Burn It Up!

Taking fitness classes is a great way to mix up a cardio workout, but sometimes it just doesn’t fit into our schedule. Cardio machines and even outdoor activities are usually very convenient, but oftentimes repetitive and boring. We sometimes feel we have to “put in” our time, but our energy isn’t in it. I’ve seen people slogging their way through their 30-45 minutes daily without much in the way of results. If this sounds like your situation, try lighting a fire under your cardio routine with cardio intervals.
Interval cardio training is a variation of the intensity within the workout period. You focus on alternating between high intensity intervals (where you work as hard as you can) and recovery periods (where you slow down long enough to catch your breath) to increase your endurance and burn calories. You can train in intervals in a variety of ways from circuit training with weights to cross training (switching from cardio to weight training at a fast pace), to intervals of cardio. But for those of you who have been doing only slow, traditional cardio, switching over to interval cardio training a few times per week will rev up your metabolism even after you finish working out.
Interval training simulates what happens in many sports; starting and stopping motions with periods of speed followed by light jogging or rest. However, interval training is not just for advanced athletes. Intervals are an effective and perhaps even the most effective method for beginners to get fit and lose fat. An interval training workout can be done on a variety of equipment and even outdoors - running, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, elliptical machines, and even walking! With interval cardio workouts, you can increase your endurance and burn additional calories. You can also vary the intensity levels in different combinations. If you use exercise machines, choose the manual workout and create your own intensities by adjusting it yourself. It will give you greater control over the speed, intensity and times of your intervals. You'll actually derive benefits in as little as a 20-minute interval workout. As you build up endurance and strength, you can add time to your workout.

To begin, start with about a five minute warm-up. Then, increase the intensity slightly more than you can normally handle for a short time, and intersperse that with periods of easier exercise for twice as long. So, if you do 1 minute at 3.5mph, drop down to 3.0mph for 2 minutes. Do that up to 6 times, and call it an interval session.
You can also work in fast/slow intervals where you alternate 1 minute of intensity with 1 minute of rest for up to 25 minutes per session and work up to longer intervals of each.
Just listen to your body. Cardio intervals can be tiring, so alternate your levels, just don’t do it to the extreme.
A 4 week program I recently used from Muscle and Fitness magazine can be very effective for all levels of fitness. If you find the program too difficult at first, shorten the fast intervals and increase the slower ones. On the other hand, if you find the workout too easy, lengthen the fast intervals and shorten the slower ones. This workout also includes one day of a longer, slow and steady pace to alternate with the interval cardio. This combination works whether you do cardio as few as 3 days a week or up to 6 days a week. I HIGHLY recommend using a heart rate monitor to gauge your levels (see entry “Tell-Tale Heart”).
Week 1
5 minute warm-up
Days 1 & 4: 20 minutes of intervals (1 minute fast, 1 minute slow)
Days 2 & 5: 25 minutes of intervals (1 minute fast, 1 minute slow)
Days 3 & 6: 30 minutes of steady state cardio (a pace that gets your heart rate in your training zone, but doesn’t leave you breathless)
Week 2
5 minute warm-up
Days 1 & 4: 20 minutes of intervals (2 minutes fast, 2 minutes slow)
Days 2 & 5: 25 minutes of intervals (2 minute fast, 2 minutes slow)
Days 3 & 6: 40 minutes of steady state cardio (a pace that gets your heart rate in your training zone, but doesn’t leave you breathless)
Week 3
5 minute warm-up
Days 1 & 4: 20 minutes of intervals (3 minutes fast, 2-3 minutes slow)
Days 2 & 5: 25 minutes of intervals (3 minutes fast, 2-3 minutes slow)
Days 3 & 6: 50 minutes of steady state cardio (a pace that gets your heart rate in your training zone, but doesn’t leave you breathless)
Week 4
5 minute warm-up
Days 1 & 4: 20 minutes of intervals (3-4 minutes fast, 3-4 minutes slow)
Days 2 & 5: 25 minutes of intervals (3-4 minutes fast, 3-4 minutes slow)
Days 3 & 6: 60 minutes of steady state cardio (a pace that gets your heart rate in your training zone, but doesn’t leave you breathless)You can find a variety of interval and heart training workouts, with time and frequency variations: http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit_table.asp
Another tried and true cardio interval is from the Body For Life program developed by Bill Phillips. You can find it at: http://bodyforlife.com/exercise/cardiotraining.asp
So, if you want to “kick it up a notch”, intervals can:
* increase your stamina
* burn more calories and
*make your workout seem to fly by!