GAH!

So I went back to the gym today for the first time in almost two months. Yes, I've been a lazy ass for that long. I was actually really disgusted with myself when I came to that realization. Some inspiration I am, huh? *shudder*

Anyway, the gym. Sooooo...that beefed up workout? Kicked. My. Fat. Ass.

I will again preface this blog with DEEP gratitude to @BootCampJoey for helping me come up with it. I'm still in the "construction" stages of this thing - finding my groove, getting back into the habit and figuring out my exact rhythm, but I think it's going to be good once everything falls into place.

I've said before that I don't sweat when I work out. I'm usually plenty hydrated, so it's not that. I just don't sweat. My heart rate hits the 70-80 percentile and I'm huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf, I just don't sweat.

Well, I sweated today. I sweated where I didn't even realize I had sweat glands (Gross. You're welcome.)

I did a five minute stretch before-hand (probably should've done more, now that I am reflecting). I need to talk to @DonniesDancer about some stretches I can do. She's my sensei in everything stretchy.

I got on the treadmill and did a five minute warm-up walk at 3.0 mph at a 10% incline. Usually my warm-ups are 2.5, so I did increase that.

Then.

Came.

Hell.

I cranked up the pace to a steady 7.5 mph. I used the hand grips instead of pumping my arms because with  my short legs I wasn't sure if I could get my strides big enough and keep them up and I feared falling. (Nothing would suck ass worse than falling on the treadmill at that speed.) I did this for 30 seconds. This is where I felt like I was going to die and wondered if the funeral parlor make-up would cover the treadmill burns on my face from where I fell.

Paced back to 3.0 for 30 seconds.

Next sprint I did a 7.0 for 45 seconds. Paced back to 3.5. for about a minute.

Next sprint, I went for  6.5 for 45 seconds, downtimed at 3.0 for a minute.

Next sprint I went for 7.0 again for 45, downtimed at 3.0 for 45.

My last sprint I did 7.0 for 30 seconds and downtimed at 3.0 for 30.

My cool down consisted of 5 minutes at 2.0 and emptying my water bottle.

BUT, I didn't fall. I didn't die and even after my 5 minute of stretching afterward, I'm not sore. WOO! (I did, however, tweet Joey: "I'm gonna kick your ass as soon as I find my legs" in Portuguese.  - Love you, man!)

After having taken two months off and gaining back a few pounds, I'm going to have a couple weeks of misery before I'm back in sync with my body and get this thing figured out. Am I where I want to be? Hell no. But I'll get there. This is a good start. Before I know it, I'll be wondering why I waited so long to do it.

Day 2 of my assassination resumes tomorrow night, provided the lactic acid in my muscles hasn't atrophied by then.

This is gonna suck so good!

I preface this blog with a DEEP thank you to @BootCampJoey for taking the time to answer some questions for me that I've been wondering about for a while. Your willingness to help me is deeply appreciated, my dear!

That being said, Joey's going to kill me.

Okay, so he might not kill me, but the changes he's recommended are going to huuuuuuuurt. I'm leaving Tabata behind (for now) and returning to my old and faithful friend, standard HIIT. Do I love the 4-min workouts my glorious Tabata brings me? Yes. Will I miss them? Yes. But, I trust Joey not to lead me astray.

Beginning next week I'll be increasing my workouts not only in frequency but intensity, as well. I've been doing HIIT 3 days a week and weight training the two days in between, taking two days off a week. I will be bumping up the number of workouts I do weekly to 4-5 days of HIIT and roughly the same of strength training. I will also be intensifying my workouts. Thus far, I've been "pushing" myself with speeds of 4-5mph. Joey's recommendation for me is to double that. I'm not sure how my 24" legs are gonna haul that much ass, but I suppose if he says it can be done, I have to trust that he's right.

Joey, dear, I'm sure I will be cussing you out in three different languages by this time next week, but please know its out of love. :) Thanks for giving a shit!

Thank you, BootCampJoey

I began following @BootCampJoey last week (admittedly for shallow reasons - yes, he's very pretty), but I've come to learn that he's incredibly gifted with his fitness and nutrition knowledge, too. He posted a link tonight to an article that he wrote for SceneOutSD.com. I'm hoping he writes more for them because he's clearly got a lot to say and there's a lot more I want to know about what he wrote.

Joey says, "so as your lean muscle diminishes, your metabolism (your body’s calorie-burning ability) drops. If you do nothing to stem the loss, you could wake up on your 65th birthday and find that you have lost half of your lean body mass and replaced it with twice as much fat!" And while that should be common sense, unfortunately, not a lot of people think that far in advance. So many of us want immediate results (Guilty, part of one right here) and we don't realize that if we want true, lasting results, we can't be so short-sighted.

Summed up, Joey discusses the benefits of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) opposed to standard cardio work in regards to actual fat burning. In a different article I read last night, it was further explained to me that during HIIT, you increase your anaerobic threshold, which (without going into lengthy, scientific explanation) means more muscle is built and more fat is burned.

The thing that constantly amazes me is that given how popular HIIT is becoming that there are still thousands of people who stick with the same boring routine: 10 minute warm up, 3-5 miles at a steady pace on the treadmill and a 10-minute cool down. That's anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour spent exercising and you're getting a fraction of the results you can get by doing a work-out that can take as little as four minutes (by doing Tabata, which is what I do now) or 15-20-minutes (by doing standard HIIT, what I did before I discovered Tabata). I just don't understand why someone would choose to work harder and longer when the results are so much better working shorter and smarter.

Anyway...something to chew on for thought tonight. As always - research, read, investigate, question and clarify everything you read. I don't have all the answers, but I pay mighty-close attention to those who do.

Thank you, Joey for allowing me to feature your article on my blog. xo