I got on a big health kick about 3 months ago and it was put to an abrupt end about 3 weeks after it started because I pulled my achilles tendon and couldn't walk for a week, then had a limp for about a month. I was trying to do the HIIT program for beginners described on the HIIT sticky, figuring I am a beginner and that should suit me fine. I think I learned that there is at least one level of beginnerhood that precedes the one commonly identified by the advisors on this site.
I remember the first thing I noticed when I started doing the HIIT was that it REALLY REALLY REALLY SUCKED. But it said on the sticky that it's supposed to be hard, so I figured I'm supposed to just take it and toughen up. But let me tell you, being someone who only runs when I'm running late, and when I do it looks like the first time I have ever done it, every time... it felt like a form of torture forcing my body to break into a sprint after already exhausting myself running for 2 minutes. And that was just the first 3 minutes. But I *could* do it. So I did. And it did get easier as I kept doing it.
But then I got this cramp in my leg. I quit running to wait for it to go away, and did stretches every morning and night. Then one night SNAPARONI: excruciating pain that made me seriously consider going to the hospital, followed by weaks of invalidism.
And then I was thinking about people I know who are even more out of shape than myself. And there are a lot of them. I'm not someone who's visibly overweight, I'm just not very athletic.
So on behalf of out of shape slobs like myself, I'd like to caution people that if it feels like you're being tortured, it doesn't mean you're a wuss, it means you should take it easy and build yourself up to your goals.
I remember the first thing I noticed when I started doing the HIIT was that it REALLY REALLY REALLY SUCKED. But it said on the sticky that it's supposed to be hard, so I figured I'm supposed to just take it and toughen up. But let me tell you, being someone who only runs when I'm running late, and when I do it looks like the first time I have ever done it, every time... it felt like a form of torture forcing my body to break into a sprint after already exhausting myself running for 2 minutes. And that was just the first 3 minutes. But I *could* do it. So I did. And it did get easier as I kept doing it.
But then I got this cramp in my leg. I quit running to wait for it to go away, and did stretches every morning and night. Then one night SNAPARONI: excruciating pain that made me seriously consider going to the hospital, followed by weaks of invalidism.
And then I was thinking about people I know who are even more out of shape than myself. And there are a lot of them. I'm not someone who's visibly overweight, I'm just not very athletic.
So on behalf of out of shape slobs like myself, I'd like to caution people that if it feels like you're being tortured, it doesn't mean you're a wuss, it means you should take it easy and build yourself up to your goals.