Interval Training for Faster results

A2 Get Fit

Want to get more out of your workouts?

There's a little secret in the fitness world called interval training.

What is interval training? Rather than doing the same cardio exercise your entire workout, interval training alternates short, high-intensity bursts of exercise with slower, low-intensity periods of recovery.

Research has shown that such intervals of high and low-intensity activity burn more calories and build fitness quicker in a shorter amount of time.

Once designed for elite athletes, interval training is now something the average fit person can try. You don't need fancy equipment or special training to rev up your routine with interval training.

Read on to learn more about this fast, slow, fast, slow method of training and weight loss.

Theory Behind Interval Training
By alternating high-intensity movements with low-intensity movements, you're working both your aerobic (with oxygen) and anaerobic (without oxygen) systems. High-intensity exercise causes your muscles to produce lactic acid (waste products), which lead to muscle soreness. Too much lactic acid build up causes exercise to become exhausting and painful.

Alternating hard and easy exercise will reduce the amount of lactic acid that accumulates, thereby making exercise more comfortable, improving your endurance and increasing your speed.

Interval Length
So how long should intervals be?

The answer is, it doesn't matter.

There are no real hard-and-fast rules about interval length. Varying lengths bring varying benefits. So how fast and how often you pick up the pace depends on you.

Beginners should aim for no longer than 30 seconds of high-intensity bursts. If you're feeling strong and are in good shape, go ahead and push yourself a bit longer.

Know the Risks
While a no-rules approach may sound appealing, interval training isn't for the beginner. If you're new in the land of fitness, take your time as you increase the intensity of your workouts.

Rushing into high-intensity exercise may lead to injury. Start out slowly. Add one or two high-intensity intervals each workout. Slow down if you feel you're overdoing it. As your stamina increases, feel free to challenge yourself.

Sample Workouts
Remember, there's no set rule about how to do interval training. It can be tailored to your fitness level and type of exercise.

An interval-training workout involves four variables that can be changed to meet your goals: intensity of intervals, duration of intervals, duration of recovery intervals, and the number of interval repetitions.

Interval training can be casual, spur of the moment bursts of activity depending on how you're feeling that day or if you're working towards a more specific sports or fitness goal you can take a more sophisticated, scientific approach.

Interval training workouts have been designed for plyometrics, sprints, stair running, jump rope, speed drills, and agility drills.

A simple example of interval training for walking would be to add short bursts of jogging or alternate slower walking with brisk walking. If you walk outdoors, you could jog or walk faster between certain landmarks such as mailboxes or street signs, then slow down for a short distance.

A second example that really gets your heart pumping and improves fitness in a short amount of time includes running, rowing, or cycling. Warm up for about 15 minutes, then run, row, or cycle as hard as you can (at 90 percent of your maximum heart rate) for three minutes. Then go easy for three minutes, allowing your body to recover. Repeat these three-minute intervals of high- and low-intensity exercise three or four times. Then cool down for 10 minutes.

I'm here to help you meet your fitness and weight loss goals.

Call or email today to get started on a fitness program that will get you to your goal quicker.

Increase Your Intensity

To get the most out of your interval training try the following:

• Add Resistance. Between sets of cardio do a set with dumbbells, resistance bands or with your body weight.
• Increase Speed. Really push yourself during the sprinting intervals. Remember, it's only a handful of seconds.
• Lengthen Intervals. Add a few seconds to your intense intervals.
• Change Exercises. If you've been sprinting then switch to burpees or high knees.

Nacho Bizness

People who accept you are your friends.  Other people who don’t are your teachers.   

No need to be defensive. What those other people think about you is their business. 

What you think about yourself is your business.

Meditation

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over
the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
~ Henry David Thoreau

Vote

I've heard it said, well, if it were all about the economy
or jobs
or taxes
or business
or illegal immigration
or oil
or judges
or social security
or medicare
or abortion
it would be simple to vote.
It's not that simple.

God says choose life or choose death
Maybe He wasn't talking about our election
but
yeah, 
it is that simple.

Gifts for the Boss

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Eighty-five percent of the players’ parents have made a donation toward a gift for our coach. I don’t want to say this gift is from the team, because some did not contribute. Am I being selfish?

GENTLE READER: No, just petty. Well, generous at the same time, Miss Manners acknowledges, because you wanted to do something for the coach.
But those who organize group presents often blithely assume that it is only fair that everyone divide the cost. And usually they have unilaterally declared the need, selected the item and declared the price. They then get angry, as you have, at those who do not pay, some of whom may have been unable to do so without hardship.
Please try to think of this, instead, as a team effort. When the team wins or loses, everyone does, even those who did not directly participate in that game.

School!

School starts Monday, August 20.

As with all the other years, both being a student and a teacher, this is a very exciting day. I love school!

FaceBook

Facebook is a noun, a verb, and often a hobby.
It is a free social media utility on the Internet, supported by advertising.
The user accepts "friends" -- those he wishes to stay in contact with.
The user can post pictures, respond to comments, see others' comments on a myriad of subjects and topics.

Facebookers post cute and clever sayings, posters, all designed to garner support with a "Like" button. If the content is agreeable, you hit Like. You can even make a smiley face or a heart to emphasize your point of view. If you like it or not, you are free to comment and state your opinion. Lots of opinions are posted. Since there is very little control of language, it often gets pretty rough. The smiley face sometimes softens the words. The number of exclamation points often rates the degree of agreement or opposition.

People deny using Facebook much the same way viewers denied watching TV in the '70s and '80s. The general view is that it is addictive and therefore the user is not in control. When in truth, the positive feedback helps to create the production of endorphins in our brains and makes for satisfying feelings, reinforcing emotions. We are a social creation. We need people.

Conversely, venting through posted pictures and posters with clever sayings, or advertising opinions to controversial subjects provides satisfaction for that "Boy-wish-I-would-have-said-that" feeling that accompanies the quick emotional response to the Enter button on the keyboard. The comment can be edited or deleted if the user changes his mind. That happens, too -- after he vents! This can start what is known as a "Facebook War."

Then, the user has the option of not only deleting or hiding comments or posts, he can delete friends! It's the ultimate rejection!

The screen, called the "wall" in Facebook language, shows commenters' dissatisfaction with Facebook and its seemingly arbitrary power that replaces their own power. "I hate Facebook." "No one comments on my stuff anymore." "I spend 'way too much time on Facebook.""I am leaving Facebook." "Good-bye, Facebook."

Then they log back on to see who responds to that!

This social media utility can be a great communication tool. Just keep it positive!!!! :) <3

Meekness

It takes an incredible amount of courage to stand mute before your accusers.

Did you plan this?

Have you ever thought back to what you were dreaming of, expecting, planning..... many years ago? Like, when you graduated from high school, and you absolutely "knew" what you were going to do with your life?

The family you would have...
A degree, or maybe more than one degree...
In your chosen field... or did it take you to a whole new place?
Your life experiences... were they hard to accept? Do you have any regrets?
Is your house your "dream house" or maybe you live in an apartment.
Do you make the money you thought you would? What you deserve?
Or is life so unfair that that didn't happen... yet?
Are you part of the "in crowd" in your social circle?
Are you married? Ever divorced? Widowed? More than once?
Do you prefer being single or wish you were?
Have you met tragedy?
Did too many people die?
Do you believe in God? In Jesus?
Do you have a church? A pastor you love and trust?
Have you been betrayed?
Are you somebody's hero? Somebody's cheerleader?


Are you disappointed?
Surprised?
Impressed?
Amazed?
Thankful?
Apathetic?
Hopeful?
Sick and tired?
Hopeful?

Family

What we expect of our families and how those expectations do not match reality is the stuff family politics are made of.

Family of origin.
Extended family.
Nuclear family.

Sometimes....

Sometimes life's circumstances just get you down.
Surgeries.
Pain.
Loss.
Foreclosure.
Being misunderstood.
No paycheck.
Sadness.
Missing loved ones.
Aborted plans.

Just go on.
Keep reaching.
Things happen for a reason.
One ending creates a new beginning.
Get ready.
Go.

Don't complain, and don't explain.

These two words of advice pretty much cover most of how you can "be" in this world.

If you complain about a lot of things a lot of the time, you will be considered negative, and rightly so. The only people who like negative people are other negative people. Especially if their negatives agree. But often, the topic doesn't matter as much as the general negative attitude. You've heard the old adage: "Misery loves company." Well, indeed it does.

So, complainers will often find themselves looking for company, as they watch the retreating backs of many of their acquaintances. They're lonely. Maybe eventually, they will get the idea that being positive is a better ingredient in the making of friendships. Don't complain to them about their complaining. They have to find this out on their own.

Don't explain. It is just about defensiveness. The young lady who dashes into her place of employ, crying in a whiney voice to no one in particular: "The traffic, ugh! It was so crowded this morning." No one asked her. No one even accused her of being late. She's just pleading her case.

She knows she's late.
And she knows it has nothing to do with the traffic.

Jesus could have completely reversed the tragic events in his own life. All he had to do was explain. He could have defended himself. But he needs no defense. And he never complained about it.

How to Remember the New England Colonies

New England (4)
I wore my new hamp shirt on the choo-choo that connected the road to the island.
New Hampshire Massachusetts Connecticut Rhode Island

Middle Colonies (4)
Della wore her new jersey that she bought for just pennies at the new store.
Delaware New Jersey Pennsylvania New York

Southern Colonies (5)
The southern belles, including the twins, were invited to the ball:
Georgia Maryland Virginia North and South Carolina

About Writing

Writing has always been one of my passions. I notice writing, and I love to read the thought recordings of other writers. In FB, there are many articulate, meaningful writers and I immensely enjoy each one of them.

My signature writing style is clearly identified as narration. Or maybe clearly identified as unclear. My quest for the perfectly descriptive adjective sometimes amounts to an obsession. Unfortunately, I typically use too many subordinating conjunctions, run-on sentences, and dangling modifiers that reduce clarity. I seek an explicit writing style.

From an early age, I have used writing as a substitute for speech. I envied my young contemporaries who demonstrated their thoughts with the use of voice. It seemed a natural, logical, and convenient way to communicate. However, my thoughts took a detour via my hand, attached to a pen, and the process usually involved a delayed time factor. As a result, I was thought to be uncommunicative, unresponsive, and “withdrawn.” It seemed so unfair to dismiss the wealth of words held captive in my mind as shyness. Oh, how I yearned to marshal the jumble of words that rattled in my head and allow them to exit in single file through my mouth to express myself!

The need to connect to other human beings necessitated communication, but I practiced safely within my own intimate circle of younger sisters by reciting family lore and creating memories. This collection of memories, sewn together with imagination and love, became a comforting quilt that kept out the cold of reality in our dysfunctional family.

When I told my younger siblings about the gown Mother designed especially for me for my first prom, they could feel the swish of silk against knobby knees; see the transformation of a plain little girl to a princess. They could taste the red, juicy flavor of the sun-ripened tomatoes we sampled from the field across the dirt road from our house. They could experience the thrill of fear of near discovery as we stole not-quite-ripe apples from the neighbor’s tree by the alley and the puckering tartness they left on our tongues. They rubbed their cheeks and laughed in remembrance at Gramma Viola’s famous big sticky kisses that left wet red imprints on tiny smooth faces. They groaned in collective agreement, as they visualized all of us placed in stair-stepped formation in the pew at Sunday Mass, when Mother stilled kicking legs with her disapproving glares and silent pinches. The quilt of narrative memories has served well as entertainment and a kind of protection.

I am writing a book; it is not yet finished. I only started it in 1975.

Written by a 4th-Grader

We just finished the last day of school for this year. I was blessed to have an amazing group of children, who, I am sure taught me at least as much as I taught them! They are prayer warriors and a loving family. They spent part of the last day of school honoring each other, declaring friendships, and proclaiming family.

Some students reveal their God-given gifts early in life. This young lady is a budding author. She is a writer, and with her heart for expression, someday I expect to see her name on the cover of a book!

Read what this young, sensitive, wise-beyond-her-years child wrote to me as a farewell gift:

They say friends are forever. They are sometimes, but I think teachers will last forever. Their legacy will go on. Lots of jobs make a difference: The president does, movie stars do, a missionary does, too, but teachers make the biggest difference.

Without teachers, presidents would not know how to be presidents. Movie stars wouldn't know how to act. Missionaries would not know how to preach. I think teachers are the best.

Thank you, Emily. And because of students like you, teachers love what they do. And I love you. Writers write, keep writing!

Sky Lights

Rocking my almost-three-year-old son on the porch on an early summer night, we had a very interesting conversation.
We were talking about his big sister who recently flew away home to be with Jesus in Heaven. I was trying to explain to this small curious child what death meant. My baby boy was always full of questions, and I think it was only God that could have supplied most of the answers. I described what I thought Heaven might look like. Geographically speaking, all I could do was point to the sky, indicating a vast distance from earth to heaven.
It was a serene and calm evening, a slight wind nudging the clouds to the other side of the mountain. The cloud cover slowly glided by to reveal the twinkling stars of the summer night time sky.
All of a sudden, my little boy got very excited and he yelled, "Look, look, Mommy!" as he pointed his pudgy little hand heavenward.
"What, Zach, what are you pointing at?"
"The lights, Mommy! See, Tricia turned on the lights!" He made the connection to the stars and to his dearly loved big sister. How brilliant was this little boy! He showed so much insight for one so young.
Indeed, the stars shined especially bright that night! I think it is her job now to "turn on the lights." :-)) I can always look up to the sky and connect with my darling girl. If Tricia is my starlight, Zach is my Sunshine! I don't know if he knows why that is "our" song. I have always sang that song to him: You Are My Sunshine. He still is!

Good-bye, Whitney

Whitney Houston dies.
It is a sad thing when anyone dies, I think.
I am saddened that we will not hear Whitney's voice and incredible talent, except in memories and recordings.

People are profoundly affected by death. I am

Fame or the lack of it does not determine death's theft.
Those who dance on the world's stage will be more visible
than the young man from your neighborhood who defended our country.

Death does not discriminate, it takes anyone.

It took two young innocent boys at the hand of their father.
Death has claimed countless victims of murder, abuse.
Death haunts the hospitals of those who suffer cancer and other diseases.
Death stands at the battlefront, choosing at random who will fall to his call.

Sometimes people wave the white flag of surrender to death's sweet promise of peace.
And then unborn babies are swept up in red hazard bags.
Some may long for drugs which masquerade as a good time or an escape, only to find that it is really death's portal.

Traffic accidents, freak accidents, unimaginable events often frame death's work, but the result is still the same. There is no age requirement for death. He takes anyone. Death still accomplishes his task.

It is sad to tread on the grief of others.
Remember the battle.
Remember the victory.
Remember the life.
We all have a story.