Out & About February 2017

Give yourself some love this February. As winter draws to an end and Valentine’s day approaches, February is a great time to improve your health and fitness says Vicki Brown Let’s do HIIT

Personal trainer Vicki Brown is the founder of LiveFitNow, based in Wash Common. For a free consultation, more information and links to online home fitness videos, visit: www.LiveFitNow.co.uk

HIIT WORKOUTSYOU CAN TRY

Running (you can apply this to walking, bike or hills depending on fitness levels and goals). Beginner: 20-second sprint, one minute rest (either walk or stop). Repeat 10 times. Intermediate: 60 seconds run, two minutes rest. Repeat five times. Advanced: Two-minute run, 30 seconds rest. Repeat 10 times. HIIT targeting the ‘Love Handles’ 30 seconds on, 10 seconds rest Mountain climbers 1. Begin in the plank position with your right knee by your chest and your left leg extended. 2. Switch your bent leg and straight leg simultaneously as if you were running and repeat Russian twist 1. Sit with your feet hip-width apart, flat on the floor and clasp your hands out in front of your chest. 2. Lift your feet slightly off the floor, balancing on your coccyx. 3. Twist to the right without dropping your feet then return to centre. 4. Twist to the left and return to centre. 5. Repeat without dropping your feet V-ups 1. Lie flat on the floor on your back with your arms extended straight back behind your head and your legs extended. 2. As you exhale, bend at the waist while simultaneously raising your legs and arms to meet in a jack-knife or V position. 3. While inhaling, lower your arms and legs back to the starting position Full Body HIIT 30 seconds on, 10 seconds rest Burpees 1. Drop to floor into a plank position from the standing position. 2. Thrust your knees toward your chest into a low

squat position. 3. Jump as high as you can from the low squat position. 4. Land in the standing position with your knees slightly bent. 5. Repeat Squat jumps 1. Stand with your feet together. 2. Lower into a squat and swing your arms back behind you, and then quickly jump up, swinging arms overhead. 3. Land into a squat position with your feet hip width apart, and swing your arms back again. 4. Repeat as quickly as you can, jumping in and out with your feet each time High knees 1. Beginning in the standing position, raise and lower one knee at a time as if running in place. Bring the knees to the same height as the hips and keep your thighs parallel to the ground. 2. Alternate legs and go as fast as you can. Heel flicks 1. Start running on the spot or jogging kicking your heels towards your butt. 2. Try to touch your heels to your butt each time Spotted dog 1. Begin with one leg and the opposite arm forward. 2. Jump in a scissor motion with opposite arm and leg backwards and forwards. Sprint on the spot 1. Begin by running on the spot. 2. Speed up by driving with the arms and lifting your knees up high and fast. Jumping jacks 1. Start with your feet together and your arms at your side. 2. Open your legs and bring your arms up and out in one swift motion and then jump back to the start position and repeat. Mountain climbers - see above

HIIT or high intensity interval training is a popular method used in the fitness industry that you may have heard of especially in the last few months as its popularity seems to keep increasing. It generally involves bursts of intense exercise, with rest periods and takes place over a relatively short period of time, generally 15-30 minutes, but can be as little as four. It is an effective way of training, but it isn’t suitable for everyone and you should check with your doctor before you start such an exercise programme. It is also important when you are performing new exercises to warm up appropriately and make sure you can execute the moves safely and correctly before doing it at the intensity required for HIIT. You may need to start with an easy routine then increase the difficulty, working up to the more challenging workouts. Why do HIIT? n If you don’t have much time to exercise HIIT is a great way to work out, burn calories and increase your fitness levels without having to devote hours to do so. n It prevents boredom. If you often find yourself getting bored when you train, throw in some interval training to mix it up, workout time goes quickly and the exercises can be varied. You will feel like you’ve had a workout even though it doesn’t take long. n It has been proven that doing high intensity training can increase your metabolism. It can lead to an increased production of human growth hormone for up to 24 hours after workout, so your body can burn more calories during that period.

n You can do it anywhere, in the gym, at home or outdoors, the choice is yours. n No equipment is needed. There isn’t any special training equipment required. All you need, is a way to track time. Whether you want to use your watch, a stopwatch or an interval app (so you don’t need to keep resetting the time) will mean you can have the appropriate effort to rest ratio. Record your workout, exercises and times. That way you know what you can do for your next session and push yourself harder. You want to be giving maximum effort to get your heartrate up during your work period, during your rest period your heart rate will come back down ready for the next interval. You may find it useful to get yourself a heartrate monitor. This way you can track how hard you are working, how quickly you are recovering and see improvement in your fitness over time. Hopefully you will give HIIT a go and try something new, for more workouts or HIIT to target your specific needs get in touch, we are always happy to help.

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