My Choice of Cardio

I think I'm starting to like running. In fact, I think I'm quite addicted to it! I swear I used to really really really hate it. Lazy even to wanting to change into my running clothes but after I forced myself to do it, in the end I can't get enough of it. Indeed, this really surprising! Alhamdulillah. It's great to feel to want to run everyday. It feels like a new hobby to me and not just a chore.

Currently I'm running HIIT for only 15 minutes per day. In cardio day I'll run twice. For me, this is out of my comfy zone. When I decided this, I was like sweating and my heart has a huge pang of NOT wanting to do it. But I'm 31 and I've never been in a good shape since 10 years ago! So suck it in, it's going to hurt for a while everyday but it's only 15 minutes of 24 hours. No pain no gain!

So here I am trying to think whether or not I should increase my running next week to 20 minutes per cardio session which was the real time set for the HIIT? Now my heart is telling me I should run more because I feel like I need to run more. My body is telling me to run more.

I'm so addicted to see further great results from all this running and it hasn't been a month yet since I've incorporated daily cardio into my training session. Usually I would just run 3 times a week, weight train 3 times a week.

I didn't really believe(or probably don't believe in myself) when famous trainers such as Jillian Micheals or Tom Venuto says that if you want to lose fat fast, you should do cardio EVERYDAY(or almost everyday... I'll post the article if I can find it again)! You should push yourself out of your comfort zone and face the pain. Then you will see success. Although it's only the beginning phase but I think losing 5 cms off my waist within 2 weeks is great progress for me. I hope to see some more promising results in the near future.

Here's how I do my cardio(15 mins only). More info can be found here. I know some of you prefer varieties in your cardio so that you don't get bored and stay motivated but knowing the advantages of HIIT, makes me stick to this one and only cardio for now... lets hope that my body does not adapt to it too soon! ;)

How it's done:

1. Warm up the first 2 minutes at Intensity Level 5

2. Minutes 2-3 move from Intensity Level 5 to 6

3. Minutes 4-5, 6-10 and 11-14 work your way from Intensity Level 6 to Level 9, maintain for one minute.

4. Minutes 15-19 work your way from Intensity Level 6 to Level 10 (High Point at Level 10), maintain for one minute.

5. Minute 20 cool down to Intensity Level 5 for one minute.