Workout Warfare: February 2010

Two months down in 2010, how's that "new you" coming? After 8 straight weeks of exercising and eating right you should be at a point where you can see some noticeable results, right? This is a time to reward yourself if you have been working hard. Treat yourself to something you have been sacrificing and it'll be oh so sweet.
Now is a good time to change up your routine and switch your workouts, your body needs to be challenged by change and confusion. Its time to start thinking about some serious workouts that will get you "right by spring." HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts are the best kind of workouts to shed that excess body fat and a good way to check your current aerobic shape. HIIT combines both aerobic as well as anaerobic into one nasty workout. There are many upsides to this specific type of training, it improves our cardiovascular health as well as fat burning; which, lets be honest, all of us want to do. Another plus to HIIT is that is doesn't take a whole lot of time, so you're in and out of the gym and with a better workout than if you would've spent an hour doing "normal" exercises. Below are a few different samples of HIIT exercises that will test you both physically and mentally.

Treadmill Workout: 20 Min Total

Warmup: 5 mins - Light Jog

10 Mins- Sprint at 95-100% Intensity 1 min/light jog 1 min (be careful but push yourself)

Cooldown: 5 mins- Light Jog

Stationary Bike Workout: 18 Min Total

Warm up 3 Mins- (i.e. Level 6-9)

Intensity Training (12 min total)

Increased Resistance (i.e. Level 12-15) -2 mins (95-100%)
Decreased Resistance (i.e. Level 8-10)- 1 min (65-75%)

Cooldown 3 mins- (Level 6-9)

Elliptical Workout/ Stair Stepper Workouts
Both of these machines can be used to do similar workouts as the stationary bike; increased resistance and increased intensity.

Now anyone of the workouts above coupled with some good stretching to start and finish plus a decent abdominal workout, will have you feeling gassed and great all at the same time and you will be done in less than 45 minutes.

Quick Ab workout

1. 15-20 reps -lying leg raises (keep legs straight and lift with your core)
2. 15-20 reps -toe touches (lie on your back and keep arms straight in the air; situp and reach to your toes and come back to lying on your back)
3. 15-20 reps (each side) - oblique crunches (lay on your side with legs stacked at 30 deg. angle and crunch elbow to thigh* good luck with that)
4. 30 secs- plank (up on your elbows, forearms, and toes and hold )

Repeat twice through.