INTERVAL TRAINING and CIRCUIT TRAINING

For those who know me, I'm a huge workout/gym-addict. I love nothing more than pumping irons, hot sweaty yoga classes, interval training cardio sessions and pushing myself. I find that it's the only time that I can focus on myself, and the sweat and rush of endorphins are exhilarating post-workout. For those busy people like me, you are most likely looking to get in a workout in the least amount of time as possible. Something that I have found that has worked extremely well for me is Circuit Training Strength Sessions and Interval Training Cardio sessions.

For strength training, I follow a circuit training method- so instead of doing one set of squats and resting 30seconds, I move onto the next exercise which focuses on a different muscle group. Repeating this sort of method can definitely save a good amount of time and keeps your heart rate up. An important thing to keep in mind is the your pace ! I have seen so many muscular men grunting and using momentum to lift the heavy weights -> wrong. I loveee KOKO Fit Club (for those who have it in the states, and are fortunate to be close enough to the locations in Canada. How it works is that a strength training workout sessions are stored onto a USB stick which you plug into the machine each time (The nerdy side of me loves this :D ). Each workout is done to perfectly match your body, such as your height or the length of your limbs. This is perfect for those who have a weird body like me! My 5'1-ness, long arms, yet short legs can still accommodate to these workouts so I'm sure practically everyone can as well. I also love the fact that the USB stick remembers which weights I used for which exercises and tells me which pace I should go at. 

For Cardio exercises, I normally go on the treadmill, or run outside, or go on the elliptical. Coming from a girl who used to run on the treadmill for an hour or so on a daily basis, I thought coming into Koko fit club I could tackle anything and no cardio session could beat me. I was wrong. The high intensity elliptical workouts leave me panting like a dog every time but has done wonders on my body! 15 minutes of high-intensity interval = 30 minutes of steady state interval. I was in shock when I found out about this because I realized I had wasted so much time on the treadmill (Boo). 

Next time you're on working out and really want to get that extra push, I recommend you try out some interval training. Below is a sample workout... try it out. it works I swear. If this is not enough for you, please tell me your secrets! 

Elliptical Interval Training (15 minutes)

1 minute  - 5 incline/5 resistance/120 strides per minute

1 minute  -5 incline/5 resistance/125 strides per minute

2 minute -10 incline/10 resistance/130 strides per minute

1 minute -11 incline/12 resistance/130+ strides per minute, or all out

1 minute -same as above but strides per minute below 100

1 minute -12 incline/15 resistance/130+ strides per minute, or all out

1 minute -same as above but strides per minute below 100

1 minute -13 incline/17 resistance/130+ strides per minute, or all out

1 minute -same as above but strides per minute below 100

1 minute -10 incline/10 resistance/125 strides per minute

2 minute -13 incline/15 resistance/130 strides per minute

1 minutes -0 incline/0 resistance/strides per minute below 100