Ban the Gym

Here's what interval training can do for you. Look at those legs!

I did some strength training for my upper body and ran some sprints today for my workout.  The sprints were the inspiration for this post.  Read on to see why.

Do you “do cardio”?  When I hear this phrase, and I hear it all the time, I cringe.  I cringe because to me this means someone slogging away on a machine at a gym at slow, steady pace for a long time.  This style of workout was popular during the 1980′s aerobic craze and unfortunately it is still going strong.  I say unfortunately because there is a better way to burn fat and improve your heart and lungs.  And most importantly, it takes less time.

The secret is interval training or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  When you interval train you switch between a period of all out effort and a period of recovery.  Your fitness level determines the intervals.  If you like to jog but run a little you can do jog/run intervals.  Here’s how you do it:  You run as fast as you can for 15-45 seconds and then you jog as long as it takes until you are rested enough to do it again (usually anywhere from 1-3 minutes).  If you’re not a runner; you can do walk/jog intervals.  If you are a more advanced athlete you can do run/sprint intervals.  Get the idea?

Interval training can even benefit the long distance athlete.  The cardiovascular benefit derived from intervals carry over to long distance work.  So basically sprint intervals can make you a better long distance runner.  Too bad long distance running doesn’t make you a better sprinter.    Long distance folks are the only people I recommend keep going for long distances at slow steady paces.  You have to get your body ready for the stress of your race, event, etc.  But when you aren’t going long, go short and fast!

Studies show that interval training improves your cardiovascular conditioning and fat loss better than slow steady work.  It can improve cholesterol and other hormone levels.  It has been clinically tested on out of shape folks as well as people of all ages and shown that if done correctly this type of training is safe.  Oh, and for all of you who don’t have the time to exercise- intervals will typically last about 15 – 20 minutes.  Maybe longer if you are in great shape but you’ll be working so hard you’ll never have to spend hours “doing cardio” again.

And yes for you gym-goers out there you can do intervals on any piece of “cardio” equipment.