A Full Body HIIT Workout That Flies By

Good morning! I slept in until 8:30 today and it felt great. I typically get up between 5:30 and 6 during the week and around 7 on the weekends, but I had some mornings that started at 5 this week and some late nights so I was happy for the extra snooze time. Last night was my perfect idea of a Friday night, even though I stayed up pretty late.

After work, I went for a quick but intense workout. I first did intervals on the treadmill.

• 3 minute warm-up @ 8:00 minute pace
• 1 minute sprint @ 90% effort (this was a 5:30 pace for me)
• 3 minute easy jog (I did mine at 8:30 pace)
• Repeat the 1 minute sprint and recovery jog 5x
• 1/2 mile cool-down in place of the 3 minute recovery after the 5th sprint

This is one of my favorite intervals because it flies by, but it’s an awesome workout. You can adjust the paces to your speed. Let me know if you try it out! Oh, and if you do this on the treadmill, be sure to put 1.0 incline on there.

After the run, I did some upper body weights:

• Bench press (25 lb dumbbells) – 6 reps, 3 sets
• Shoulders
  • overhead shoulder press (20 lb dumbbells) – 6 reps, 3 sets
  • shoulder rotator curls (15 lb dumbbells) – 10 reps, 2 sets
  • upright rows (20 lb dumbbells) – 7 reps, 1 set
• Bicep curls (20 lb dumbbells) – 6 reps, 3 sets
• Triceps
  • tricep dips with 25 lb plate – 10 reps, 1 set
  • tricep kickbacks (15 lb dumbbells) – 8 reps, 1 set
  • overhead tricep dip (25 lb dumbbell) – 8 reps, 1 set
• Assisted pull-ups (offset 50 lbs) – 5 reps, 3 sets

I went from one workout to the next so I was able to move through all of this in 20 minutes. I was in and out of the gym in under an hour, and the combo of the intervals and the upper body circuit is a great full-body workout!

 

 

After my workout, I came home and ate a quick dinner (leftover chopped chicken salad — I put in lots of extra fresh lettuce) before heading out for a deep tissue massage. I’m trying to keep my knee healthy and the last massage seemed to really help. But my back seemed to be the major issue last night. It was so tight along my spine. The therapist dug in so hard I could barely breathe at times, but my back felt so much better afterwards.

After the massage, it was time for more relaxing. I made some stovetop popcorn (here’s how I do it) and a gin and tonic, and settled in for two episodes of House of Cards before hitting the hay around midnight.

No big plans for today. I’ll probably take a rest day today from working out and just take Maizey on a long walk. I have things I need to do – bathe Maizey, run errands, vacuum, clean the bathrooms – but I really just want to veg and read books and watch House of Cards. We’ll see what I get to. 🙂

Have a great Saturday!