<em>Pressed for Time?</em> <br>Try Interval Training at Her Active Life

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Pressed for Time? Try Interval Training

Posted October 15, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Lindsay Hutton

Section: Her Fitness, Athletics, Training Programs, Her Health, Her Motivation

Sprinter If you’ve been watching television lately, you’ve probably been bombarded with the latest fitness trends claiming the average person can get away with doing about 10 minutes of cardio a week and still lose weight. In a society where lack of time is the number one reason people give for not exercising, 10 minutes a week sounds too good to be true. Well, unfortunately it is, but while this claim is a stretch (a BIG stretch), there is some truth behind the “less is more” concept.

For those that are not familiar with interval training, it consists of exercise that incorporates short bursts (think 30-60 seconds) of high intensity activity followed by a longer period of low intensity recovery. For example, a basic interval training program would consist of walking briskly for two minutes, sprinting for one minute, and alternating this pattern for 20 minutes.

Without getting too scientific, interval training taps into the body’s two energy producing systems (aerobic and anaerobic). The aerobic system is what allows you to perform long, low intensity exercise such as walking, jogging, or bike riding. The anaerobic system allows you to perform short bursts of high intensity activity, such as sprinting, biking up a steep hill, lifting a very heavy object, or any other activity that you cannot perform for an extended amount of time.

Most individuals think long bouts of low intensity cardio (45-60 minutes) are best when trying to torch calories. What happens during these cardio sessions is the heart reaches a point called “steady state.”

Let me explain. You might find when beginning a long cardio session, you feel winded, your muscles burn, and you want to stop. As you keep going, the exercise gets easier and you get into a “groove” where you feel as though you can keep going. At this point, your heart rate isn’t going up anymore; it has leveled out and your heart doesn’t need to work as hard to keep up the intensity you are working at. Although you keep burning calories, your body doesn’t require as much energy to keep going. It has reached steady state.

Interval training keeps your body from reaching steady state. By incorporating high intensity bursts, you are constanty getting a spike in your heart rate. The raising and lowering of your heart rate throughout your workout requires much more energy, and therefore burns more calories in less time. Instead of slaving away for 60 minutes, you can get your cardio workout done in 20.

Although shortened workout time is one major advantage, interval training has several other health benefits as well. It helps build new capillaries, therefore allowing more oxygen to be delivered to the working muscles. Over time, this increases the body’s tolerance to lactic acid build up. Lactic acid is what causes that burning sensation you feel when your muscles are fatigued. As your tolerance increases, so does your cardiovascular endurance. This, in turn, helps to strengthen your heart.

In simple terms, interval training results in shorter workouts, increased cardio performance, and a healthier heart. Who can possibly argue with that?