Interval training is alternating periods of work with active recovery.   Most of us have busy schedules and argue we don’t have time to fit in any workouts. Sure if you think you have to spend an hour and half at the gym or running than you may not have time for your workouts. Interval training is all about short intense bursts of exercise.  When you are working at intense levels you do not have to workout for that long of a period.  Interval training is really the key to burning lots of calories, keeping your metabolism in over drive and leaning out!

 

Benefits

 

·        Beneficial

·        Efficient

·        Fun

·        You burn more calories post workout than you do in most other workouts

 

 

Heart rate. Often trainers and/or pieces of cardio equipment will tell you to work at a certain percentage of your hear rate, but how do you find that? This is a general and standard formula that anyone can use regardless of gender, and is specific to your age.

 

Take: 220 Beats per minute (bpm)-your age=MAX heart rate (MHR)

Ex: Lets use a 16 year old.

220-16 yrs= 204bpm.  (Max heart rate)

 

Next step is to find your training zones:

204 x 0.60 =(to find lower limit) 122bpm = 60% of max heart rate

204 x 0.80 = 163bpm = 80% of max heart rate

204 x 0.90 =(to find upper limits) 183bpm = 90% of max heart rate

 

 This is a good way to gauge how hard you are working.  When doing interval work during the intense bouts your heart rate should get up to 80% or higher. When doing continuous training or endurance work you want your heart rate between 60-80 % of maximal heart rate.

 

A heart rate monitor is a great tool to gauge how hard you are working. This usually consists of a watch and strap worn around your chest. The watch reads your heart rate from the strap. When programmed properly it can guide you to training in the proper zones. It can also calculate calories burned during exercise.

 

You can train to do interval training anywhere. Have a jump rope? Try alternating periods of jumping and resting to get a great and essentially FREE workout. Want to run? Alternate sprinting and walking or running and jogging to get your heart rate up. You can also do interval training on a bike, elliptical, stair climber or rowing machine.

 

 

How often should you be interval training? 

You should be getting at least 60 min of activity a day. You could interval train anywhere from 2-5 days a week. It’s a good idea to do a bit of endurance/continues exercise also; also don’t forget the strength training.

 

Now about the actual workout, as with any workout warm up is extremely important. Especially, since you will be exercising at such high intensities.  Give yourself at least 5 minutes of light intensity cardiovascular warm up and 5 minutes of cool down and don’t forget to stretch. Interval training can be done using time and or distance. If you are on a track and running it makes it easy to measure distance, or if you are outside running you can use blocks or other landmarks to create different distances.

 

A few sample workouts:

 

Jump rope:

5 minute warm up-jogging, easy jumping, biking

10 -30second intense intervals with 30-60 second active rest in between.

5 minute cool down

 

Running:

5 minute warm up

8 -50 meter sprints. Try walking back to start or jogging slowly

 

Treadmill:

5 minute warm up

2 minute: up hill 5-8% incline

1 minute fast walking 0% incline

Repeat for 30 minutes

5 minute cool down.

 

These workouts are designed to be intense. So takes only the rest you need-maybe not always what you want.  They will be done before you know it.

 

Karen Jashinsky

Founder, O2 MAX

Karen@o2maxfitness.com

 

Shirley Brown

Programs & Operations Manager, O2 MAX

Shirley@o2maxfitness.com

 

O2 MAX is a fitness network for teens with a studio based in Santa Monica, CA that includes fitness programming, tutoring, a lounge with a  computer and an online site with teen driven content related to fitness, health and network.

www.o2maxfitness.com