Brilliant HIIT workouts and support group

[Rignold]

I hope I am not breaching any forum etiquette with this, admins please advise if not.

Some of you may have seen me mention Millionaire Hoy's HIIT workouts on YouTube.

I have tried a wide variety of exercise programmes - Insanity P90x, Swedish Army ones, you name it, I've sweated through them. I have been to bootcamps, circuits, forest gyms, all sorts, and teh Millionaire Hoy workouts are by far the most effective I have tried. There are literally hundreds of workouts now, in different series - pure cardio, fatburners, strength and conditioning, short 10 and 15 minute ones, 30, 45, 60, 90 minutes, workouts to target abs, bums, legs, upper body etc etc, most requiring little or no equipment whatsoever. I am a total convert.

There is also now a Facebook group of people offering each other support, sharing their journeys, rather in teh way of this group, and Mr Hoy himself now regularly contributes, answering questions and offering advice.

HIIT is not for everybody - it is, as the name suggests, highly intense, but if you are into taht sort of thing, it is a superb way to improve fitness levels and strength, to say nothing of burning calories - the average workout is 500 calories in 30 minutes.

So, that's my recommendation. I asure you I have no financial interest in this - it's all free anyway - I just think it's the best health and fitness discovery I have made since C25k.

Mill Hoy's You Tube channel is here:

m.youtube.com/channel/UCC2_...

and the Facebook group is here:

facebook.com/groups/8345023...

[poppypug Graduate]

I've watched this guy too after your recommendation Rig .

I agree , his workouts are superb and the majority of them you don't need any equipment , which is a big bonus .

Plus with a name like Millionaire Hoye, he's definitely a winner in my book ! xxx

[misswobble Graduate]

I like what i've seen so far. Even a middle aged woman like me can attempt some of this stuff in an effort to improve core strength. Exercise with no gear is my preferred option. Use what you have ☺

[AncientMum Graduate]

I obviously need to take a look -anything recommended by you, Pops and MissW has got to be worth investigating. Cheers m'dear

[GoogleMe Graduate]

I reckon it would only be a breach of etiquette if you were some Johnny-come-lately who had not participated fully in the forum for some time as an C25K foundation runner.

I am not sure I dare have a look - I am probably one of those for whom HIIT isn't suitable but sharing more resources for all round wellbeing sounds like a good thing to me.

[goonkeepgoing Graduate]

Yes - I've done half of one (!) since you mentioned them before and it was very good. I will definitely do more in future. Hubby has also done a few too. I think the style of how they are presented and no need for equipment is a real winning combination.

[poppypug Graduate]

How do you view them Rig ? Are you like me and props my laptop up with a cushion on the sofa and follows them from there or do you connect to your TV ? xxx

[Rignold]

I have the dining room table moved into the corner of the room and laptop on the edge. It is the only place in my house where there is enough space really, and even that was tricky yesterday when my morning workout (yes I am on two a day now) involved rolling about on the floor.

I have also just ordered some rubber mats - exercises which involve consatnt getting up and dwn on knees on a hardwood floor are a bit ouchy after a while.

Glad you are all enjoying it. Genuinely free resources that help people on their fitness journey are few and far between I have found.

[poppypug Graduate]

Thanks for recommending this Rig, these videos are excellent ! xxx

[rammsteinqueen Graduate]

Thank you - I need some HIIT in my life. Will have a butchers at this when I get chance.

[Rignold]

De Nada, Puggolina Mia. If any of you are on Facebook, do check out the group as well - it is a great supporting and inspiring bunch of people. (I am known by my burgerliche name Billy Rhomboid on there)

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

We have no problem when active members want to share something they use to help with their running. We all talk about running bottles, rollers and shoes etc. with no problem. Thanks for the link I I'll have a look at it. Though right now I've taken on enough with my 100 push up Challange on the Bridge to 10km forum.

[Rignold]

Oh... not that 100 pushup challenge. I'm afraid that is one of my great bugbears. It should be called "30 days to injure yourself".

I shall refrain from ranting about it, unless anyone wants me to. Just be very careful. It's one of the dumbest things I have seen.

[ancientrunner Graduate in reply to Rignold]

I'd quite like you to rant as well please.

[poppypug Graduate]

I would appreciate your thoughts on this Rig, rant away ! xxx

[Rignold]

Okay, here goes:

First of all doing 100 full pushups in a single set is a pretty absurd goal in and of itself. I don't know many people who could get down and bang out 100 reps of pushups and I know some pretyy fit people.

More importantly, however, is that the 'programme' is not based on any kind of exercise science/principle. The progressions are completely arbitrary - the leaps you are making bear no relation to the strength you are supposedly building, and the sheer volume of pushups you are doing is going to just destroy your arms. Nobody I know who does bodybuilding, weightlifting or calisthenics wroks the same muscle group to failure EVERY SINGLE DAY, - usually more like twice a week, and certianly not with an exercise they are a beginner at.

I see loads of people who are doing this who say "I am terrible at pushups, I have no upper body strength, so I am going to do the 100 pushups in a month challenge to improve that."

Just say that out oud and see if anything sounds wrong with it.

Imagine for a moment someone who came on here and said "I am terrible at running, I have never been able to run. I have no leg strength or cardio fitness. I am going to improve that by doing the 100k in a months challenge." and then have a look at the progressions on that challenge and replace 'pushups' with 'km'. Does anything strike as problematic now?

If you cannot do a pushup or ten pushups, then you need to learn how to do one pushup with correct form, then ten pushups with correct form. This will develop your muscles, joints, neuromuscular system to support your body weight through that range of motion. Just like C25k does with running If you can do that you will have achieved a great deal more than most people are capable of, and, having got that down, just like C25k, you can decide whether you want to build stamina by building up to doing greater numbers or not.

If you can't do pushups and have poor form, attempting to do dozens a day to get up to 100 in a month is going ot end in failure or injury or both.

In addition to my other workouts I am following Paul Wade's system of breaking down all of the big 6 exercises (pushup, pullup, squat, leg raise, bridge, handstand pushup) down into their 10 component movements and you parctice each one till you have mastered it before progressing to the next part. For the pushup, for example, you do not get on to doing a single standard full pushup unti step 5, which can take as many months. It is quite humbling but I am amazed by both the results and how much I took for granted that I knew about how to move my body and how inefficiently I have always done it. It starts with vertical wall pushups, which I initially scoffed at - surely I don't have to do that? I can do proper pushups. Doing them standing against a wall? that's ridiculously easy.

Except when I did 25 I suddenly found how I was feeling it across my chest and notice how my hand position was not where it should be and hw my elbows were flaring out etc etc. So now I am patiently working through the progressions, and finding how much stronger and more flexible it is making me.

So there you are. My rant about the 100 pushup challenge. Don't even start me on the 100 situps. The only theory I can come up with for these thngs is that they were invented by osteopaths to drum up trade.

[poppypug Graduate in reply to Rignold]

Cheers Rig, plenty of food for thought there .

That makes a lot of sense . I wish you would do personal training sessions xxx

[ancientrunner Graduate in reply to Rignold]

Thank you - I will take that on board.

[the_tea_fairy Graduate in reply to Rignold]

Rig, your rants are a joy. And your last sentence made me giggle 🙂

[rammsteinqueen Graduate]

I got a thigh niggle running the other day (alright doing hill sprints) and I know I am newly qualified and perhaps shouldn't have. I am going to do these sessions though - they look really good. This and Fitness Blender will get me with the beach body I need for next April (please, please!)

[Ugifer]

I tried one of these last night - 6-day abs workout Day 1. It's only 10 mins, I thought, how hard can it be?

The boy's an animal! It was absolutely brutal!

Clearly my core strength (well actually more stamina - I could to do the moves but keeping them up one after the other was the issue) is not what I thought it was!

Looks like I shall be doing more of these! Thanks!

Ugi

[Rignold in reply to Ugifer]

It gets very slightly easier once you are familiar with all the moves, although the few seconds watching what the next one is is pretty much the only respite there is.

[Ugifer in reply to Rignold]

I liked the way, on the second set, we were granted a generous 5 extra seconds between moves! By that stage I needed about an hour!

Thanks again - I will be returning to that one, I'm sure.

Ugi