever. Who knows if you don’t try, right? It might make a difference in my day, it might not. All I know is, when I step out of bed and stand at the stove like a zombie, stirring my oatmeal, I feel like crap. Maybe giving myself a little kickstart and a little blood-flow boost will make me feel way better?

Let me know how you do! Send me an email sometime this week (or several if you please) at itrainthereforeieat@gmail.com, and give me your thoughts on this.  Now lunge away… and as always… Enjoy!

Motivation Monday and Fitness Challenge #3

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Before I get to the meat of today’s post, dare I ask: did anyone out there besides me complete their 200 Burpees? Or try out the burpee pyramid challenge from last week?

Let me know how it went!

Now before I give you your challenge for this week, I want to tell you about a part of my day yesterday that was so awesome it’s hard to even describe here.

Will and I set out around 11 am to do a workout down along the Charles River because it was such a gorgeous day. For those of you not from Boston, there’s a little workout area at one point along the river path that has pull up bars, different height benches, push up bars, etc. It’s kind of like a little mini “muscle beach” without the actual weights. Any given nice day in Boston you’ll usually see a handful of people doing various workouts there, and yesterday was no different.  When we got there, I payed particular attention to one gentleman who was doing all sorts of interesting movements, including a lot of work while hanging from his feet on the pull up bar.  After watching him for a little while, I started in on my own workout, and at one point I was approached by him because he was curious about some of the more creative things that Will and I were doing. (He was particularly interested in the backpack with a 40 pound chain in it… But again…That’s a different post).

Once we started talking to him, we all began sharing workout tips, trading techniques, and even sharing some of the equipment that all of us had brought.

Did I mention that this man, Ralph, was 72?

Here he is, talking to Will, who is using Ralph’s leg straps which allow you to hang upside down for ab work, etc. 

Note the backpack in the picture above. That’s the one that’s holding a 40 pound chain, and Ralph couldn’t wait to use it. After showing Will how to use his ankle straps, he put them back on himself, and after being hoisted up to the high pull up bar, proceeded to do upper body work as well as ab crunches while holding the bag.

Just look at the incredible shape he is in!!

After speaking with him about more exercises and he so graciously agreed to be featured on my blog, he also agreed to show us some of the more creative (and extremely difficult) things he had been doing when we first got there.

He honestly smiled the entire time. He was like a little kid up there!

 (Ahem, 72?!?!?) This man, Ralph, was incredible. He was passionate, curious, joyful, exuberant, and hilarious all wrapped up into one tiny, super-fit package.

And the kicker? By the time we were taking these pictures, it was about 1:00 pm. He told us he had been out since 5 am, riding his bike around to different outdoor workout areas and stopping for exercise intervals as he saw fit. Since 5 am! I don’t know many people my age who would have the stamina and endurance to do that, let alone someone who could be my grandparent.

So why am I telling you all about the incredible Ralph? I think it’s quite obvious. He is pretty much the definition of health and motivation. At 72 years old (I don’t think I can say that enough times), he trains at least 4 days per week, is in incredible physical shape, and is on no medications.

So next time someone asks you why you work out so much, or next time you doubt that starting an exercise plan really will make a difference, think of Ralph. Next time you don’t want to get your butt to the gym or do one of my challenges, just think WWRD (What Would Ralph Do?) :)  He was a great person to talk to, and I honestly can’t wait until I see him out there again. Maybe he’ll even agree to an interview one of these days?

Now that you’ve had that megadose of awesome, let’s hear today’s challenge. This week we’re going to take it back a notch from the madness that was Burpees, and we’re going to go a little bit more low-key. Your challenge this week is:

For some of you this will be easy, for some it will be a struggle. But remember, No Cheating! If you can only hold a plank for 5 seconds with good form, than you need to do about a bazillion (ok 96) sets of 5 second planks. If you can hold a plank for a minute, than really you just need a plank a day (plus a little extra somewhere in there).

**Good form for a plank means that you are basically forming a straight line from the tip of your head all the way down to your toes. NO “tent butt” or sagging midsection. Keep that core and glutes engaged the entire time in order to keep your form correct.

**Tip: Do these in front of a mirror so that you can see if your core is sagging or if your butt is creeping up. A crooked plank is no plank at all.

And with that, I’m off! I’ll be gone for the rest of this week for the National Athletic Trainer’s Association conference in St. Louis, and then for a little bonus time in Memphis. I’ll be putting up some great guest posts to finish out this week, and then I’ll be back next Monday. Enjoy your week, and don’t miss me too much!

Don’t forget to send me your plank videos and pictures if you want to be featured on the blog! (itrainthereforeieat@gmail.com)

Do you ever do outdoor workouts? Have you ever met someone like Ralph? Do you do planks in your workout regularly?