Treadmill Workouts - Intervals vs Running

rkennedy1014 wrote: »

I work out pretty regularly (4-5 times per week). My routine consists of strength training, bootcamp classes, boxing and doing cardio on the treadmill. I was wondering what is better for weight loss on the treadmill - intervals or straight running?

My general treadmill routine is 2 1/2 minutes walking at 3.5 mph, 2 1/2 minutes jog at 6.0, 1 minute sprint at 7.5 (all on a 1.0 incline). I do this for 30 or 35 minutes. Should I just do 30 minutes at 6.0?

Let me know your thoughts on what is better for dropping weight. Thanks!

I feel cardio is entirely up to preference. The intervals you set look fine, but what really matters is your calories burnt - try to aim for 2-2.5 cals/lb body weight.

Another issue that isn't addressed so often is that too intensive cardio sessions hinder your muscle recovery (I also strength train). I am very sore after my weight sessions so I rather just do light cardio and still burn the same calories while not increasing my appetite

sskly48 wrote: »

rkennedy1014 wrote: »

I work out pretty regularly (4-5 times per week). My routine consists of strength training, bootcamp classes, boxing and doing cardio on the treadmill. I was wondering what is better for weight loss on the treadmill - intervals or straight running?

My general treadmill routine is 2 1/2 minutes walking at 3.5 mph, 2 1/2 minutes jog at 6.0, 1 minute sprint at 7.5 (all on a 1.0 incline). I do this for 30 or 35 minutes. Should I just do 30 minutes at 6.0?

Let me know your thoughts on what is better for dropping weight. Thanks!

I feel cardio is entirely up to preference. The intervals you set look fine, but what really matters is your calories burnt - try to aim for 2-2.5 cals/lb body weight.

Another issue that isn't addressed so often is that too intensive cardio sessions hinder your muscle recovery (I also strength train). I am very sore after my weight sessions so I rather just do light cardio and still burn the same calories while not increasing my appetite

A good point, further to that, if you are lifting and trying to build endurance your body preferences endurance training over strength training. Cardio right after weight training will flush the muscles and reduce hypertrophy somewhat. For me, it's an issue since I'm training for both powerlifting and Spartans so they do tend to interfere with each other.

Azdak wrote: »

You are better off doing a variety of workouts--longer endurance, HIIT, and tempo training. The more you can improve your aerobic fitness level, the harder you can work at any given HR intensity and the more calories you will burn.

Totally agree. And I'll add - if you're doing treadmill workouts, tempo/interval runs will just be more fun.

rkennedy1014 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply! So I'm familiar with HIIT (which I think is essentially what I'm doing, right?). But what is tempo training? Also you mention longer endurance...that makes me think straight running. Help! I'm confused

Someone may have a different definition, but to me - tempo training is a little different from typical intervals, in that you'll do the first part of your workout at an your sort of standard pace, then do a significant chunk at a difficult, but sustainable pace, then recover at an easy pace. I would usually do this just once, so that might mean a mile at a comfortable pace, a mile or a mile and a half at a difficult pace (not a sprint, but fast), and a mile at recovery pace.

Intervals are multiple, shorter bursts, maybe even a near-sprint, with a recovery lap (either walking or jogging) in between. Pretty much what you're doing now.

Calorie-wise, I don't know which burns more - I'd guess the tempo or interval workouts would be similar, and either would burn more than a slow, sustained run of the same distance. But there's definitely a good place for the slower, steady run in your workout rotation. If for nothing else, that sort of cardio is excellent for recovery if your muscles are sore the day after kickboxing, for example (because that's my favorite day-after-kickboxing workout).

rkennedy1014 wrote: »

I was wondering what is better for weight loss on the treadmill - intervals or straight running?

This is a fairly common question, and essentially boils down to whether intervals or continuous pace burn more calories. What I would say is that weight loss isn't about how you run, it's about how you balance your calorie intake against your calorie expenditure and to lose weight you need to eat less than you burn, putting you in a calorie deficit.

That said, calorie expenditure from running is a function of the distance you run and your bodyweight. The pace you run doesn't have a great bearing on things. With that in mind it's a question of running as far as you can in the time available.

Cals per mile = 0.6*bodyweight in lbs

With that in mind I rather agree with Azdak inasmuch as different types of session have different physiological benefits, and in time those help you run longer an faster, which increases the overall distance. What I would say is that more advanced sessions build on a solid aerobic base, which would suggest a focus on steady paced running for the moment.

My general treadmill routine is 2 1/2 minutes walking at 3.5 mph, 2 1/2 minutes jog at 6.0, 1 minute sprint at 7.5 (all on a 1.0 incline). I do this for 30 or 35 minutes. Should I just do 30 minutes at 6.0?

Let me know your thoughts on what is better for dropping weight. Thanks!

Appreciating that a treadmill can be a very dull experience, and breaking it up using intervals can help maintain interest, I personally would focus on getting to the stage that you can run at a 10 minute mile pace for 30 minutes. That means that you're running for 3 miles so burning 3*0.6*bodyweight (lbs).

What I'd veer towards is concentrating on being able to run at 6mph (10 min/mile) continuously for 30 minutes. Once you're there then increase that to 60 minutes at the same pace. Once you're at that point three times per week you'll have an adequate aerobic base to benefit from tempo sessions and higher intensity work. As BeerRunner highlights most runners do about 80% of their training at a comfortably steady pace. Personally I'll do 2-3 easy paced sessions of 60-90 minutes at around 7-8 mph per week, one long run of 2-4 hours at 6mph and one tempo or intervals session of 45-60 minutes. I'll do all of those outside, rarely on the treadmill.

For clarity, a tempo session for me would be warming up for 10 minutes or so at 6mph, then running at perhaps 8-8.5mph for 30 minutes before cooling down at 6mph for a further 10 minutes. A tempo session helps to build tolerance to running faster for longer. So it's very much a race training technique.

For an intervals session I'll do a similar 10 minute warm up then do 6-8 100metre sprints at maximal effort with perhaps a 2 minute cool down at my easy pace between them. After I complete all of the sprints I'll cool down for 10-15 minutes at easy pace again. These sessions are reserved for race training as they can be quite debilitating.