The closer it gets to Christmas the faster each week seems to go by for me.  I completed my first week of Ripped With Hiit this past week – my new Cathe Friedrich series that I received last week.  Hiit stand for high intensity interval training and I LOVE it!

• Sunday – off
• Monday – Lift It Hiit It Legs premix 1 All Strength – 29 min.
• Tuesday – Low Impact Hiit Two + Bonus Abs Two – 40 min.
• Wednesday – Lift It Hiit It Back, Bis and Shoulders premix 5 – 29 min.
• Thursday – off
• Friday – Plyo Hiit One + Bonus Abs One – 37 min.
• Saturday – Lift It Hiit It Chest, Tris and Shoulders – 28 min.

The Low Impact Hiit workout was a good one to start with at the beginning of the week.  Even though it was low impact it was still challenging and I did a lot of sweating.  My faithful workout cat was there throughout most of this one.

The Hiit weight workouts in this series are definitely a challenge and within a week of doing a couple of these and increasing my weights a little I am seeing some positive changes.  There are a lot of different weights to use as well as a barbell for this heavy training.  The workouts I did this past week that were the Lift It part were actually shorter premixes.  There were a couple of days this past week I just couldn’t get myself to commit to the entire 45 or 50 minutes of the workout – that is what I love about most all Cathe workouts – there are lots of premixes and you can always do a shorter, or even a longer, version.

The Plyo Hiit workout was definitely a super high intensity cardio workout that had me sweating a ton.  Above are a couple of photos – one of the one handed burpees and the other is some of the abdominal exercises that are done standing and with an 8 pound dumbbell.  Can you see my other cat peeking through the one photo? – she doesn’t usually come around too much when I am working out but this day she decided to come by and lay on the rug for a bit and watch me.

My overall view of this new workout series is that I LOVE IT!  It is just what I need this time of year to keep me motivated to workout.  A lot of the exercises are new and innovative and that is one of the things I love about Cathe’s workouts – she is always finding new moves to incorporate into her routines so you don’t get bored.

Weekly Fitness Tip:  Decide on what your goals will be for the upcoming New Year 

– think about what you want to accomplish in the upcoming year with your health and fitness and write out some of those goals – having something written down that you can refer to helps keep you accountable

– make sure your goals are realistic and not too far out of reach – start small especially if you are new to exercising regularly, but start somewhere – the first step is getting a plan and sticking to it

– realize that results take time and dedication and that there will be times when you feel like nothing is happening fast enough – remember that positive changes will happen if you follow a healthy and active lifestyle everyday, not just for a month or two  –  and don’t get discouraged if you fall off the fitness plan for a day or two – just get back on it rather than totally quitting just because you missed a few days

I hope as we approach the final weeks of 2014 you will look back and see all you have accomplished.  I know that this year for me has been a great year for working out consistently and for taking other areas of my health into a more positive direction.

Have a great weekend!

-Kimberlee