Tuesday, March 20, 2012

High Intensity Intervals

High intensity intervals....just sounds daunting, doesn't it?  But if you are like me and want to kick the workout up a notch then this is for you.  I did a 30 minute high intensity intervals session with Cristina Lubini at Pura Vida Club today.

I know, you're probably saying only 30 minutes? Well, good luck even making it through that.  It's a workout that will push you beyond what you think you can do, get your heart rate racing, and get you totally out of breath.

After a couple minutes of walking at a 4mph pace on the treadmill to warm up, it was straight in to sprints.  I did 30 second sprint, 30 second rest starting 6.5mph then 7mph, 7.5mph, all the way to 11mph.  Normally that's where Cristina stops and has client go back to 8.5mph or 8mph then 6.0mph to bring heart rate back down a little.  Well in order to get a little video I attempted 11.5mph sprint after a 30 second rest and made it to 25 seconds.  Guess who got to do it again.  Before the last sprint, I rested 1 minute then hit the sprint at 11.5mph for 30 seconds.  I brought my heart rate down with 30 seconds at 6mph, which at that point felt like just a walk.

I'll admit, I am not a treadmill fan.  But I am a fan of sprints.  So instead of a 40-45 minute even paced run on treadmill think I'm going to switch up to a 15-20 minute warm up and sprints session.  I'll save the long runs for outside.

If you are a beginner or just starting some higher intensity workouts, you can modify times.  Go for a 10, 20 or 30 second sprint then rest 30 seconds, 45 seconds or a minute if you need to.  Cristina said there are no rules.  The point is to push hard gradually going to that point of all out, or maxing your heart rate, with breaks in between sprints.  If you need a little more recovery time, take it.  You can also easily do sprints at the park or on a track.

Next up was speed skate with an 8kg (17.6 lbs) ViPR tube.  ViPR stands for vitality, performance, and re-conditioning.  The goal is high intensity doing the move as fast as you can, not lifting heavy weight.  As you speed skate the tube goes perpendicular to the floor then as you skate to other side rotate the tube so the other end is perpendicular to the floor.  Elbows need to stay close to the side as you rotate the tube.  I did 3 rounds of 30 second speed skates with 30 second rest in between.

Next, still using the ViPR, hold it in the center and do a squat.  As you jump up, turn 180 degrees. Squat, jump and turn back .  You do not need to alternation sides.  I did one round of 30 seconds.

To finish out, it was running down and up four flights of stairs, including weaving in and out of folks.

We finished out with some stretching and called it a session.  As we were stretching, I told Cristina it felt like my lungs had expanded.  It was a totally different feel from other workouts.  My lungs felt huge and I felt invigorated as far as the respiratory and cardiovascular aspect.  Legs...well they felt pretty beat.  Cristina said I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow.  Let's just say my glutes are already feeling those sprints, skates, and squats.  Can't wait to do a session with Cristina again to push it to the limit!

Here's video of the workout. Give it a shot, and let me know how you feel afterward.

  

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