Tone your body, and your mind!

I’m sure that many people, especially students, constantly make up excuses to not go to the gym or to exercise because they don’t have time. I know from my own personal experience, I have skipped a gym session or two because I had to write a last minute paper or had some sort of assignment to complete. 

 

However, making time for some exercise could actually help you finish those assignments sooner. In a recent study, a research team from the University of Iowa evaluated over 100 cases and concluded that resistance training and aerobic exercise BOTH give your brain a boost—in different ways.  

Cardio workouts usually involve long and constant effort (depending on how they are performed). Scientists believe cardio activities can improve your cognitive ability to carry out multiple tasks for long periods of times. 

On the other hand, strength/resistance training requires a great deal of focus to maintain proper form. You must also concentrate on your breathing, and tune out others around you, while maintaining a steady pace and time, depending on your fitness goals. Researchers believe that the more you perform focused resistance training exercises, the more you will be able to avoid distractions in other areas of your life. As such, exercise is helpful for students (like me) when having to write papers, especially when on a deadline, as their brain activity would function faster.

HIIT it!

A very important part of weight-loss is performing cardio exercises that allow your heart-rate to increase. The reason we need to increase our heart- rate is so that the heart can work harder to pump the blood through your body. This is where HIIT comes into play. The trick is all about the TYPE of cardio exercise that you do, and HOW you perform it. HIIT, high intensity interval training, is proven to be one of the fastest ways to shed body fat.

What is "HIIT?"

Below is an example of a HIIT routine: Try it out and let me know what you think!

My experience

I have gotten up to an intermediate level of HIIT: jogging at a steady pace for 1.5 – 2 minutes, sprinting (as hard and fast as I can) for 30-40 seconds, and repeating this pattern 6 times. It feels as if I am working twice as hard, because once I have become comfortable at a steady pace, it’s time for me to change it up.

Every time I do a HIIT workout I am exhausted by the end of it, but I always feel great once I have completed one because I feel an extra burst of energy that helps me get through the rest of my day. My goal this week is to do a HIIT workout every day so that I can continue to feel positive and energized, and I invite you to do the same.

Let’s get moving!!

To put it simply, HIIT is the idea of alternating short periods of very high-intensity cardio with short periods of low to moderate-intensity cardio. Interval training burns a lot of calories during your exercise; but it really pays off after the workout. Your metabolic rate stays elevated longer after the workout is over, rather than exercising at steady and low intensity cardio pace, which will allow you to burn fat. That means if you trade in your 30 minute jog on the treadmill for a HIIT program, you should see faster results.