Running his way into my heart.
One of my favorite training techniques is interval training. I love interval training because it burns 30% more calories than exercising at one pace and it boosts your metabolism like none other – for up to 12 hours after exercise. It’s great for losing weight, toning, definition (hello, six pack), injury prevention, burn-out reduction and performance.
Want to give it a shot? Set aside 40 minutes and grab a sweat towel:
- Warm up with five minutes of low-intensity jogging.
- Stop and stretch for a good three minutes. Stretching will improve your performance and reduce the risk of injury.
- Start cycle 1: Pick up your pace to a medium-intensity speed and hold it for three minutes. This is a pace that you’d be able to maintain for the entire workout.
- No, go full out. Run hard for 1 minute. Really burn yourself out at a speed that pushes you to your limits. After the one minute, drop back down to your medium-intensity speed.
- Each subsequent cycle will follow this same pattern. 3 minutes of aerobic/recovery and 1 minute of anaerobic/sprinting. Do four more cycles (five cycles in total).
- Cool down with five minutes of low-intensity jogging.
- Stretch again.
I usually do my interval training (and running, in general) on a treadmill; it’s easier to set a speed and monitor the time. But, you can certainly perform interval training outside with the help of a watch or stopwatch.
Running not your thing? Try this same program on a bicycle. Or, modify it slightly to try in the pool (2 laps recover, 1 lap sprinting).
And, feel free to change the numbers. You may want to shorten recover time or do more cycles. Make it your own and have fun with it. It will kick your ass, but the results speak for themselves. Enjoy!
“Do five more cycles (four cycles in total)” numbers a little mixed up today Dave?
Luv you from Canada
p.s thanks for the tips!
Ops, good catch! I’ll fix it. XO
My main goal at the gym this year was to start running on the treadmill. After a few months I am finally able to run 40 minutes at 9 km per hour without stopping. It was hard to get there but I did it. Now I am going to start this interval training. It´s a great tip. Thanks a lot, Davey.
Love from Brazil,
Marcos
Can you make a post about a good stretch regimen? Perhaps one for regular exercise (i.e. the stretching you mention here), and one to increase flexibility? Is there a different? It would be much appreciated!
-A
Okay, Davey, but suppose you’re, ahem, older with a bit of a knee area problem and you have reluctantly giving up running on the advice of trainers, chiros, etc. How would you apply this routine to, say, a spinning bike?
Davey, I think I’m doing the interval thing on the elliptical, but maybe you can comment on it just to make sure. For a 35-minute workout, here’s what I’m currently doing.
Stretching before hand [because someone will grab my machine if I get off of it....
- bad gym etiquette]
5 minute warm-up approx 120 strides per minute
1 minute intervals at 136-140 strides per minute alternated with 1 minute intervals of higher intensity (around 196-220 strides per minute). Do this for 50% of workout time, then
Alternate either 1 minute at moderate and 2 minutes at high, or 2 minutes moderate / 2 minutes high.
Cool down for 5 minutes
Stretching post workout.
During the workout I sweat unlike anything I’ve experienced by just maintaining the same rate over the 35 minutes; even the “preprogrammed” workouts don’t produce the same results.
I’m interested in what you have to say about this. It seems to be working for me.
I just tried this for the first time on an exercise bike, and boy am I tired! Thanks Davey!
How often should I train using HIIT and how long before I should expect to see significant results?
I know this site is mainly for men but is it possible to get a video up of how to get a bigger but or overall just that coke bottle body for women?
Just tried this out as a change from basic jogging…Oh my God, this is a tough one! Absolutely wrecked after it but feel great all the same. Makes a great change from basic training, might start doing this all the time (if my legs ever work that is!).
hi Dave
just lurking trough your posts, as i have a plan to gain some (lean) body mass (i am 178cm and near 70kg).
i was doing Insanity workout for a bit more than a month, but now i see i got too much cardio in there, and no weight lifting at all.
and that is in contradiction with my wishes.
so my question is – do you think i could, instead of this HIIT running sessions, incorporate one of the insanity workouts (pretty intensive, last for about 30-45 mins) as my cardio?
and how often should i do cardio?
thanks, and greets from Croatia!
Damir