7 Good Reasons to Try Interval Training

IsMollyReallyHungry

7 Good Reasons to Try Interval Training

By: Nicole Nichols :

What if I told you there was an exercise technique that could burn more calories—and fat—in less time that was also fun? You may think that I was hawking some fitness gadget in an infomercial, or simply lying to you, but neither of those theories hold true. The amazing workout is called interval training. During interval training, exercisers alternate between high-intensity efforts and low-intensity recovery efforts during a single cardio (aerobic) workout session. It can be as simple as sprinting between two telephone poles and then walking for the next two, or a regimented plan using a stopwatch and specific training schedule. Either way, adding just a couple sessions of interval training to your workouts each week is sure to boost your fitness level, accelerate your fat loss and help you beat boredom.

Here are 7 reasons to try interval training yourself, plus tips and workouts to get you started.

Interval training burn more calories. Most of us exercise at a continuous intensity during our cardio workouts. This is called "continuous training." While continuous training is the most common way to exercise and still offers ample benefits, such as burning calories, "Interval training burns calories quicker," Kerri O'Brien of Life Fitness recently told Reuters. "If you're doing interval training for 20 minutes it can burn as many calories you would in 40 minutes," of steady-state training, she explained.

Interval training burns more fat. Doing short bursts of higher-intensity exercise encourages your body to burn body fat as fuel. A small study from 2007 had eight women in their 20s cycle for 10 sets of intervals (four minutes higher intensity, followed by two minutes of rest). After the interval training, the women burned 36% more fat during an hour of continuous training (moderate cycling). The results were published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Other studies have found that even when the workout is over, exercisers have a higher post-workout calorie burn (their metabolism remains elevated) after interval training than after continuous training.

Interval training works for all fitness levels. According to the American Council on Exercise, everyone from beginner exercisers to elite athletes can perform (and benefit from) interval training. Beginners, for example, can use interval training to slowly work their way up to higher intensity exercise, such as walk-jog intervals, which can help one work up to running continuously. Advanced exercisers can use high intensity intervals to improve speed, power and performance.

Interval training can boost your fitness level. The same study mentioned above also found that subjects who performed interval training improved their cardiovascular fitness by 13%. Another study, also published in the Journal of Applied Physiology (in 2005), found that college-age men and women doubled their exercise endurance after just two weeks of interval training. The control group who did not perform interval training, showed no improvements in their endurance.

Interval training works for the tortoise and the hare. Sometimes you feel like doing a hard workout. Sometimes, you feel like taking it easy. Interval training is a great alternative to both scenarios, and perfect for people who need to force themselves to change up their programs. I tend to turn to interval training on days that I'm feeling a little lazy since I know I won't have to force myself to do a tough workout, and that I'll get to enjoy the low-intensity exercise I'm craving. In this sense, interval training is a great way to cross train, too. If your usual routine is to run at a steady pace, or pick one level on the elliptical and stick it out for 30 minutes, you'll be doing your body a favor by changing up the speed and intensity of your workouts. You don't even have to change what you do to work out. Interval training can be applied to almost any type of exercise: walking, running, biking, cardio machines, indoor cycling, swimming, dancing—even strength training.

Interval training can combat boredom. Probably one of the greatest benefits of interval training is that it really passes the time, which can make your workouts seem more fun. Rather than drudging away at the same boring intensity, interval training keeps your mind engaged and helps your workouts go by faster by breaking down one long workout into smaller, more manageable chunks of time. Each interval you complete is another notch closer to your cool down.

Interval training means less time in the gym. Since you're working harder (for a short period), you can get away with shorter workouts when you perform interval training—and the benefits are essentially the same in terms of endurance and calorie burn. This is a great option when you're short on time but want to squeeze in an effective workout, or when you have a hard time committing to exercise in general. The shorter your workouts are, the more likely you'll be to stick with them.

Ready to try interval training?

From SparkPeople

kymarai

I will give it a try! You are such an inspiration! WTG! Thank you!

MamaRandall

Great article! I love interval training and hate it at the same time. This reminds me why I do it though!
Thanks!

tarapin

I just started C25K and loved reading this....totally enforced what I was hoping. Thanks for taking the time to post this!

clahut

Thank you so much for posting this.

I started interval training about 3 months ago at the recommendation of one of the trainers at my gym. I find it much more enjoyable than continuous training and I have noticed quicker results.

And it isn't like I am very fit to start with. I do intervals on the rowing machine - 150m sprint, 40 s recovery for 10 minutes. I am very tired by the end of it, but it feels like I am getting much more out of it than 10 or 20 minutes at an even pace.

C

ErinMarie25

Turbo Fire is awesome for interval training.

telcochik

HIIT workouts burn more calories in a shorter amount of time than traditional cardio like running. I did a 30 minute Turbo Fire HIIT workout yesterday and my Bodybugg said I burned 283 calories in that short period of time, which worked out to be more than 9 calories per minute!

Sharon

RunHardBeStrong

Love Love Love interval training!! Time goes by so much faster, it's fun and I get a GREAT workout!!

Azdak

While I am a big fan of interval training--it is essentially the cornerstone of any workout program--I have to take exception with a lot of the information in this article. Actually, it is typical of most of the stuff you find on Spark People--it is shallow, not particularly well-researched, full of cliches, and inconsistent.

Point by point:

1. "Burns more calories" -- with all due respect to Kerri O'Brien (who I know and is a great person), I think she is being overly glib in this statement. The same calories in 20 min as in 40 min? I can burn close to 700 calories doing steady-state exercise in 40 minutes--I can't come close to doing that in 20 min. This is a classic case of just throwing out a cliche without defining terms and with bothering to explain in detail. What kind of steady state? What kind of interval? There is no "automatic" calorie burn that comes from doing intervals, as this statement implies. Intensity is still intensity--if you want to get the max caloric burn from doing "intervals", you need to bust your *kitten* big time. Which directly contradicts some of the other statements in the article.

2. "Burns more fat". Probably true, but irrelevant. The fuel you burn during exercise has no real effect on permanent fat loss. Total fax oxidation over 24 hrs is not affected by the amount of fat burned during exercise. There is some evidence that high-intensity interval training can contribute to a larger fat loss over time compared to moderate, steady-state training, but that is a different issue and involves specific types of interval training.

3. "Works for all fitness levels". Now this is 100% true, however it directly contradicts #1 and #2. What I mean is this: interval training is defined as alternating "harder" work intervals with "easier" recovery intervals. Those terms (harder/easier) are completely relative. A beginning exerciser can do 10 minutes at a medium pace on 3 machines, with 1-2 min rest in between --and that is an "interval" workout. A great way to improve your fitness is to throw 1-2 min "surges" every 4-5 min into a regular cardio workout--this is an "interval" workout as well. However, someone who has a low fitness level is not going to be able to work hard enough to realize the supposed "benefits" listed in #1 and #2. Yet the article makes no such distinctions.

4. "Can boost your fitness level". Well, yes--as can any other type of fitness training.

5. "Tortoise and the hare". This goes back to #3. Yes, "interval" training is very flexible and can be adapted to how you feel for the day--you can come up with an almost infinite variety of intensities and time intervals. However, again, the blanket statements of "burns more calories" and "burns more fat" do not necessarily apply in all cases.

6. "Combat boredom". True as well. However, to get the most out of your interval training, you still need to have a focus--just playing around is not going to result in much benefit over time.

7. "Less time in the gym". That may be true as well, but if you want to cut down on gym time, you will need to work hard---really hard--which goes against the other "benefits" mentioned earlier.

There is no such thing as one type of "interval training"--the effects of interval training will vary widely depending on the intensity and type of exercise, the duration of the work and recovery intervals, etc. Maybe people will think I am overanalyzing this article and that may be so, but this kind of stuff just annoys the crap out of me. I have to deal with the effects of sloppy writing like this every day, undoing the misinformation presented in articles like this and getting people back on track after they have wasted their time.