Fitness For Seniors

HIIT in 30 second blocks A HIIT workout involves short bursts of activity (about 20 seconds) followed by short periods of rest (20 to 40 seconds) and repeated for 10 to 20 minutes.  Here is a HIIT format, in which you do not exercise for a set time but rather you complete a set number of repetitions in 30 second blocks.  For example, 5 repetitions and then rest until 30 seconds is up and then start again. Benefits of HIIT A HIIT workout should be intense and with minimum rest between sets. This will push your muscles close to anaerobiosis which is the objective of HIIT.  Pushing your muscles close to anaerobiosis and will force your aerobic oxidative and your glucose uptake systems to become more efficient. With an appropriately designed exercise, building strength, muscular endurance and cardiorespiratory fitness can be achieved within a HIIT session. Building a 30 second HIIT workout   You can build your own routine, depending on your level of fitness, the equipme...

 Today's workout consists of only 2 exercises: mountain climbers and kettlebell snatches. If you are concerned about ensuring that your heart rate does not stay in the peak zone for too long, perform the mountain climbers at a moderate pace. They can act respite to the intensity of the snatches. The mountain climbers will also help work your hip flexor muscles and hamstrings and provide an isometric workout for your core and upper body.  Snatches provide  vigorous exercise with a solid workout for your shoulders, hip extensors and upper back.  This was my workout: 40 x mountain climbers 30 x kettlebell snatches - 15 LH and 15 RH I used a 16 kg kettlebell and repeated the sequence 8 times over 40 minutes with longer rests between sequences required towards the end of the workout.  As you may have gathered, I focus on managing my heart rate, allowing my heart rate to fall to the cardio (Fitbit) zone before starting the next set.  Protecting your heart and avo...

A HIIT workout should be very intense. You go all out for brief period (e.g. 20 seconds), slow down (e.g. for 20 seconds) and start again until exhausted.  Nowadays, HIIT is interpreted in many ways. Most HIIT sessions do not involve highly intense exercise and hence they can run for half an hour or more.  A few days ago, I called up about being a HIIT trainer. (Well not really HIIT - the session lasts for an hour with warm-ups, cool-downs, so about 40 minutes!!) There was some concern about whether I was fit enough. I have not done HIIT for a while. So I thought I would do a series of intense exercises to see if I could last 40 minutes. I did not use a timer but used repetitions. Here is the exercise routine: 40 jumping jacks 40 plank jacks 10 pushups 20x24kg single arm kettlebell rows (10 x LH and 10 x RH) Repeat with minimal rest between exercises. I repeated this routine 6 times in 30 minutes. Is this HIIT? Not really but it certainly more intense that what is normall...

Start with 60 challenge   ActiveSg is having a " Start with 60 " challenge. In this challenge, you attempt a " 1 minute workout ". The objective of ActiveSg's Challenge is to get people active through participating and then sharing their one minute exercise. Those who are active, can try strenuous workout and those are encouraged to push themselves a little bit more than they normal. The 1 minute workout The concept of a 1 minute workout is that 1 minute of intense exercise 3 times a week is able to stimulate physiological adaptions linked to improved health in obese and overweight adults. These include improved Oxygen utilization efficiency (VO2max) Glycemic control  Resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure  More details on the health benefits of short intense workouts are summarized in a paper by Professors Martin Gibala and Jonathan Little from McMaster University .  The 1 minute workout study The original study on the 1 minute workout , undertaken at Mc...