Throughout yesterday and today, I have had something repeatedly come to mind. I've been thinking about how much we can underestimate our metabolism and daily activities and think that our daily calorie burn is much less than the reality. Yesterday I didn't get in a formal workout, but I know my leisurely hike got my body moving. Today, I spent a little over an hour cleaning our downstairs. I also did laundry and chased after Makenzie while she "helped".

When I came to the end of my cleaning spree, I know I probably burned close to what I did during my morning spin class. But how easy is it to just ignore that fact? And think that the only activity that "counts" is what you put in at the gym, on the pavement, or with a Jillian Michaels/Cathe/Turbojam DVD?

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Before I go any further, please note that I do not try to tally how many calories I burn in a day. I actually don't care. What does sadden me though, and leads me to this post, is when I see people focused on a reaching a calorie burned goal during a workout or equating how much they worked out with how much they should eat for a day. There is so much more to our activity than our workouts.

Everything burns calories. From breathing to digesting to studying to running to sleeping to laughing. It all adds up. We need to begin focusing on our lifestyles as a whole. Our daily workouts probably only account for about 20%  of our total daily burn. That is 80% from other factors. We need to recognize those other factors so as to give our body adequate fuel. Underestimating what we need to maintain is only detrimental to our health. Who wants a lower metabolism when they could have a higher one? Who wouldn't want to be able to eat even more of their favorite healthy meals and provide more nutrition to their body?

LOTS o' Good Food

I used to be in the same boat. I swore up and down that my maintenance calories were around 1800. Then, I got to borrow a nifty little contraption from a friend. It's called the Go Wear Fit and it is an armband you wear that calculates your activity, calorie burn, sleep, etc.

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While I don't care for this item anymore because I prefer being intuitive and not worrying about any numbers, it was interesting information to see. Turns out I was burning close to 2300 calories....on my rest days. Workout days were closer to 2800. And then when I got to more intense training days for the competition (two-a-days) I was generally always over 3000. Now, I consume on average 2500/day. That is a guesstimate since I don't track and just figured in my head around how much I eat on any given day. I easily maintain my weight of around 135 lbs. And I am happy to provide my body with more fuel because I know it can handle it and needs it.

I want to be clear that I understand some have more sedentary jobs and their workouts are a big part of their activity for the day. I am not saying formal workouts are unnecessary. I also am not saying that what I found for my body applies to everyone. What I am saying is to be aware of all that your body does for you and fuel it properly. Your body is an amazing machine. It needs ample food supply to work efficiently. Give it what it needs. Recognize ALL the ways it works for you, not just when sitting on a spin bike. Honor your body, your health, and your hunger and eat up as much as you possibly can. 🙂

Recently, I have been feeling a little bit frustrated with workouts. That doesn't mean that I am not enjoying my current workout schedule by any means. I actually am loving it because I know it fits my goals right now. And, most days, I like not having to plan routines or find ways to make cardio more interesting. However, sometimes while reading other blogs that discuss their interval workouts, heavier lifting, group fitness training, Insanity workouts, or even sometimes the prevalence of running in blogworld, it leaves me longing for more.

Insanity

I miss these types of workouts. I miss feeling spent and like I totally killed a workout. I miss feeling like I have accomplished something or progressed in something fitness-wise. And I miss trying out new things. Well, thank goodness for yoga as something new to try in the "Do What You Don't" challenge. Well, just because I miss these types of workouts doesn't mean you have to. I definitely think they are beneficial to be added into your training. Let's learn a little more about the benefits of High Intensity Interval Training today.

High Intensity Inteval Training - aka HIIT is a form of cardiovascular training where you alternate high intensity burst with recovery periods.

Sample Interval Training Chart

For true, HIIT, your working intervals are around 20-30 seconds where your heart rate gets to about 90% of your max, or a 9-10 on the RPE (Rate of Perceived Extension) scale. You should feel like you could not push a second more at then end of the high intensity part of the interval. It is then followed with an average of 40-90 seconds of active recovery to decrease your heart rate to about 70% of your maximum, or a 5-6 on the RPE scale, before you repeat the process. You will continue alternating between the two for a total of about 20-30 minutes. Be sure a proper warmup and cooldown are included. The benefits of HIIT are:

• Trains both aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. Think of it being able to help both sprinting and long distance runs.
• Increases your calorie burn both during and after your workout. On average you are working harder than a steady state session, even though the intense intervals are a shorter portion of the workout. Also, you will  have more post workout burn from your body taking longer to recover.
• Can help limit muscle loss because of the shorter duration and, in layman's terms, the high intensity relies on more muscle fibers firing to promote burning glucose and fat as fuel instead of lean mass.
• Easy to vary your workouts. You can do so many different ratios for your intervals to make it something new almost every workout. You can do 30 seconds work and 60 seconds rest. Or 30 of each. Or 1 min of each (although longer intervals won't be as intense as shorter ones). Or you can do a pyramid set up of 15 sec, then 20 seconds, then 30, then 45, then 60 of work and go back down.
• Makes your workout fun. These workouts are tough, but having to constantly switch up what you are doing makes them seem to FLY by. And who doesn't like that? 😉

For a lot of great HIIT workout ideas, check out Janetha's, Naomi's, and Lisa's blogs. They incorporate this type of training regularly and always have fun ideas. And I have been stockpiling their routines to save for the day I can run my tail off with some intervals. Until then, I will live vicariously through all of you and your inspiring workouts. No point in possibly hindering my goal thanks to my body being more sensitive than most.