A Week of Workouts

I kicked some workout boo-tay this week. Yep. I did. Thanks for asking.

Jeez. Babies are rude. I’m gonna talk about it anyway. Here that rude baby?

I don’t normally list my workouts but this week I actually doubled up three times, which means I, hater of all mornings, woke up early three times. So, that makes me feel all proud and junk. *pats self on back* So here we go:

• Monday: Martial arts fitness class (45 min)
• Tuesday: 5 mile run in the morning. 1 hour strength training in the evening.
• Wednesday: 3.25 mile run in the morning. 1 hour spin class in the evening.
• Thursday:  Rest. Stuffed my face instead.
• Friday:  5.25 mile run in the morning. 3 mile sprint workout in the evening.

The sprint workout on Friday is one that my trainer gave me a long time ago. You can adjust it to your own fitness level and I like it because it’s pretty mindless. I don’t have to look at a sheet constantly to do it. I just need to pay attention to the seconds on the treadmill. It’s a good one for when your short on time but want to feel (and look) like you worked out for an hour.

Since I wanted to get more miles in, I increased my sprint time to 45 seconds (with a 1:15 recovery) and added 5 minutes to the workout time. My sprints are generally at a 9.2-9.5 (between a 6:31 and 6:14 pace) and my recovery is a 4.0 walk. Before you all think, “oh crap, she’s running again!”, just know I’m only running because that’s what’s easiest in the morning. Not necessarily because I want to or I’m enjoying it. I’m gonna keep up the double workouts for another 2 or 3 weeks since they seem to be working but running and I are still on a break. We’re just on speaking terms now.

After the workout Friday, hubs and I went out for some beers with our personal trainer, Linda.

I know that seems like an oxymoron but at least I had a salad with my beers and at one point we mentioned working out. So I think it counts as healthy.

Today, hubs and I did a Crossfit workout. We literally didn’t think we could make it through the whole thing. It was a 30 minute workout and 10 minutes into it, we were dying. So we took it 5 minutes at a time and decided at the end of every 5 minutes if we were going to keep going. It was that hard.

After the first set took me the full minute, my trainer (the other one, not Linda) made me do the modified version. With the modified version, I had about 10-15 seconds to rest before I had to start the next set and it still kicked my ass. You can go ahead and do the math on how many reps that ends up being. I’d do it but it might make me cry.

Now I need to get something productive done. I haven’t done anything on my to do list this week, which is unusual for me. I’m probably the only person I know that can workout that that much and still feel lazy.

HIIT Training

For the month of April, I’ve decided I’m going to make an effort to work out twice a day, a couple times a week. That means, I need to get my butt out of bed early to get it done before work, because the chances of me getting up early on a weekend when I can sleep in is none. It’s not going to be easy because I’m not a morning person. So, that’s also the reason I’m only going to try this for a month. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t keep it up long term. I value being lazy way too much. So, the idea is that my morning workout will be shorter and the evening workout will be a normal workout. Basically, just a little extra exercise in my week to kick start my goal of making my work pants not double as compression pants.

(source)

Anyway, it’s not April yet but I decided to try it out today. My personal trainer gave me a HIIT workout that I’ve been wanting to try  (and I think she got the workout from this site). If you don’t already know, HIIT stands for “high intensity interval training.” So, HIIT training is all about speed. The workouts are intended to exhaust your muscles of their stored energy which is the quickest way to burn fat. The best part is they are only 20 minutes or less, so they are really good workouts when you’re short on time but want maximum results.  Or for when you want to sleep in as late as possible but still workout ‘cause you’re a lazy-ass.

Here’s what I did:

The “work” column is all out effort sprinting and the “rest” column is easy running or walking. I did the original workout and hated it. But I’m posting it anyway. Just because I hate it doesn’t mean you will.

I think the original workout would be better outside. It takes about 10 seconds for my treadmill to slow down to a walking pace, so I wasn’t getting much rest. I ended up adding 5 seconds here and there just so I could get a rest in. Then, it was just a big mess trying to figure out where I was in the workout (I had it printed in front of me) because I’m watching the sheet and watching the treadmill time and trying to change speeds. Toward the end, I accidentally sprinted for 50 seconds instead of 10 because I read the sheet wrong. So everything about that workout was annoying to follow. With all my additions, the workout was 18 minutes long and 1.85 miles. Next time, I’m going by my modified version. I haven’t tried it yet so it may still need some tweaking.

(Usually I do a 20 minute workout of 40 seconds work/20 seconds rest which is super easy to do on the treadmill.)

Later in the day, hubs and I went to Crossfit and did a workout that kicked our butts.

Because I can’t get my chest to the floor when I do a regular push-up, I did progressive push-ups. Basically, you do a regular push-up on the way down and then a girly push-up on the way up. Again, I couldn’t find anything online depicting this so…

I know. You don’t have to say it. You love that graphic. I hear progressive push-ups work the best when you’re wearing nothing but blue sneakers too. But seriously, they are supposed to be a good way to get your muscles strong enough to where you can do regular push-ups (chest to ground), which I can’t do. I’ve been doing regular push-ups half way down and thinking that was good enough.

Also, our trainer was telling hubs and I how stiff we looked during our workout. He asked us if we had been on any long car rides or sitting for long periods of time this week. I guess all those extra work hours sitting at my desk have taken a toll. So it makes total sense that I’m sitting at a desk and blogging right now. Guess I should stop being an old lady on the computer and go enjoy my Friday night.

Have a good weekend everyone! 🙂