Week 2: High Intensity

Fitness & Food

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high_intensity2

Alright, everyone…week 1 is behind us!  How did you all do??  To be honest, I didn’t do great.  Luke and I had started our fitness and nutrition challenge (Piit28) at the start of March so we’d already been off sugar for 2 weeks…and last week I snapped!  It was a set back but I actually learned some interesting things about me and sugar, namely that when I overindulge after weeks of no sweets, it makes me sick….ugh.  Alrighty then, good to know!

We’re back on track this week and talking about workouts!  Specifically high intensity workouts…

I totally understand how hard it is to get regular exercise of any kind…too little sleep, time, energy: it all effect us and our desire to get moving.  But every day that we don’t get our heart rates up, we’re making it harder to move in the future!  While we all know that any kind of exercise is better than Netflix, high intensity intervals are the best.  And here’s why…

high_intensity

First off, here’s what they are: short, intense periods of exercise that raise your heartrate past what your body can sustain for long periods of time.  After each intense interval, you get a short rest period, but before your body can fully recover you do it again!  It feels amazing and it works.

Long slow workouts burn fat…but only while you’re actually working out.  Once you increase your body’s need for oxygen during that interval, it creates an oxygen shortage, making your body actually continue to work harder and burn fat after the workout is over.  That just means that you can work out for a shorter period of time and get better results!

There are so many easy high intensity workouts we can do with no special equipment and right at home!

  • Walking, jogging or slow swimming or biking interspersed with sprints
  • Yoga or pilates paired with fast cardio moves like burpees, jumping jacks or jump rope
  • Strength moves (think push-ups, planks and squats) done very rapidly with little or no breaks in between

The sky’s the limit when it comes to how to incorporate high intensity into our workouts, the trick is to just do it!  Just remember in these intervals, we have to go full throttle.  If we hold back, we’re only cheating ourselves.  And in my experience, as little as 30 minutes can really make a difference.

Check out THIS article with a detailed description of HIIT and a simple do-at-home workout. Let me know in the comments if you do this one or if you have another favorite HIIT workout the rest of us need to try.

Let’s get moving!

When you’ve got this down, head on over HERE to week 3!

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5 Comments

  • Reply
    Audrey
    March 21, 2016 at 10:09 am

    Well, you asked for an update on how long I stayed away from sugar…I was doing great until my daughter made homemade donuts for breakfast Saturday morning. So we’ll just say I know aaaaaalllll about what you’re taking about in your post!

    • Reply
      Bonnie
      March 23, 2016 at 6:16 pm

      Mmmm, donuts! I don’t blame you 🙂 I’m gonna get through Easter and then start again!

  • Reply
    Emily
    March 21, 2016 at 4:31 pm

    Oh my gosh the first week off sugar I am so grumpy and irritable! Just started hiit last week! Yay!

    • Reply
      Bonnie
      March 23, 2016 at 6:16 pm

      Good job Emily! The first week off sugar is absolutely the worst 🙂 Hang in there!

  • Reply
    Week 1: Cut out sugar!
    April 23, 2016 at 5:40 pm

    […] Ready for Week 2?  Here it is! […]

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