Full Body HIIT Workout formerly known as Calisthenics

Have you ever noticed that your HIIT workout is made up of all those exercises you did in PE Class as a kid that your teacher called Calisthenics? It shouldn't be surprising since calisthenics are exercises done using just your body weight.

Today my full body workout basically had all the staple calisthenic moves:

Circuit 1: squats, burpees, toe taps, jump rope

Circuit 2: lunge jumps, sumo squats, push ups, straight leg sit ups

I must talk about my workout. 1) The burpees went smoothly the first time through the circuits. The second time, my quads were so tired! 2) I really, really dislike lunge jumps. 3) I totally killed the push ups today!! I'm so proud of myself. 4) I'm excited that I completed all of the workouts for the week ---> three resistance HIIT workouts and three cardio workouts.

I love that the Sweat with Kayla workouts come with a cool down guided stretch session. Now if I could just make that nasty stinger in my heel go away so I could enjoy the stretching more.

The stretch session reminds me to go right to the foam roller and work on those tight spots.

WIA

mrC made us breakfast after my morning workout.

I had leftover BBQ chicken for lunch.

Still loving some delicious watermelon.

We made dinner for mrC's parents again: grilled cheeseburgers, steamed broccoli and sweet potato fries.

Tomorrow we are heading to Boston for the day and going to a soccer game.


Did you get a workout in today? Any calisthenics?
Have any big plans for the weekend?

A Two Part Workout: HIIT and LISS

The day started off rainy today, so we ran some errands hoping that the rain would pass. While we were out, we picked up a little something to take back to China with us and I'm so excited! It's the same resistance band system that I talked about here.

Today my goal was to do my workout in two parts: HIIT (high intensity interval training) followed by LISS (low intensity sustained state). I read this article and according to Jake Peterson, '"The HIIT style of training is great at breaking up the triglyceride bonds within more stubborn adipose tissue (the hard-to-burn fat), but it is not very effective at metabolizing it out."' LISS workouts are good for that.

Today's workout

Part 1 HIIT: Sweat with Kayla arms and abs resistance workout. This workout was SO HARD! It was wet outside from the rain, so I had to do it indoors and my SIL does not have AC (yikes!), but the exercises were also seriously tough too. The ones that I struggled on were: 15 regular push ups, 4 mountain climbers and 1 push up repeated 15 times, and up down planks - 10 on each side!! It was hard enough to do them just once, but you have to repeat the exercises until the circuit is over. Let's just say there were lots of breaks!

It started raining again, so I killed some time with a post workout smoothie in a brand new smoothie cup. I'm one of the weird people who need to drink smoothies through a straw.

Part 2 LISS: A couple hours later the rain finally stopped so that I could take a 40 minute walk for my LISS workout. My goal was to beat my previous distance, so I focused on keeping up my pace although I did stop to admire one of the first fall leaves. Total distance 2.51 miles (.40 more).

This little girl pretended to be happy to see me when I got back. She's the sweetest.

Do you combine different types of workouts?
Smoothies: straw or no straw?

Weekend Wrap: LISS, Resistance Training, and Ab Carving

We had a busy weekend with lots of family time and plenty of fitness.

Saturday:

mrC and I eased into our day with a little 2 mile walk. The weather has turned so that mornings are comfortably cool under bright sunny skies. We did this walk as a low intensity steady state workout, aka LISS, a term that is new to me.

LISS is a great activity to use when you are trying to burn fat because fat needs oxygen to metabolize into energy. During low intensity exercise your body has the most oxygen available. This works most when your activity is 30 minutes or longer.

We hung out with my mother-in-law for awhile on Saturday afternoon.

For dinner we had cheeseburgers off the grill and my SIL brought another really good cookie, chocolate chip and caramel chunks.

Sunday:

We went to 10:30 Mass and ran into some of mrC's family. My brother-in-law was recognized for his volunteer time with CCD classes and I'm glad we were there to congratulate him.

After church we went to the in-laws to move around some furniture. This is the house that mrC grew up in and his parents still live here. I love that.

Back at my SIL's, I got in an afternoon resistance leg workout. It's mostly body weight exercises, but hand weights can be added on certain exercises to increase the resistance. I like the mix of static and dynamic moves in each high intensity circuit that you keep moving for 7 minutes.

My two favorite moves from today's workout ---> step up, knee ups. My legs and booty are probably going to be feeling these tomorrow.

---> sumo squats. My inner thighs really need toning and this is a great way to hit all the leg muscles at one time.

I'm pretty excited about the workouts offered in the Sweat with Kayla app and how many calories I can burn.

Did you notice the orange and black in my workout gear? Since my beloved Cincinnati Bengals played today, I had to support my team.

I received this Ab Carver Pro from Perfect Fitness as a prize for participating in the Fit Challenge and today I finally got it out of the box. Then I found a 21 day ab carving plan on their website and made today Day 1!

Are you familiar with the term LISS?
What were your weekend workouts?
Ever tried an ab carver?