Good thing my locations are change each week because my outfits don’t. I could only bring so many clothes with me in the RV.

I want to say right off hand that I call these Tabata intervals but since there are 4 of them I didn’t go all out each set so they aren’t true Tabata. Nevertheless this workout kicked my butt and I felt it for days. Days.

Despite the chilly weather, this was a great place to workout. The campground was nearly empty, the sound of the stream was relaxing, and my kids played on the hillside. After we filmed my workout Brent did the workout himself.

Arkansas

Interval #1
1. Push Press
2. Jump Squats

Interval #2
1. KB Toss
2.  Swings

Interval #3
1. Hot Potatoes
2. Split Lunges

Interval #4
1. Mountain Climbers
2. Russian Twist

– Each interval is 4 minutes long divided into 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest which means each exercise is repeated 4 times (8 total work periods). All four intervals add up to a 16 minutes workout. I’m a math genius.  

– For the interval #1 I started with my left arm push presses and the second interval (after squats) I switched to my right arm so each side did 2 intervals each. This was plenty of work. I had considered making it double push presses but halfway through I was glad I stuck with singles.\

We were in Arkansas in December and have finally made it to warmer weather. I’m hoping this will help me get back into a workout routine as they have been…errrr…a bit spotty. That New Year’s 5X5 Challenge? Out the door. I should have made it a 3×3 challenge or skipped it altogether. At this point, I don’t need any more “challenges” in my life. Figuring out life in an RV with two kids, two dogs, and a cat is challenge enough right now.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we take a year long RV road trip through the United States!

The post “Arkansas” Full Body (Tabata) Kettlebell Workout appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Almost any blog post or article you read on HIIT cardio or high intensity interval training training will show you pictures of a marathoner and a sprinter side by side with a caption that says “Who do you want to look like?”. Since, I don’t think it’s helpful to compare and each athlete is AMAZING in their own right I’ll share a little personal story.

Over 3 years ago, I decided to train for a figure competition. At the time of my decision I was clearly insane, I had already lost about 15 pounds and had about 20 more to go to be “stage ready”. I joined an online support group of figure competitors most of who were getting up at 6 am to do hours “EMC” (steady state Early Morning Cardio) every week.

I tried it a few times and decided, no. There had to be another way.

During my research I came across these articles, The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin, by Rachel Cosgrove and A Case Against Cardio by Mark Sisson. They changed my training life and I’ve never looked back.

I trained for those first two figure competitions keeping a very clean diet (it’s never just about the training) and doing very very little steady state cardio.

Intense interval training.

(Source)

Intense interval training is periods of intense exercise alternated with periods of recovery (low or moderate intensity exercise). Example: 30 seconds of sprinting alternating with 15 seconds of walking. When you push yourself to your max, as in I can’t sprint any faster or my legs will fall off, during the “intense” periods it becomes high intensity interval training.

For the sake of this post, I’m going to call it IIT for intense interval training.

Why do IIT as opposed to an hour on the treadmill?

Sanity. Hours on the treadmill or elliptical? No thanks.

There is research that supports the idea that you can get slow roasted results in microwave time. In the Gibala study, researchers from McMaster University took healthy college students (not athletes) and put them in two groups. One group exercised on stationary bikes for 90-120 minutes at a sustainable pace (steady state cardio). The other group rode the stationary bikes like bats out of hell for 20-30 seconds and then rested for 4 minutes. They repeated this interval 4-6 times which added up to 3-4 minutes of intense exercise. Both the steady state crazies and the high intensity group followed their specific protocols – 3 times a week for 2 weeks. The study showed that each group achieved almost identical improvement in endurance but the high intensity interval group did it in less time. Way less time! Can I hear a holla!

Before the Gilbala study, there was the Tabata study which you may remember me mentioning when I finally got the nerve to try Tabata for myself. In the Tabata study, the high intensity interval group showed greater improvements in their aerobic (with oxygen – the energy system that steady state cardio uses) capacities and anaerobic (without oxygen – the energy system that HIIT cardio uses) capacities than the steady state crazies. The steady state crazies didn’t show any improvement in their anaerobic capacity.

High intensity interval training boosts metabolism for hours after your workout. HIIT cardio increases excessive post oxygen consumption (EPOC), often referred to as the “afterburn”, more than steady state cardio. After exercise your body uses oxygen to restore and repair the body back to it’s resting state and this takes fuel, hopefully, in the form of fat.

Of course, intense interval training is not the be all end or a miracle (there are no miracles) in the quest for a better body. In fact, when you put the intense in intensity, it could be argued who is in the crazy camp. Not too mention that it can carry a greater risk of injury if too much is done too soon. (So be patient and start slow, Speed Racer. Oh and get that ok from your Dr. before you begin.) When used correctly, intense interval training is just another tool in the tool box but it’s a good one.

Do you prefer high intensity intervals or steady state cardio?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body : Day 10 – Do (hi)IT! appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Then thing is I know what to do.  Sure there is always more to learn and I never want to stop learning but I know the basics to getting really lean.  Lots of protein, obscene amounts of veggies, planned amounts of carbs, lots of water, HIIT cardio, full body workouts that leave your body feeling like you’ve been ran over by a stampede of buffalo, and a good nights sleep.   But this too has a cost.  It means watching your friends or family enjoy the chips and salsa.  It means drinking water when you’d rather have soda.  It means eating asparagus when you rather have potato salad.  It means going to the gym when you’d rather watch tv.  It means going to bed when you’d rather be on Facebook.

Willpower.  Strenth.  Determination.  Discipline.

What I realized is those are what I’m really hoping to buy for $97.

Why can’t someone sell that in a bottle?

xoxo
jenn

The post Motivational Capsules appeared first on Girl Heroes.

What is HIIT cardio and what does it entail?

HIIT cardio is a form of torture derived from the prisons of Abkhazia. Not really.  HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.   In a nutshell, it is a series of intense bursts of activity followed by short rest or recovery periods. And example would be a 10 minute walk/run.  A minute of walking alternating with a minute of running or sprinting.  

I don’t know about you but I don’t necessarily exercise because I don’t have anything better to do. While I enjoy exercise it’s not at the top of my list of “super fun”. So when I do it, I want to get the most bang for my buck.  Which is why I like high intensity interval training. I can continually challenge myself, burn more fat all while spending less of my precious time working out.  To challenge myself I can increase intensity by making the high intensity intervals harder by increasing speed or resistance (depending on the machine).  Or I can shorten the recovery or rest intervals. 

Our bodies are extremely adaptive.  For example, if you are running 2 miles a day after a few weeks your body will adapt.  In other words, running that same two miles will become easier and easier requiring less work of your body.  If you are happy with your level of fitness and want to maintain you current fitness level then keep at it.  But if you want to continue to improve or burn more calories to burn more fat you will either have to run farther or faster.  It won’t take long for your body to adapt to your new speed or distance so you will have to once again run farther or faster.  Thanks but no thanks. If you’re crazy and you decide you want to try to go faster every time you will at some point you reach an intensity that will take you out your aerobic zone (aerobic means with oxygen) and move into the anaerobic zone (anaerobic).  Aerobic exercise uses oxygen to make energy and anaerobic uses your bodies own chemistry without oxygen to produce energy.  Jogging is aerobic and sprinting is anaerobic.  So instead of working up to the anaerobic zone you can just start there using HIIT cardio.

High intensity interval training can be adapted to any fitness level.  A beginner might walk 2 minutes and jog 30 seconds.  As you improve you can gradually shorten the rest periods and lengthen the high intensity intervals.  Or go faster during the intervals.  As you can see it’s super easy to customize a workout for your own level of fitness.

How hard should you push yourself on the high intensity intervals depends on your current fitness level.  I use the category-ratio scale of perceived exertion or a scale of 1-10 with 1 being extremely easy to 10 being my hardest.  At 1 it feels like the effort I put forth petting my cat and 10 feels like I am climbing the Eiffel Tower with greasy hands.  So when performing HIIT cardio, an average healthy person will want to alternate between periods of exercise being done in the 8-10 (preferable 9-10) range with rest periods in the 2-5 range.  If you have any sort of cardiovascular or respiratory disorder please be smart and talk to your doctor first. The key to finding your 10 is to really listen to your body. A 10 for one person may be a 4 for another.  Make sense? I know when I can push a little harder and I know when I’ve reached my limit. I’m not out to prove anything to anybody except myself. Play with the intensities to add variety. I may do a minute at a 4, a minute at a 8, a minute at a 9, then 30 seconds at a 10, and finally recover for two minutes at a 2 before starting over.

Another benefit of HIIT cardio worth mentioning is EPOC (excess post-exercise consumption).  What this means is that the fat burning doesn’t stop after you stop exercising.  HIIT cardio has shown to keep your metabolism raised after you stop exercising for longer periods of time than traditional (slow and steady) aerobic exercise. Ummm…I’ll take it.

Personally, I think the beauty of HIIT cardio lies in being able to really push myself.  It helps because I break my workouts into 30 sec – 2 minutes intervals.  Like mini-mini-goals.  I’ve found it much easier to push through a minute at a 9 or a 10 then to stay at a 4 for 40 minutes. The time goes by fast and the reaching new levels of intensity is very satisfying. 

Does this mean you should give up all traditional cardio?  Not if you like it.  While I prefer HIIT cardio and have found it to be more effective for fast lost and time management I’m not all hardcore.  I think the best exercise is exercise you want to do and will do.  If you love your step aerobics class then keep going.  You many want to play with making that an interval training session by varying your intensity throughout the class.  There are benefits to steady cardio as well such as improving the bodies ability to use and consume oxygen and lowering the bodies resting heart rate. Personally, I really enjoy the mental relaxation of a long power walk or a long jog. So I do try to incorporate some steady state cardio each month. But my overall preference is HIIT.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend.

xoxo
j

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The post HIIT Me Baby One More Time: What is HIIT cardio? appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Jump Rope Workout

1 minute of basic traditional jumping
1 minute of punches (Don’t worry no one’s watching)  Here is the best video I could find online. 
30 seconds of high knees while jump-roping
30 seconds of butt kicks while jump-roping 
1 minute of controlled side kicks (like last week) 
1 minute of  backward jumping

Rest 30 seconds and repeat 2-3 more times. If you are able jump at high intensity and slow down for your punches and kicks so you heart rate can recover from the jumping.  Now go find some stairs so you can run to the top and hold your hands up above your head.

If you’re new to my blog I do my best to limit to restrain myself from Rocky references although every now and then I just can’t resist.

xoxo
j

The post Backyard Back-Ups : A Jump Rope Workout appeared first on Girl Heroes.