Don’t Make It Stop! Interval Training for Serious Results

Editor’s note: The post is a re-post from last year.

BY LAUREN

Interval training

You know that you love inter­val train­ing, because you know that inter­val train­ing can dra­mat­i­cally improve car­dio­vas­cu­lar fit­ness and raise the body’s poten­tial to burn fat.

But did you know that (if you came to boot camp this morn­ing) you just com­pleted one of the most effec­tive forms of inter­val training?

First, a brief reminder about how inter­val train­ing works. Inter­val train­ing works both the aer­o­bic and the anaer­o­bic system:

Dur­ing the high inten­sity effort (the stairs or the sprints), the anaer­o­bic sys­tem uses the energy stored in the mus­cles for short bursts of activ­ity. Anaer­o­bic metab­o­lism works with­out oxy­gen. The by-product is lac­tic acid, which is related to the burn­ing sen­sa­tion felt in the mus­cles dur­ing high inten­sity efforts. Dur­ing the high inten­sity inter­val, lac­tic acid builds and the ath­lete enters oxy­gen debt.*

Dur­ing the recov­ery phase (the squats, lunge walks, step-ups and super­stars) the heart and lungs work together to “pay back” this oxy­gen debt and break down the lac­tic acid. It is in this phase that the aer­o­bic sys­tem is in con­trol, using oxy­gen to con­vert stored car­bo­hy­drates into energy.*

Inter­val train­ing can be done in a vari­ety of ways. The key is to keep your heart rate blast­ing for a short period of time and rest­ing peri­ods active, so you can burn as much as pos­si­ble in record time. Stair run­ning is a great, high-intensity vari­a­tion that helps build speed, power and car­dio­vas­cu­lar fit­ness. Stair run­ning is also a great addi­tion to any agility train­ing pro­gram because it builds quick­ness and foot speed while get­ting an excel­lent sprint workout.

Seri­ous ath­letes have used inter­val train­ing to improve per­for­mance for decades. Are you ready to join the ranks?

* Eliz­a­beth Quinn “Inter­val Train­ing Builds Fit­ness Fast”
IMAGE CREDIT: New York Times

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