Keeping the Treadmill Interesting

About two months ago, husband and I decided to build our own little gym in our basement. It started with a treadmill and punching bag I acquired via Craigslist, and since then we've put together a pretty cool gym. 

Since I got my treadmill, I've gone back and forth between loving it and being bored with it. This week, I LOVE it. 

Thanks to Julie over at PBFingers, I discovered an interval workout that consists of 20 seconds of sprinting followed by 40 seconds of fast walking. The way I've done it a few times now is 10 minutes of incline intervals (starting at 5.0, going up to 9.0, and then going back down to 3.0), spending 1 minute at each incline. After 10 minutes, I start the speed intervals and go for about 10 minutes at an incline of 4.0, and then do 10 more minutes of incline intervals. 

While some people may find intervals a little annoying (as they're not pre-set, I have to change everything myself, so I'm basically staring at the time for the entirety of the session), they are perfect for me. I'm a person who loves cardio and sweating, but sometimes I get so antsy that I just can't even get a decent workout done because I just want to get off of the freaking treadmill. I especially love the 20 second sprint / 40 second walk (or jog, depending on the day) because of how quickly the time goes by. Focusing on such small amounts of time makes 30 minutes fly by. And you'll never believe how fast 40 seconds can go by until you've done that workout!!

For some reason, I woke up today at 5:45 am 100% ready to go and felt the need to double my workout. I wound up doing 30 total minutes of incline intervals and 20 minutes of speed intervals, followed by 10 minutes of jumping jacks, jump ropes, burpees, push ups, and mountain climbers. In other words, I sweat my face off. It was FANTASTIC. 

If you're looking for circuit workouts or some ideas in general, I strongly suggest you check out PBFingers' workout page. She has a lot of great circuits that can be done at home and with no equipment, which I find extremely helpful. Not only are they great for when you want to mix things up, but they're things you can do when you travel. I plan on doing some of them when I'm camping this summer! 

The rest of my day was full of yard sales, a flea market, and random errands. I'm exhausted so I've been forcing myself to stay up until 8 pm when I could have easily gone to bed at 2 pm. 

Tomorrow will probably be full of intervals once again, and then it's my heavy weights day! Woohoo!

Night!