I'll give it a shot, running, questions and reporting back

This topic contains 6 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Pattience 10 years, 1 month ago.

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Pattience

4:10 am
11 Sep 14
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I haven’t quite finished watching MM’s documentary on exercise but as you’d expect, this looks fairly easy and maybe worth a shot.

I don’t have an exercise bike and i’m not about to rush out to buy one. So i will try running up the street. I suppose its equivalent to doing a 100metre sprint. It will be tricky to count the 20 seconds accurately.

I wonder how i should warm up so as to avoid an injury? Any ideas how much would be needed?

What can i expect in terms of overall fitness? will i be able to run 10km in November. I’ve already signed up to run a race then but i haven’t been doing any training and so unless i get fitter quickly, i probably won’t be able to win the race, or even finish it lol. Except by walking which i should do anyway.

How can i test my increase in fitness – are there any good objective tests I can do now and later?

ChicitaGatita

1:18 pm
21 Sep 14
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Hi Pattience

I highly recommend getting Michael’s book. I just bought it on Amazon & read it on the Kindle app on my iPad. It’s only about $8 AUD.

I’ll try to answer your questions but bear in mind I’ve inly read the book once.

– warm up is minimal. Stretching not required. Gentle walk/jog for 2-5 minutes.
– how you respond to HIT is dependant on your genetics. Michael was tested and he’s a “low responder” in regards to aerobic fitness but still got fabulous results in terms of insulin sensitivity.
– the end of the book has things you can do to measure your current fitness & track your progress (I can’t really recall these) such as resting heart rate.

If you have an iPhone (or similar) you could set your timer for 20 seconds. You can also download for free the ‘Fast Exercise’ app (although some people are saying it doesn’t work properly).

i’ve decided to do my first HIT workout tomorrow morning. I’m going to stop (on the way to school drop off) at a local oval & do it there 😉

Pattience

9:36 am
22 Sep 14
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Thanks chicita,

I am loving my pedometer so much and its tiring me out, i must admit, that it might be a while longer before i get around to doing the HIIT. But 2-5 minutes job makes sense.

Just in case you are inclined to take a short cut, i know the warm up is really really important if you want to avoid injuring yourself. Its easy to strain your thigh muscles if you don’t do it or other muscles. And they can take ages to heal. Also others are no doubt possible if you don’t warm up properly.

Anyway its certainly not going to be just 3 minutes a week is it. Michael likes to put a lot of spin on things. I know its one of the reasons why his approach has had such a quick take up. Doesn’t matter really if it gets people motivated, so long as they realise they can’t just eat as they normally do on non-fast days for very long if you want to lose weight.

ChicitaGatita

10:31 pm
23 Sep 14
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Hi Pattience.

Michael does spin things well. The 3 minutes a week is referring to a weekly total of 3 minutes of high intensity exercise. So a HIIT might take 15 minutes: 5 minutes warm up, 20 seconds high intensity, 2 minutes recovery, 20 seconds high intensity, 2 minutes recovery, 20 seconds high intensity, 5 min cool down. But it’s actually only a total of one minute per session of really flat out exercise.

I love how simple & do-able that is.

I’ve just posted a question asking fir recommendations for HIIT exercise vids on YouTube that I can do at home.

StuartL

2:22 am
24 Sep 14
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When I used to do it (can’t now my knees gave in) I used to use lamposts as a marker, I would jog for five minutes then sprint for 3 lamposts, then jog till my breathing returned to near normal and sprint again, my aim was for eight sprints, but often I could not manage it, then slow jogging to cool down.
I do something similar on my bicycle now, strange how even just walking makes my knees ache, but cycling doesn’t.

SAMM

2:47 am
24 Sep 14
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I try to swim for H.I.I.T if my knees hurt, but when I’m well I try to jumprope, because it’s not as hard on the knees, due to landing on both feet at the same time, these less stress on the knees. Plus jumprope is easier to lug around than the pool. I used to be in bed fir long time after an injury. So I knew I needed to keep fit while sedentary. I kept a very small stability ball in bed and practiced the exercise videos to help improve the knee muscles strength and flexibility. I’m now working 8hrs or more on my feet now, where I couldn’t do 8 hrs prior to the accident. So I try not over do the stress on my joints when doing HIIT .
Swim, run, cycle, jump. I couldn’t do it at first , but made the commitment to make it apart of my lifestyle. After. Few months I settled on jumprope , because I could combine HIIT with eating on feed days.

The jumprope wasn’t a favorite, it’s just that i seemed to have more opportunity and was doing it more often. I’m up to 8 minutes now of skipping before becoming winded. After nearly 9 months when I started I was out breath in 30 seconds, doing jumping jacks until I caught my breath.

However when hurt I go swimming facility . Have to say it’s my favorite. You may look up swimming HIIT on you tube , to see it in practice.

Pattience

1:05 pm
29 Sep 14
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I’ve started skipping my HIIT.

I’m not doing much in a session but its easy as i don’t even have to get changed (although i do always want a shower afterwards) and i can stow my shoes over near the skipping deck. I didn’t even to go out and buy a rope. My father has one in his home made gym. Here’s doing a bit of skipping too.

I had to look up jumping jacks.