Have you reached a plateau in your workout, weight loss routine? Do you just want to get 10 more pounds off? I've got a great suggestion for you... INTERVAL TRAINING.
Just a few months I was feeling stuck in my routine of running 30 minutes three times a week* (with weight training interspersed on other days). I substituted interval training for one of my 30 minute cardio workouts, and dropped 10 pounds quickly. My other runs during the week got faster, too.
The fitness guru pediatrician at my work says he tells marathon runners that they aren't really in shape unless they do anaerobic exercise. I wouldn't go that far, but it really does make a big difference.
Anaerobic exercise means it can't be sustained for extended periods of time without resting to breathe. (As opposed to aerobic exercise that theoretically can be maintained indefinitely - jogging, aerobics, etc). Here's where interval training comes in. Interval training is mixing in high intesity workouts sporadically (in intervals) with low intesity workouts. Some explanation and suggested workouts can be found here.
I personally run around a squarish park with 4 equal sides (not perfectly, but close). We'll say each side has distance of X. I sprint at about 80% of my max for 2X (two sides) and then walk one. I do this for 30 minutes and get a great workout.
If you haven't tried it, give it a try. It doesn't take any more time, just takes more calories.
*For the record, most health providers are recommending 5 cardio workouts a week (including myself). Yes, I usually only can make it to 3 a week, but I'm working on it, too!
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2 comments:
Excellent! I have been mixing in crossfit workouts with my runs and did a short, but fast run yesterday and was dying, which tells me I need to mix up my running speeds too! Great post as usual!
Sounds interesting. I think I'll try it today. Thanks for the suggestion.
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