So lately things have gotten a little too serious round these parts. It may have been with good reason, but there’s enough going on out there to harsh your mellow without me piling on, so let’s return to one of my favourite topics.
High Intensity Interval Training.
I began HIIT about two years ago. My yoga club introduced Inferno Hot Pilates as an alternative/complement to Bikram, starting with a 6 am class a couple times a week. For a while there it was a teacher, 5 or 6 other yoga/Inferno teachers, and one sweaty, wrinkly old bald guy. And being the maniac that I am, I didn’t just do the Inferno class, I did the Bikram class before it.
One morning the Inferno teacher ended class by telling us to remember there’s a Bikram class before, “…and you can always come early and do the double with Andrew.”
Silence…
Incredulous stares…
“You do both classes?”
“Yah.”
“Andrew, you cray.”
“Yah.”
Fast forward a month, maybe 6 weeks, and half the Inferno girls were also coming to the Bikram class. Who’s crazy now, eh?
Anyway, this all happened at a time when my yoga motivation had ebbed, and it was becoming a chore to go to class. Adding a new, equally challenging workout to my routines rejuvenated my interest in Bikram, allowing me to continue to reap the benefits of yoga, and add some new ones with the HIIT training.
No matter how much you enjoy something, it can get stale. This happened with my yoga practice; I was just going through the motions, basically maintaining what I had, but not experiencing new gains.
This happens for a variety of reasons, which I may get into another time, and one way to combat this phenomenon is to mix it up. It’s good for you physically, and it’s good for you mentally.
