HIITing it hard...

Started a new excersise program today; HIIT, or High-Intensity Interval Training. Basically, you warm up, then alternate between going all-out in whichever exercise you chooose for a certain period(say two minutes), then slowing down to a medium rate for two minutes, then going back up to all-out for two more, and so on until you've done this for about fifteen minutes(or sixteen, so it equals 4 hard, 4 medium). According to the literature and opinions I've read, an easy way to tell if you're doing it right is that you feel like total and complete crap afterward. Well, that happened to me. I'm not sore or anything like I would be from an intense freeweight workout, but put it this way: I did this from about 9:15 to 9:50(with time for warm-up and cool-down), then headed back to mi casa and showered. I set my alarm for 1 p.m., and laid down for a nap. This was at 10 a.m. This stuff sucked so much out of me that I didn't wake up till 6 p.m., and I don't even remember hearing my alarm until about 5:30(it's a repeating alarm on my old cellphone) Now granted, I also work third shift, but during my shower, I felt my energy level drop somewhere down around my ankles, and it was literally all I could do to rehydrate and nibble a bit of food before pretty much collapsing into my bed.

As an MMA fan, I came up with a novel HIIT structure. Also, for a lark, I decided to incorporate swimming into the routine, along with some Muhammad Ali-esque in-water punching.

Warm-ups, 5 minutes: mixture of jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, stretching.
Interval 1(high, 2 minutes) Swimming: race breaststroke laps
Interval 2(medium, 2 minutes) Swimming, backstroke laps
Interval 3(high, 2 minutes) Swimming, front crawl laps
Interval 4(medium, 2 minutes) Swimming, backstroke laps
1-minute rest(had to go to the bathroom)
Interval 5(high, 2 minutes) MMA, leg kicks, chest-depth water
Interval 6(medium, 2 minutes)MMA, jabs, shoulder-depth water
Interval 7(high, 2 minutes) MMA, arm+leg workout of Thai clinch+knees, chest-depth water
Interval 8(medium, 2 minutes)MMA, southpaw jabs, shoulder-depth water
Cool-downs, 5 minutes: stretching, sit-ups, basic yoga.

So I'll be monitoring over the next few weeks and we'll see how it goes.