Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Exercise until you rest

Either I have been imbued with superhuman strength or circuit training is more effective than I thought.


Husband said, 'Oh no! I've had that fork 36 years!'


Speaking of circuit training Jules has, over recent weeks, had us doing tabata routines. No, I hadn't heard of them either and still wish I hadn't.


In between the stations where we do 3 or 4 different exercises for a minute each, we have the 'extras', which change every week and, as I said, recently have been based on the tabata protocol and it goes like this.


In 4 minutes we do two exercises e.g. burpee and star jump, in a sequence:20 seconds star jumps;10 seconds rest;20 seconds burpees;10 seconds rest;and then repeat three times.


Sounds okay you think?
After the first minute you're thinking, 'This isn't too bad.'After the second minute you're thinking, 'We're only halfway through.'After the third minute, 'I can't do any more of this!'At the end, 'I'm dying ...'


(In the article linked to above it says, "So why isn’t everyone doing Tabata workouts? Well, most people would vomit—or come close to it—if they actually tried the routine that was used in the study.")


So when I turned up for circuits last night and Jules said he was trying out a new system for the extras I was relieved. Especially when he said, 'It's a rest-based system. The aim is to rest.'


At least that's what I thought he said.


What he actually meant was that the aim is to work so hard that you get to the point where you have to rest. 'If you can get through the four minutes without resting then you're not working hard enough. Or the weight you're using is too light.'


So you still think that's okay because you're in charge so you can rest when you want to - but pride - and the desire to be fit - creeps in. 'I must keep going, I must keep going, I must ... I can't.'


And when you've finally given in (not that far into the exercise in my case) that's when Jules says, 'well done!'






6 comments:

nick said...

How does he know he's had the fork for 36 years? Does he keep a logbook of all the household tools and their date of purchase?

Liz Hinds said...

He's had it since we were married, Nick. But I wouldn't be surprised if he did keep a logbook.

Trubes said...

Crikey no wonder you can break a garden fork after all that exercise and training...You'll be able to enter the 'Shot Putt' in the next Olympics, at that rate....Eat your heart out Russia...Wales is on the way,
lol Di..xxx

Ole Phat Stu said...

Reminds me of the Two Ronnies "Four candles" ;-)

Liz Hinds said...

You should see my burpee, Di!

You can't beat the oldies, stu.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

What's a burpee? sounds an excellent routine, though.