Today, I went for a run. And it was the hardest workout I’ve ever done. I’ve done a lot of different workouts too – EDTs (15 continuous minutes of a high intensity exercise), tabatas (with weights and without), heavy lifting sessions – just about everything there is except for Crossfit related stuff. I have never tried Murph.
High Intensity Interval Training
Before you say you saw this coming, the workout I did is a adaptation of HIIT (high intensity interval training). The idea behind HIIT is that you push yourself to the limits for a short amount of time, recover a bit, and then repeat. Normally you do this in 30 second intervals for 8 rounds, so you put in about 4 minutes of actual, hard work.
This 4-minute workout is everywhere. It’s such an attractive headline. But the supposed 4-minute workout actually lasts about 20 minutes. Maybe more if you include a warm-up and a cooldown.
However, it’s well worth it. HIIT has a ton of benefits. You burn calories after the workout is done, lose fat, maintain your muscle, and even manage to increase your metabolism. Plus, you don’t need any exercise equipment and you can do it pretty much anywhere. What’s not to love?
Well, it gets boring. I get bored anyway. I also found that after doing it for a while, I would automatically stop running after 30 seconds. So today I tried something different and it was immediately more fun and harder than any other workout I’ve ever done.
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Pokemon Go Interval Training
So I decided to change it up. Now, there are a few Pokemon Go interval workouts out there. But they all involve Pokestops. I don’t like this type of workout because you know ahead of time how far you’re going and you’re liable to slow down before you reach it. Also, both of these workouts suggest you find a loop of Pokestops.
But Pokestops have a regeneration rate of about 5 minutes. If you do your loop too quickly, you may find yourself waiting.
Before I get into how I modified the workout, let me give you this warning. This workout is not for everyone. It can be incredibly taxing both physically and mentally.
The Most Taxing Pokemon Go Workout
Instead of finding a place with a lot of Pokestops, go find a place you want to run. Make sure you have plenty of pokeballs ready (depending on how long you plan on running for). Set your phone so that it doesn’t go to sleep for at least 10 minutes. This way you can also work on hatching your eggs.
Jog for 5 minutes. This is your warmup, so don’t turn on Pokemon Go yet. Decide how long you’re going to run for. 10 minutes is good for a beginner.
After your warmup, turn on your run tracker, Spotify, etc. I ran for 30 minutes with 3 apps running (Spotify, my run tracker, and Pokemon Go) and my battery only went down about 20%.
Here’s where it gets fun – or more interesting than a normal HIIT workout. You’re going to run as hard as you can until your phone vibrates. It could be 10 yards. It could be a quarter mile. That’s the beautiful part of this workout: it’s entirely random. It’s also what makes it so incredibly difficult.
When you see a Pokemon, do a light jog (beginners can walk) while you attempt to capture it. After you’ve captured it, start running again.
You’re not going to be able to hold an all-out sprint for a quarter mile consistently. So push yourself. If you can talk while you’re running, you’re not going to experience the benefits of HIIT.
One last bit of advice. I did a down and back route earlier. It wound up being a terrible decision because I caught most of the Pokemon on the way out.
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References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26909307
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23210120
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