Marshmallow body… steel workout
Having had a binge that, took me further from goal, I did, at least, make a following decision to take me closer to goal. Yeah, I did my exercise!
Anything is better than doing taxes!
Today's session was Nordic Track HIIT.
Warm up for 9 minutes... aging bodies like a good warm up! I did a total of 8 intervals! Would you believe I kept track with the assorted laundry stuff on the bar counter next to the NT? Yeah, my brain isn't always up to counting and remembering intervals as I do them. I'm too busy heaving for air! So I just lined up the stuff and moved an item to the left after each interval.
I planned for only 6 intervals, because this time, instead of doing 30 seconds ON and 120 seconds OFF... I was going to do 30 seconds ON and 90 seconds OFF. Or bust. So less rest, which I haven't really been able to maintain before and still get my heart rate back down.
I did it! My heart rate after the warm up was in my normal "working" zone of 136-138. And I was worried, because the very FIRST interval had my heart rate up high! But, each time, though I had to slow to a 3.0 mph pace for my rests, my heart rate came back down to working level, just. I wasn't really sure I would last out my planned six, but I did and managed two more intervals as well. I did have to rest for 2 minutes before the last one.
Rest speed in the neighborhood of 3.0-3.5 mph.
Interval speed from 7.0 to 8.5 mph.
Average HR for the session = 140. Max = 160. 82% to 94%!
WOOT! OK... as far as fun goes... that session was not exactly there, but I enjoyed it more than slogging through steady state! If I didn't do some HIIT today, I probably wouldn't have been able to squeeze it in this week.
Meal after was a little sliced Jennie-O Oven Roasted Turkey Breast w/stone ground mustard, a tablespoon of almonds, fish oil cap and about half a green pepper. Back on track!
I like to do HIIT for 10 minutes, rest 5 minutes, then do 20-40 minutes of steady state cardio at a low to moderate intensity level. The HIIT training followed by 5 minutes rest releases fatty acids into the blood stream.
The steady state cardo then uses those fatty acids for fuel. It is kind of a "hybrid" approach to get the best out of both forms of cardio.
This method is especially effective for reaching low body fat levels and targetting "stubborn body fat".
That's a good idea, and one I may try. Though at this point, I'm nowhere close to low body fat and ALL of my fat is stubborn, LOL!