24 Ways to Move More. Nicole Tsong

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      We did a timed workout—a HIIT staple—with a 200-meter sprint, running on pavement outside and around the block, followed by three rounds of air squats (squatting your hips below your knees), push-ups, and ring rows (holding a set of rings, walking your legs forward so your body is diagonal to the ground, and pulling your chest to the rings, a modification to build shoulder strength for pull-ups). We finished with a final sprint. Loud music pounded throughout the workout, and Jenelle shouted encouragement. I was breathing hard, but I liked it. We recorded our times in journals at the end of class.

      I walked out of the gym energized by doing the workout and by meeting new people who lived close by and were intrigued by HIIT. I was excited about the next workout. Maybe it was the endorphins or an adrenaline buzz, but I almost skipped to my car.

      Who was I? All it took was one workout to become one of them?

      I thought about the workout for the next two days and couldn’t wait to go back, despite the soreness in my shoulders from the push-ups and pull-ups. I was excited every time I got to class; three times a week didn’t feel like enough.

      As we progressed through the intro series, the workouts increased in length and intensity. The combination of cardio with strength training is brutal, if effective, even when the cardio is a short 200-meter sprint. I hate running, though I discovered I was a decent sprinter. But running tested my lungs; by the third round of sprinting, rowing, or jumping rope combined with pull-ups, squats, or lunges, I was gasping.

      Finally, we had a workout with “no cardio.” We learned to do wallballs—taking a large, heavy medicine ball, squatting while holding the ball, and then standing up and heaving it up above a marked height on the wall.

      Yes! I thought when I watched the demonstration. I was gonna love this.

      Perhaps it was best I went in blind. Five rounds of wallballs combined with push-ups and pull-ups later, I was on the floor, panting (collapsing on the dirty gym floor became the norm; you get used to being grimy). In cross-functional fitness, the running joke is: Wanna do cardio? Lift faster.

      I had heard from the internet that some gyms throw you in too hard, too fast, and I didn’t know if I would like the intensity. The intro series was a soft entry; I never felt overwhelmed, an indicator of a good gym.

      HIIT also gave my competitive side a new outlet. It’s never far below the surface, but I hadn’t taken on a competitive physical activity since high school. With timed workouts, I wanted to come out on top every time. I watched the clock and other athletes, talking myself into moving even when I felt like another burpee was impossible.

      After my intro series was over, I wanted to keep going.

      I got strong fast doing cross-functional fitness, a common result when you go from no weightlifting to lifting three to four times a week. While I’d once thought I hated weightlifting, I found that what I actually hated was lifting weights on a machine. I fell in love with the dynamic movements of Olympic weightlifting.

      I also discovered that it takes time to develop the endurance and capacity for the intense workouts, and I was sore a lot, sometimes hobbling for a couple of days. But I was amazed to see how much stronger I got.

      With the ever-changing workouts found in HIIT, it’s difficult to avoid exercises you dislike. It took me a year to do more than one double-under in a row, whipping the jump rope around twice on one hop. I despaired when the options were a 5K run or a 5K row on the rowing machine. Throwing myself to the floor and hopping back up to jump and clap overhead for a burpee felt like the death of me.

      It helps when others tackle a workout with you. I bonded with many members of my classes over workouts. As I got to know them, I figured out which people I was on par with physically. At night, I was glued to Facebook, where coaches posted workout times from the day, scrolling through everyone’s results. As I’ve said, I’m competitive.

      I struggled for a while between pushing myself and overextending my body. My competitiveness got the best of me one summer, and I tweaked my shoulder. I took the injury seriously and scaled back until my shoulder healed. I modified my workouts, using a thicker band for pull-ups and reducing weight on my lifts. I found that even modified high-intensity interval workouts produce sweat and can cause post-workout collapse.