Interval Training from a Personal Trainer's Advice

massage_gal

It consists of doing easy pace (Your max Heart Rate zone in the 50-60% category) for 3 minutes followed by starting from 1 minute (leading up to 3 minutes) of heavy work (so that you can barely breathe). Then repeat, over and over. I do 45 minutes of this twice a week. Some people do this once a week to start. But don't do it more than twice a week, or it will work against you. I do this on the recumbent bike. Other people do it running. On 3 of the days you are not doing this, you do say 5 miles running, or for me, 1 hr on the recumbent bike at easy pace. On the last day, you do a longer easy pace of 9 miles running or 90 min on the recumbent for me. Then you take a rest day.

Be sure and space everything out accordingly. It is the best workout you can do to lose weight and it has worked tremendous results for me. This was told to me by my personal fitness trainer, who has a PhD. She knows what she's talking about! If you need help with the calculating of your max heart rate, it is 227 minus how old you are for women and 220 for men (minus how old they are).

An app you can download will help you keep track of your heart rate (free) and lead you through some interval training (at an extra cost of $20 per year) is Endomondo. I bought a HRM from Amazon.com for $35 (Timex) and it works just fine for those of you with a budget.

MikeInAZ

Well, everyone has their opinion on this. I worked out 6 months at a interval training facility. Our goal was 85%+ max heart rate for 12-20 minutes (during your 60 minute workout). So it was 25 minutes of cardio with continuous bursts to get your HR up into that Orange Zone. Then move on to the weights, doing a lot of light weight high repetition movements. We used things like TRX bands, squats, medicine balls, kettle bells, steps, Bosu balls, etc. Then cutting cardio back in to get your HR back up, usually with a few minutes here and there on a rowing machine. Finishing it with core work and stretching.

The idea is that you stress your heart and lungs to the point where it takes more time to recover (like 24-48 hours) in that time, your burn an extra 200-400 calories, just for recovering. "The After Burn"

I got to the point where I had to really push it to get my HR up into the 85% zone. Which is good, because I was getting stronger. Ultimately, I had to stop because I couldn't afford the $100/mo it was costing me. But I sure learned a lot.

I don't think 50-60% is high enough on the HR. That's a light jog for most. There's nothing wrong with getting up to 85%-90% in bursts. Sure, 50-60% is good for a sustained period of time, but for real physiological changes, push it!

Azdak

It consists of doing easy pace (Your max Heart Rate zone in the 50-60% category) for 3 minutes followed by starting from 1 minute (leading up to 3 minutes) of heavy work (so that you can barely breathe). Then repeat, over and over. I do 45 minutes of this twice a week. Some people do this once a week to start. But don't do it more than twice a week, or it will work against you. I do this on the recumbent bike. Other people do it running. On 3 of the days you are not doing this, you do say 5 miles running, or for me, 1 hr on the recumbent bike at easy pace. On the last day, you do a longer easy pace of 9 miles running or 90 min on the recumbent for me. Then you take a rest day.

Be sure and space everything out accordingly. It is the best workout you can do to lose weight and it has worked tremendous results for me. This was told to me by my personal fitness trainer, who has a PhD. She knows what she's talking about! If you need help with the calculating of your max heart rate, it is 227 minus how old you are for women and 220 for men (minus how old they are).

An app you can download will help you keep track of your heart rate (free) and lead you through some interval training (at an extra cost of $20 per year) is Endomondo. I bought a HRM from Amazon.com for $35 (Timex) and it works just fine for those of you with a budget.

The general balance of the routine and the workouts described are good choices for many people. I would be careful about saying it is "the best", implying that it is the best for everyone--that is almost never the case.

I would also question the total volume of exercise --I think that 6 days a week and that high a number of total minutes might be hard for some people to sustain.

But, overall, it is a well-thought out plan, and is likely to be more effective in the long run for a lot of people rather that the constant barrage of HIIT, HIIT, HIIT that is the current fad.

Graelwyn75

I do HIIT on the treadmill a few times a week maybe, but I do 2 minutes at 50% of the max speed I go up to, with 1 minute bursts at 16km/hr. I do this between 20 and 30 minutes, usually 20 and it is a killer. But it does seem effective. I also do weight circuits and steady state cardio on other days.

vicrandom

I think the 50-60% was for the periods when you're taking it easyish, not the bursts of intense effort. If I'm reading both of y'all right.