Short frequent bursts of activity vs long infrequent bursts of activity?
 

For the last four months, I've been breaking up my exercise for the day into ten or fifteen minute chunks. I'm about to start some resistance and weight training into my routine, light at first because I don't want to hurt myself too bad. Should I keep to my frequent routine or do I need to adjust it into longer stretches? I always make sure I get my heart rate up, and that I sweat a bit. Thanks!

Zimzim (cute name :lol: ) if all you can do is short frequent bursts, then do it! Doing something is better than doing nothing. Do what works into you schedule and have fun....

Agreed. What ever you are doing seems to be taking you towards fitness and health.

I wonder during your 10-15 minute workouts if you could alternate between moving very quickly, slowing down for about a minute and then revving up again. Could you do this the entirety of your workout?

Google HIIT--High Intensity Interval Training. I didn't know about this until I had been doing it for some time. It's actually the MOST effective way to burn fat! Yippee!

Just to sort of echo, sort of clarify, these two paragraphs describe two different things. The red one is simply interval training, the blue one is HIGH INTENSITY interval training and isn't for everyone. The old ticker definitely has to be up for it. I wouldn't recommend starting out with it. But interval training is supposed to be a better way to work out as well.


Thighs Be Gone, I LOVE HIIT!! I have to remember that it takes my body a while to adjust to it (as in weight gain) but once things get rolling, it does the body good. Mostly I love it because it brings my BP down fast! :D

I wonder. I'm doing HIIT as well for about 3 months for 20-40 min each time at least 5 days a week, and haven't really seen any significant changes. When did the results start to kick in for you?

This month, I've started doing the 30 Day Shred, and I feel pretty good. I don't know if it's in my mind, but my boots fit better around the calf. And this is when I've started to see quicker results.

If you're able to do 20-40 minutes of HIIT five days a week, you aren't doing the HIIT I researched. ;) And if you are, your body needs much more rest than you are giving it. They say HIIT shouldn't be done more than twice a week, three times if you're really in shape. The duration is anywhere from 4 minutes up to 20 minutes depending on how many intervals you're able to do. I go all out, totally I-can't-run-another-second-at-this-speed-without-collapsing-ALL-OUT for 30 seconds and then lower my heart rate to within normal range for about 90 seconds and then go again. The first two intervals aren't bad, but by the 6th I'm cursing my timer. ;)

There's a difference between interval training, which is also awesome by the way, and HIGH INTENSITY interval training.

I hope that helps! They also recommend doing it for 6-8 weeks and then giving it a couple weeks before starting up again.

I really like this site: http://www.intervaltraining.net/HiitTraining-30.html