Do you like exercises that leave you tired? Unfortunately, for as long as I can remember, I have been one of those people who can't stand them. 😕 (In high school, I learned to forge my mother's signature just to write exemption notes for PE - a true story!) That's why I have an interesting offer for you in form of a 4-minute workout sequence created by Zach Bush, who I mentioned earlier in my post about the importance of our microbiome (here!). It really is possible to tire and oxygenate your entire body in 4 minutes, without using any equipment and without age or weight restrictions! Too good to be true? Check it out. 😉
This is a HIIT, i.e. High Intensity Interval Training. It contains 4 simple exercises that use 16 basic muscle groups of our body and increase the release of Nitric Oxide.
Nitric Oxide is a molecule made by the human body that feeds your muscles. When you start to exercise and run out of oxygen (you feel your muscles ache), Nitric Oxide is released. As it moves downstream, blood vessels dilate allowing more oxygen and nutrient delivery for muscle growth.
Our blood vessels actually only store about 90 seconds worth of Nitric Oxide before they need to manufacture more, so working each major muscle group out for 90 seconds gives you the most efficient workout to tone and build muscles.
The body has the ability to regenerate Nitric Oxide every couple of hours, giving you the opportunity to release it multiple times a day. What that means is the most effective way to increase your muscle function is to work out very briefly every few hours.
Dr. Zach Bush
High-intensity training also helps to stimulate the lymphatic system, which is considered extremely important in Ayurveda and contributes, among other things, to circulation and excretion of toxins from the body.
Our task is to perform the following exercises at a fast pace, starting with 10 repetitions each, building up to 20 repetitions each, in a cycle lasting about 4 minutes:
- Squats – with your butt well back, back straight and arms forward, feet flat on the floor – low enough to activate the quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh
- Soldiers - alternate swinging of arms to shoulder level (90 degrees forward) - we activate the muscles of the arms, deltoid, upper back
- Snow angel - with your hands pressed into a fist, we click hands at the bottom, raise them up in a full circle and hit again at the top - rotation of the entire arms
- Military press (luckily without a barbell) - we raise our arms up as if we were lifting an imaginary barbell, or celebrating a victory 😋
Below is an instructional video, where you can take a look at the target positions.
I think this is a unique entry on my blog, in balance to how delicate the other practices I cover are! Nevertheless, I recommend trying it, because to some extent such training can replace a 75-minute standard high-intensity training. For best results, it is recommended to repeat it several times a day.
Let me know if you try it! 🙃