Turbo Fire – Week 4: The Results

Have you ever gone through a work out and couldn’t wait to get to the end? That sort of happened to me this week, except it was motivating. Every Turbo Fire I did this week I kicked higher and punched a little harder: I couldn’t wait to get to the end of the week and get my Turbo Fire results!

I had made a commitment in March to work out at least five times a week to Turbo Fire, and I succeeded. Every early morning fed my drive to not just fulfill my workout goals but professional and personal goals as well (well, except for that one stack of ungraded tests). My hope was that with a consistent workout routine and following the Weight Watcher’s Freestyle plan, I would lose a pound a week.

HIIT: Why Turbo Fire is So Effective

I wrote last week about Turbo Fire’s effectiveness. By using the same basic moves and some of the same combinations, you’re able to worry less about the choreography and more about increasing the intensity. Also, as you’re having fun punching and kicking, you’re actually working in lunge after lunge and squat after squat.

This week, I also explored more of the Turbo Fire HIITs: high intensity interval training. Runners have done interval training to increase their cardio capacity for years, and now it’s starting to spill over to other fitness genres. HIIT has gained traction in the past few years because of its ability to increase metabolic burn and produce gains in workout performance. The general idea is to push your limits for only 60 seconds, and then back off intensity. One important aspect to true HIIT is continuing activity during the “rest” period to prevent the heart rate from plummeting.

There are several stand alone HIIT work outs, both low and high impact, but all high intensity. The exclusive HIIT workouts usually “mark” a routine, meaning you learn the combinations at a slower pace, then go balls out for a around 60 seconds. Chalene also incorporates the HIIT structure into the longer workouts. The Turbo Fires only include 2 -3 intervals, while the targeted HIITs do around 6.

HIIT also has great psychological benefits. Many workouts use plyometric movements — jumps — to build power. While doing plyo move after move for 30 or minutes would be nearly impossible, it’s easy to commit to giving them 100% for only 60 seconds. While Chalene certainly didn’t invent HIIT, she does a great job of incorporating it for the at home exerciser to deliver results.

Turbo Fire Results

For March, my Turbo Fire result was 6.5 pounds loss for 4 weeks. My original goal had been 1 pound a week, so I’m thrilled to have gone above and beyond my goal. What’s more,

• my knee is continuing to get stronger. Unable to even attempt jumps the first week of working out, I can now do a variety of jumps throughout the workout.
• my heart rate has come down an addition beat per minute (beyond what I reported at the end of week one).
• I am down a pant size.
• My energy levels are higher than they have been in years.

What’s Next?

In sum, I’m thrilled with my results. However, I’m starting a new challenge with friends for April that will last for four months.

This experience has prompted me to become a Beachbody coach  (click here for the Canadian site or here for the UK site) for the to keep me accountable to my workouts and help others with their own. Together, my sponsoring coach and I are going to do Beachbody’s new 80 Day Obsession with Autumn Calabrese. To get myself ready for those challenge, I’m going to do a round of 21 Day Fix and two rounds of the “A Little Obsessed”.

One of the great things about using the Beachbody on Demand system is that I can cycle through different programs and avoid plateaus. While my next four months will be devoted to Obsession, I honestly cannot wait to return to Turbo Fire in the future. I hope you enjoyed reading about my journey and I hope it inspired you to take action on your own. If you’re interested in starting your own plan, leave a comment below, message me on Facebook, or sign up here and join my latest accountability challenge. Stay tuned for updates on my four month Obsession journey.