Have you ever found yourself wishing that you could take a short cut or a possible easier route when it comes to whipping your body into shape or losing weight?
I know I have! Let’s face it; exercise can be a chore and a pain in the butt for most people! Exercise is not easy, and often times if you want to see results, you need to be working out on a daily basis for at least a half hour at a moderate to vigorous intensity. On top of this, you need to maintain a health diet to support this lifestyle. This can be a drag on days when you want to watch a movie marathon in bed while splurging on Chinese food, a tub of ice cream, various candied treats, and let’s not forget the salt-infused, butter-oozing popcorn! Wanting to cheat every now and then is human nature. But, I have a way for you to indulge (in moderation of course!), while still being able to keep your hard-earned body without feeling guilty. The answer, my friends, is INTERVALS!
Intervals are the best way to achieve high-speed fat loss. According to studies, running intervals, or sprints with intermittent rest periods, burns three times as much fat as running at slow, consistent speeds. Intervals put the finishing touches on your endurance and strength workouts and are key when training for races.
Caution:
Interval training is great for cranking out personal records and burning fat, but it can lead to running injuries if you are not conditioned and careful. It is best to only do speed work after having a foundation of strength and endurance. It is only with this foundation that intervals can be both effective and safe.
My Interval Routine:
I do this workout while using a treadmill to regulate the speeds. This is done 3 times a week, typically Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On the other days of the week, I will do other forms of fitness such as long distance, lower intensity running, fitness classes or another exercise machine to work different large muscle groups. This variety is key to preventing a plateau that is caused by your body adapting to the same workouts, which causes no more improvement or continued results.
1) Warm Up: Start with 5 minutes of power walking, at a level 4.0, to increase body temperature and prepare your body for workout mode.
2) Workout: Repeat the following steps 5 times continuously to total 30 minutes.
• Run at level 7.0 for one minute
• Walk at level 4.3 for one minute
• Run at level 7.5 for one minute
• Walk at level 4.3 for one minute
• Run at level 8.0 for one minute
• Walk at level 4.3 for one minute
3) Cool Down: Run at level 5.0 for a minute, decreasing the level by increments of 0.5 every additional minute, until you have reached a total of 5 minutes (at this point, you should be at level 3.0). By the end of your cool down, you should have gone from a slow run to a walk.
Intervals are the icing on your training cake, to a faster race and a better fitness foundation for melting off fat. Don’t hesitate from taking a bite out of this cake!