Like most people, I struggle the most with my fitness around the winter months. It was during a Halloween party this year that I hit an all-time low when I spent 15 straight minutes listening to someone explain how they dressed their German Shepard in a surprisingly comfortable lobster costume while emptying a massive amount of candy down my gullet. When I looked down and saw the generous pile of candy wrappers next to my drink, I laughed. Every party should have such charming storytellers for guests. What a hoot. Look at all of this candy that I ate!
My laughter ended an hour later when my stomach began to protest and my hands started shaking a bit. The next day at lunch, a fellow partygoer sent a quinoa salad to my office. I ate the salad while searching for fitness apps on my phone.
I found this app under my purchase history and promptly re-installed it. It’s been a while since I did a HIIT workout but when that was a regular part of my fitness regimen, this was my go to app. Inspired by this post on popsugar.com regarding sprint/walk interval training, I set up my interval timer accordingly because, frankly, I am tired of working out indoors all of the time.
My first attempt at this workout went pretty well. Though I am not a natural distance runner, these sprints really did the trick and got my heart rate up right away. Sixty seconds of sprinting between two minutes of walking is far more doable for me than going out with the goal of running miles. The best thing about it was that during my sprints, I knew they would end soon and thus pushed myself to hit the fastest speed I could every time. Being outdoors was also amazing. I spend a lot of my workout time indoors, usually at a Yoga studio, and while I love the energy of group classes– there is something invigorating about hitting a trail on a crisp autumn day and just taking an hour to be by myself.
I enjoyed it so much that I decided to skip the stores and the sales today to do this workout, and then spend some time leisurely exploring trails. No matter what you do today, I hope it’s wonderful and that you find at least a few minutes for yourself.
