2 Interval Training Workouts Each Week Will Rev Up Your Metabolism and Get You Toned Up Faster
Your muscles and your mind can get bored if you practice the same types of exercises.
Your workouts need a jolt every 4-6 weeks to stay effective.
Interval Training is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into your program.
Interval Training Basics.
Interval Training (IT) can infuse your workouts with endless variety, more fun, and a good kick-in-the-pants to stale muscles.
To continue to get results from an exercise program, we need to make regular changes to our workouts.
IT to the rescue! IT refers to exercises of varying intensity, linked together in succession.
Each exercise can be an aerobic exercise or a strength-training exercise.
Each exercise will last between approximately 1 and 5 minutes, before switching to another exercise or changing the intensity.
These are called intervals.
The interval variables that you change include intensity, type of exercise, and interval time.
Changing the intensity is the key characteristic of IT.
But you can create countless workouts by changing these variables! Designing Your IT workout.
There are two main styles of intervals that you'll practice in your workouts.
They are the Work: Recovery intervals, and the Work: Work intervals.
For example, a 30-minute aerobic IT workout based on Work: Recovery intervals might look like this: o5:00 minutes cardio at 50% of your maximum effort (warm-up), then o2:00 minutes cardio at 70% of your maximum effort, then o2:00 minutes cardio at 60% of your maximum effort, then o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 60% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 90% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 50% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at full 100% max effort (as hard as you can push yourself) o2:00 minutes cardio at 70% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 50% max o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max o5:00 minutes cardio at 50% max (cool down) However, you could push yourself with Work: Work intervals.
Plus, you could combine aerobic and strength-training intervals.
You'll be doing your strength repetitions continuously for the timed interval.
So, choose a medium weight for each muscle group.
Choose a weight that will cause fatigue by the end of the interval.
Here's an example: o5:00 minutes cardio at 70% of your maximum effort (warm-up), then o2:00 minutes strength-training (medium weights for one muscle group; continuous repetitions) o2:00 minutes cardio at 75% max effort o2:00 minutes strength-training (same as above, but different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max effort o2:00 minutes strength-training (different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max o2:00 minutes strength-training (different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 85% max o2:00 minutes strength-training (different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 85% max o5:00 minutes cardio at 70% max (cool down) If you substitute 2 typical workouts each work for 2 IT workouts, you will be amazed at how quickly your body will react to those intervals! Interval Training can make dull workouts more fun, plus it can give your metabolism a jolt, get you unstuck from that workout plateau, and keep you on track for fast toning!
Your workouts need a jolt every 4-6 weeks to stay effective.
Interval Training is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into your program.
Interval Training Basics.
Interval Training (IT) can infuse your workouts with endless variety, more fun, and a good kick-in-the-pants to stale muscles.
To continue to get results from an exercise program, we need to make regular changes to our workouts.
IT to the rescue! IT refers to exercises of varying intensity, linked together in succession.
Each exercise can be an aerobic exercise or a strength-training exercise.
Each exercise will last between approximately 1 and 5 minutes, before switching to another exercise or changing the intensity.
These are called intervals.
The interval variables that you change include intensity, type of exercise, and interval time.
Changing the intensity is the key characteristic of IT.
But you can create countless workouts by changing these variables! Designing Your IT workout.
There are two main styles of intervals that you'll practice in your workouts.
They are the Work: Recovery intervals, and the Work: Work intervals.
For example, a 30-minute aerobic IT workout based on Work: Recovery intervals might look like this: o5:00 minutes cardio at 50% of your maximum effort (warm-up), then o2:00 minutes cardio at 70% of your maximum effort, then o2:00 minutes cardio at 60% of your maximum effort, then o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 60% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 90% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 50% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at full 100% max effort (as hard as you can push yourself) o2:00 minutes cardio at 70% max effort o2:00 minutes cardio at 50% max o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max o5:00 minutes cardio at 50% max (cool down) However, you could push yourself with Work: Work intervals.
Plus, you could combine aerobic and strength-training intervals.
You'll be doing your strength repetitions continuously for the timed interval.
So, choose a medium weight for each muscle group.
Choose a weight that will cause fatigue by the end of the interval.
Here's an example: o5:00 minutes cardio at 70% of your maximum effort (warm-up), then o2:00 minutes strength-training (medium weights for one muscle group; continuous repetitions) o2:00 minutes cardio at 75% max effort o2:00 minutes strength-training (same as above, but different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max effort o2:00 minutes strength-training (different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 80% max o2:00 minutes strength-training (different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 85% max o2:00 minutes strength-training (different muscle group) o2:00 minutes cardio at 85% max o5:00 minutes cardio at 70% max (cool down) If you substitute 2 typical workouts each work for 2 IT workouts, you will be amazed at how quickly your body will react to those intervals! Interval Training can make dull workouts more fun, plus it can give your metabolism a jolt, get you unstuck from that workout plateau, and keep you on track for fast toning!
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