Ain't nobody got time for {fat}...

A woman who goes by the name of Sweet Brown swept the nation with her catch phrase "Ain't nobody got time for that..." after she explained to a local news station her experience with a house fire and complications with bronchitis.  Since this video went viral and has been the punch line to several conversations, everyone has gotten a huge laugh on Sweet Brown's expense.  I find myself saying this line several times a week...sometimes more than that. I am definitely the type to wear a joke into the ground.  Little known fact about me...I'm working on it!

Either way, one day I was laying around and was thinking about how I needed to get up an exercise.  I struggled with finding the desire to get out of bed and do something to get my heart rate up and continue on my journey to get fit.  I also thought of a million other things that I could be doing instead of working out.  We're all busy nowadays.  We have so much on our plates and sometimes between the tasks we have to accomplish for the day and the fact that we're just plain exhausted, exercising usually comes in as a dead last on our "to-do" list.  

I have fallen in love with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  When you don't have a lot of time, yet you want to get a good work out in, I suggest this for you.  Now if you're not familiar with HIIT, it's basically working as hard as you can for a set amount of time, then resting for a set amount of time.  When I'm pressed for time, I get on the treadmill to get some cardio in.  By the way, I hate cardio and would rather lift weights, but cardio is a must so I must press on.  Ok, so what I do is run on the treadmill at a very high speed that I would normally not ever be able to run at (I have started at 7.5 mph). I am usually pushing it to run at 6.0 mph on the treadmill (yes, I'm a slow runner), but sometimes I can get that in and not feel like I'm going to die.  Either way, I will set the treadmill at 7.5 mph and run for 20 seconds then I hop off the treadmill and rest for 10 seconds.  I repeat this for 15 minutes.  I then up the ante and increase the speed to 8.0 mph and alternate between working and resting for the last 5 minutes.  By the time I'm finished with my 20 minute run, I'm dripping in sweat!!!! Now I must say, I'm so not a sweater! Some people can come into the gym, run for 5 minutes and they're already perspiring.  Not me! It takes a lot to get me to sweat so of course it was to my surprise when I did this for the first time and was exhausted and drenched after only 20 minutes.  There have been times when I have run on the treadmill for an hour and was nowhere near as exhausted or sweaty.  My heart rate is up, the sweat shows me my body is reacting to trying to cool itself down, and after 20 minutes I feel like I've been working out for at least an hour. 

You can also do HIIT with other exercises.  I usually make up a list of exercises I want to do and get to it. Jumping jacks, high knees, butt kicks, skaters, burpees, plank jacks, mountain climbers, lunges, squats, etc.  20 seconds on, 10 seconds of rest.  Do each exercise for 8 reps of this 20 on/10 off combination before moving on to the next exercise.  If you're not sure how you'll respond, just start with smaller reps.  Do it for 5 reps and work your way up to 8.  Research also shows that incorporating HIIT into your workout routine is more effective in burning fat quicker.  Because like Sweet Brown says...ain't nobody got time for THAT! But I say...ain't nobody got time for FAT! 

Summer is about 6 months away, so get up and get some! Happy working out!!! :)