Sprint intervals- What is your speed/ timing

depends....i change it up. if im using no incline ill go all out for 30 seconds then take a minute "rest/walk"... but if Im doing an incline-- the incline is usually at a 5 and my speed is at about a 5-6 for one minute...then ill take 2 minutes "rest/walk/no incline"

totally depends on your level of fitness, but it is a brilliant way to get fitter! I set the treadmill for 20 mins, the speed at 17.0 mph, incline 1.0% and run for 8 secs then off for 12 sec. which sounds hard to work out but its not once you've done it for a couple of days. This was exercise was given to me by my local trainer at the gym I go to and it is brilliant for raising fitness levels. I would say you can start it at any speed and keep speeding up a little every week to build up - oh and be confident on the treadmill! Well done, running is great isn't it - especially once you've finished! good luck

Treadmill - walk 4.5 (speed on treadmill) 30-45 seconds....run 7.2 (speed on treadmill) for 1 minute for 30-35 mins total. Eliptical 30 seconds normal / 1 minute "sprint" with crossramp at 10 and resistance at 7 or 8 for 30 mins.

If you are looking for ways to change it up...

1. Pyramid. Do like 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off, 20 seconds on, 40 seconds off, 30 seconds on, 60 seconds off to wherever you want to go and then back down to 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off.

2. Change your ratio. 10:20 would be a 1:2 ratio (for every second on, double that off). Change it up from 1:1 to 1:3 but I wouldn't do any bigger than 1:3.

3. Add another thing to the ratio. Do a 1:2:2 ratio, for instance. 10 seconds all-out sprint, 20 seconds jog, 20 seconds walk.

4. Put in another exercise into your intervals. Do 30 seconds of running then drop down and do 10 push-ups or 10 sit-ups or something.

5. I'm not sure what they're called. This is the example my trainer did: You have 10 meters. You have a minute to do it once (from one side to the other). Then you have a minute to do it twice (from one side to the other and back). Keep increasing the number of reps per minute until you can't complete the number of reps under a minute. You can adjust the distance and the time alotted. Obviously, it starts off stupidly easy and then gets progressively harder as you have less time to rest between sets.

6. Incorporate hills. Run up a hill, walk back down.


Most of these, I realize, are best done outside (some on a track). You can modify some to work on a treadmill. I'm not a big fan of intervals on the treadmill simply because I can change my speed quickly whereas a treadmill takes at least a few seconds to catch up to what I want the new speed to be.

totally depends on your level of fitness, but it is a brilliant way to get fitter! I set the treadmill for 20 mins, the speed at 17.0 mph, incline 1.0% and run for 8 secs then off for 12 sec. which sounds hard to work out but its not once you've done it for a couple of days. This was exercise was given to me by my local trainer at the gym I go to and it is brilliant for raising fitness levels. I would say you can start it at any speed and keep speeding up a little every week to build up - oh and be confident on the treadmill! Well done, running is great isn't it - especially once you've finished! good luck

17mph REALLY? No way this old lady is doing that!

totally depends on your level of fitness, but it is a brilliant way to get fitter! I set the treadmill for 20 mins, the speed at 17.0 mph, incline 1.0% and run for 8 secs then off for 12 sec. which sounds hard to work out but its not once you've done it for a couple of days. This was exercise was given to me by my local trainer at the gym I go to and it is brilliant for raising fitness levels. I would say you can start it at any speed and keep speeding up a little every week to build up - oh and be confident on the treadmill! Well done, running is great isn't it - especially once you've finished! good luck

17mph REALLY? No way this old lady is doing that!

I've never seen one go over 12.4 MPH. Considering a football player running a 4.2 40 yard dash at the combine is running about 19MPH.....I don't know if she's hanging side by side with some of the fastest players in the NFL.

I don't do the same "HIIT" that everyone else seems to to here as I believe jumping off the treadmill is dangerous and doesn't help my training as I don't know how many times I sprint to a dead stop.....either way.

3 Min at 6.5 MPH, 30 Sec at 7, 30 Sec at 8, 15 sec at 9, 15 sec at 10, 15 sec at 11, 15 sec at 12.

3 Min at 6.5 MPH, 30 sec at 2 incline, 3o sec at 3, 30 sec at 4, 30 sec at 5

Repeat for 40-50 minutes.

In a couple weeks here when it warms up I have a nice routine of sprints, plyos, and shuttles I've created using the lines in the gym parking lot.

My intervals look like this...1-1.5% incline always for running...max speed about 8.5mph and slowest is about 3.5-4mph. I do this for about 20 -25 min. I do intervals once or twice a week.

lol, i thought that at the time too! but it's achievable honest! and what a buzz you get when it happens. I started of maybe for 10/15 mins at first but it built up to 20 and according to my gym guy, 20 mins is all that is necessary. Actually its 17 kph, not mph! still fast but not mental! sorry for mix up.

lol, i thought that at the time too! but it's achievable honest! and what a buzz you get when it happens. I started of maybe for 10/15 mins at first but it built up to 20 and according to my gym guy, 20 mins is all that is necessary. Actually its 17 kph, not mph! still fast but not mental! sorry for mix up.

Yes, 10.5mph is very manageable.

I do mine on the track so it's a little different. right now I'm just getting back into it so my base is 4x400 @ 90s ea, with 1x400 walk (~3:00) That gives me 3 miles including 800 warmup and 800 cool down. Once my base is a little more solid, I will move to 10x100 with 100 walk back (~60s)

Looking for other ideas too.