Endurance-Building Suggestions?

CLD

CLD

Cathlete
Hi ladies! I am in need of your knowledge!! I have "fallen off the wagon" as far as working out goes for a considerable length of time - 2 years maybe? While I've had many brief spurts of chasing that wagon, I seem to keep falling into my old lethargic habits. However, I've decided that I'd like to join a local roller derby team for women in my area. Therefore, I need to build up cardiovascular endurance FAST. I tend to run out of steam in this area very quickly because of my lack of consistency in my workouts in addition to the fact that I just prefer weight lifting and other strength training workouts to cardio. Also, my basement flooded this summer, and we haven't had the time or money to fix things up & my workout space is gone. :(

So, I have limited room to work out in my home and I would very much prefer not to pay for a gym membership since I have all the equipment I could possibly want here at home (just minus the space for it right now) plus a wedding coming up and don't want to incur the additional expenses.

My fiance's boxing coach used to have him sprint up hills to build up his cardiovascular endurance, so I'm assuming this is similar to HiiT workouts (which I LOVE!!!). I do have the HiiT workouts Cathe recently produced, and I can use the pyramid style one, but I really don't have any room to use my step right now. Any thoughts/suggestions you ladies would have that I could do outside to build up my endurance? I'm very open to different ideas!! Thanks in advance for your time!!
 
This is so odd, I just joined the roller derby league in my town too!!! Last night was my first time up on my skates and it was awesome!!!! Endurance is very important for this sport, but one of the best things you can do is just get out and skate. If you don't have free access to your rink find a local school track or play yard that is smooth asphalt and it works fine. A track is nice for doing laps that really add up.

My sister also does derby, for a few years now, and she highly highly recommends working you core. Obviously your legs are important too. As far as regular exercises indoors you'll definitely want plyo exercises, cause those skates get heavy, Hiit, and well as just anything that can help the endurance building such as running, step or whatnot

HTH and you are going to have a BLAST in derby
Shelby
 
I have a Polar S210 and my VO2 max value (aerobic fitness) measured at 54 after doing Insanity for 60 days, it was at 51 before I started. Though not a true HIIT, the extreme intensity of the intervals increased my cardiovascular strength in no time. Good luck!!!
 
Adding in 1 to 2 HIIT workouts a week, and other workouts with "hiit like" components, have increased my endurance like nothing else. I noticed the difference within a couple of weeks.

Cathe's HIIT dvd is perfect for this.
 
Try this, it may seem odd but, hey, I'm not really normal anyway:p

Find a nice set of rolling hills, warm up by walking at 15 min/mile for about 5 min. Then the fun begins: jog (wearing a HRM) until you hit (hit not HIIT) the top of your range (85%), stay there for about 5 seconds longer than it seems possible, and then walk it down to about 70% of max, rinse and repeat for 20 minutes. Cool down with a 5 minute walk. Stretch out with some good yoga. Do this at least 1x/week. Don't be surprised when those plyos get easier. Its not true HIIT because the intervals are not as short.

You might try some jump rope workouts too. Its really fun to make your own workouts using jump rope, running, lunges, and other body weight exercises. Have you tried Tabata? I hear that is really good too and super short. I think the workouts are only 8 minutes long.

I hope that helps.

Alisha
 
You ladies are amazing & I'm so excited that there are other derby girls here!!! The team in our town is very new (hasn't even been around for a year), but they're already training some fresh meat. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get in this round or if I'll have to wait, but either way, I'd like to get my skates and get cracking! I plan to buy some outdoor wheels right away since I don't think there's a lot of free skate time available.

Thanks to everyone for such wonderful thoughts & suggestions!! I knew I could count on the Catheletes!!!! ;):D
 
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