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I am serious spaghetti arms right now because we did my paddling workout but before that, we did 17 minutes of HIIT. (High Intensity Interval Training)
For about the past 3 weeks, we've been adding HIIT to the beginning of our strength sessions twice a week. We tried it 3x the week before last and we were broken and both gained weight because I think our bodies were holding onto water trying to repair our hobbly selves. We have Turbo Fire and they have three different HIITs on there...15, 20 and 25 minutes worth. So we tend to rotate between the 15 and 20 minute one but we may throw the 25 minute in on occasion.
For me, strength workouts have always felt like it takes forever to get my heart rate up to something I consider a workout and by the time I do, there are only about 10 minutes left and I feel like I wasted my time. Since adding HIIT's prior to our strength sessions, our heart rates are already considerably higher and since we consider those our warm up, we go straight into lifting. My heart rate stays pretty high and we're both sweating like maniacs toweling off between sets. When we're done, we're basically tanked and the Mr always says what a good workout it was. It can be so hard to keep up motivation and I have an additional challenge in my crappy blood vessels. I can pop blood vessels in my fingers using my bare hands with a set of 10 pounders much less the 20 and 25 lbs I usually do. I want to keep making strides to be able to lift more but even with my gloves and a set of pads to hold the weight, I can burst one and it is a pain that makes it pretty uncomfortable to lift if it's not healed in time for the next session. I put some new lifting gloves on my wishlist for Christmas so hopefully, those will help. Some days I swear it's a chore just to do a military press with 15 pounds per hand and I feel so weak despite consistently doing strength 3x week for at least two years.
So I'm hoping this little change up in routine will help melt some goo and maybe even help on the muscle front by having it already warmed up sufficiently before we get into the bulk of things. Time will tell.
Do you do HIIT? How many times a week do you strength train?
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Last night's workout torched me. Thank God for being able to take a shower afterward cause I don't know what I'd do. Not just for cleaning off the sweat either. I like to just get that hot water right on my muscles as soon as possible and I think it helps my recovery a ton. But, then again, I will likely feel more of the soreness tomorrow. I never feel as much the very next day, it's always two days later. Doing HIIT ahead of time is no joke, but I think it's the right thing to do for us, for sure.
ReplyDeleteOh if you feel tomorrow the way I do today, my condolences. Let's hope we see some good results from this addition.
DeleteI try and do an even balance of HIIT cardio and strength training - it keeps it interesting!
ReplyDeleteGood on ya!
DeleteSorry about the blood vessel issues. I'm not sure how grippy lifting gloves are but have you considered getting garden gloves and cutting off the fingertips for air flow? My current shoulder injury plus my ever advancing age means it's harder for me to grip heavy objects for long periods but grabbing my sticky garden gloves, the ones meant for raking and shoveling, really helps.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I admire your consistency with your workouts and am jealous that you are in such lockstep together with your journey. My hubby is wonderful but paired workouts are one thing we don't do.
Good tip on the gardening gloves, I'll give that a try! I don't care what they look like, as long as they protect me.
DeleteAww, thanks. We're on step with the workouts for sure but we're also on step with Saturday blowouts and one of us needs to step up and say no from time to time. :-\