Rocky Balboa was a savage!!
He was the face of boxing in the 70’s and trained like a beast with a “no pain, no gain” attitude.
When I was growing up, my family and I often watched Rocky Balboa for family movie night. One movie would turn into another and we would end up having a Rocky movie marathon.
These family marathons inspired me to switch up my workouts, Rocky style. I’ve ran a couple half marathons ( check it out here and here ), but I was eager to try a new form of exercise.
When Rocky trained in the movies, he ran up the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, AKA “The Rocky Steps”.
*Cue Gonna Fly Now*
Last week I was in Philadelphia and was able to have my Rocky Balboa moment….
My fam and I went over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and ran up the steps. The night before, my brother ran up the steps at midnight. I wouldn’t recommend doing so… It’s prob not the safest way to burn some cals!?? So, we decided to run these steps in the daytime.
When Rocky ran up these steps, he was doing a “HIIT” workout. HIIT stands for high intensity interval training, every heard of it?
High key, high intense interval training may have been the best thing that has happened to the fitness world. HIIT is extremely efficient; you burn more cals and fat with interval training than during regular cardio.
This is a training technique that mixes bursts of high intensity exercises with short, active recovery periods. It usually lasts about a half hour and if done correctly, will leave you gasping for air. If you want a lot of bang for your buck, err workout, this is the workout for you!
Benefits
- Increase metabolism
- Increase fat loss
- Improve strength
- Better cardio endurance
Did I have you at “increase metabolism”? And guess what, you don’t have to run up stairs to reap the benefits. Here’s how to incorporate HIIT into your workout:
- Mix in jumping rope, jumping jacks, plank jacks, mountain climbers, squat jumps, and burpees in between light cardio or lifting
- Sprint up stairs or hills
- Crank up the incline on the treadmill, run for 30 seconds, walk/ light jog for 30 seconds
How do you train like Rocky?
xx hails