What is HIIT you ask?!

High-intensity Interval Training! Oh how wonderful it is! So many people make comments to me such as “you must spend HOURS doing cardio” or “how much cardio do you do a week?!” Well the truth is….hardly any! Once I became aware of HIIT, I was hooked! I never liked cardio. I would get extremely bored and just completely give up. Once my brother told me I should try HIIT…I was a little confused. He told me to only do it for 12 minutes! I was used to trying to get 45 minutes of cardio in and now he is telling me only 12 minutes?! Sure I was excited about the short period of time..but I was also skeptical. So, I did some research on my own and wanted to share it with you guys!

High-intensity interval training consists of short bursts of going as fast and as hard as you can followed by a short recovery time. Then you just continue to repeat that process. HIIT has been shown to reduce body fat while making sure you don’t lose any muscle! It also greatly increases your cardiovascular capacity and keeps your metabolic rate increased for hours…and sometimes even days! The coolest part about it….you should not do HIIT for more than 20 minutes!!! (bodybuilding.com “3 ways to boost cardio intensity).

So..what are some examples of HIIT you ask? You can literally do it with anything! If you have access to a track…try sprinting the curves and jogging or walking the straights! If you are just starting out I would recommend walking the straights. If you want a challenge try jogging! Or, if you are on a treadmill…sprint for 30 seconds and then job/walk for 1 minute (or longer if you need to). I personally like doing HIIT on the stairclimber! I will do a moderate pace for a minute…then go as fast as I possibly can for 30 seconds..then back to a moderate minute..then 30 seconds as fast as I can…all the way up to 12-15 minutes! Don’t try to kill yourself starting out! Pick a pace and speeds that seem reasonable to you…my sprint might be a lot slower/faster compared to yours…THATS OK! Everyone’s body is different! The important thing is that you are doing it!

HIIT is especially important when you are lifting weights and trying to gain muscle. Steady-state cardio…such as running for an hour or doing 45 minutes on the elliptical is not going to improve your level of fitness. That kind of cardio breaks down your muscles. It burns fat with burning the muscle as well..which is NOT what you want! The more muscle you have on your body, the more fat you burn, and the faster your metabolism works! “The American Journal of Physiology found that steady-state cardio decreases the ability of muscles to absorb glucose after training” (bodybuilding.com “HIIT Can Get You Huge, Especially If You Are A Meathead”). Steady state cardio limits hypertrophy which is the primary regulator of muscle growth!! (bodybuilding.com).

So…I challenge you to try HIIT this week! It is a GREAT burn and it will really make you sweat!! It also is quick and fast and it doesn’t get boring!! I really think you all will like it…and see amazing changes in your body!! Also, try picking up the weights this week! Weight lifting does WONDERFUL things for your body! Girls..DO NOT BE AFRAID OF DUMBBELLS!! THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS!! 🙂

-Live healthy and God bless xoxo M

Instagram Photo – Workout of the day!

So….if you follow me on instagram, I told you to come to my blog to see what the heck I was doing in the picture! If you just follow my blog, you may have seen the picture on the right hand side of my blog. Well….that exercise is called I-w-I. This exercise is great for developing the lower traps and scapula. It helps to pull your shoulders back….which is so important! My mom always yells at me and tells me to pull my shoulders back! It definitely makes you look taller! This exercise also promotes flexibility and range of motion for shoulders. All of this is so important! My shoulders were so weak when I first started lifting heavy and because of that, I injured my rotator cuff. I was completely cut off from lifting and had to go to physical therapy for 3 months! It was awful! I don’t want that to happen to any of you…so I thought I would share this exercise with you!

First, you want to lay flat on your stomach. Grab 2 pound dumbbells – keep your thumbs up – and arms straight out in front of you. Keep your head down.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/mariaa77/Iworkout.jpg?t=1376487815

Lift your arms up…they wont go up very high…just enough to give you range of motion. Pull them back in a W like position. You are going to have to engage your core and use those back muscles.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/mariaa77/I-WWorkout.jpg?t=1376487815

Then bring your arms back to the original position
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/mariaa77/Iworkout.jpg?t=1376487815

Do this for two sets of 10 reps! You will feel the burn big time! Also, I have noticed that this helps with the back fat right behind my armpit! A lot of women complain about some fat hanging out over their bra or shirt…this is really going to help tone that area of skin! Also, it will make your back and shoulders look super good!

-This exercise and information was given to me by a certified personal trainer..aka the boyfriend! 🙂
-Enjoy! Let me know if there are any questions!
-Live Healthy and God bless! M xoxo

Today’s Back Workout

As promised on Instagram…I’m going to tell you about my back workout today! I love to work out with my boyfriend, Robby, because he is a personal trainer! Now you all must be thinking…well that’s how she lost weight… she had a trainer! Well actually, I didn’t meet him until after I lost weight. So no I didn’t have a trainer while losing weight.

Anyway, last week was so busy with all of the film crews here, that I wasn’t able to workout! So today I was back at it! Todays back workout was quick and a pretty easy one for me! Here it is:

Bent over rows 4×6 (Heavy)
Wide grip pull ups 4×6
Seated low row 4×8 with a quarter at the back – this is what I showed on instagram!
Lat pull-downs 4×10
Barbell shrugs 4×10

I also did 50 jumping jacks in between each set! Again, things have been crazy lately so I have just been doing random things at the gym. Once I get back into a routine (once school starts) I will be back on a 4 week cycle lifting program!

-God Bless & Live healthy!