What Is Interval Training?

Are you asking, what is interval training?

Well, simply put, interval training means doing any cardiovascular exercise by alternating brief bursts (30 sec - 4 min) of anaerobic, high-intensity exercising with aerobic, low-intensity recovery periods (1-5 min).

This way, you are simultaneously reaping the benefits of both anaerobic and aerobic exercising burning more body fat faster through a process called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption - EPOC for short.

EPOC uses up stored fat to restore your body to its normal condition, long after your workout is over.

In other words, EPOC initiates a fat-burning process within your body that lasts up to 48 hours.

What kind of cardio can you use for interval training?

Virtually any. You can do interval training outside (walking, jogging, biking, rollerblading, skating, swimming) or on any type of cardio equipment (treadmill, stationary bike, rowing machine, stepper, elliptical machine).

You may be surprised to know that originally developed by the Swedes and called fartlek ("speed play"), interval training has been used as the basis for athletic training for many years.

What is Interval Training Today?

Apart from preparing for an athletic competition, exercising to increase the fitness level and get back in shape, today, interval training is more and more used by people determined to lose weight in the shortest amount of time, as this is the best exercise to burn fat.

The best part of using interval training for weight loss? You can develop your workouts one step at a time.

For example, if you are a beginner, a once-a-week session will be enough to introduce it to your normal workout routine. Then, as you get more energy and acquire more endurance, you can increase the frequency of interval training to 2-3 times a week.

Just be sure to listen to your body, warm up 3-5 minutes, and end your interval training with body stretches for another 3-5 minutes.

Also, you can decide how hard you exercise during the high-intensity periods and how long you recover during the low-intensity periods. As a beginner, you should start where your body allows you to and then advance to intermediate and advanced levels as you build up endurance.

What is Interval Training Heart Rate?

To make sure you are pushing yourself far enough to actually benefit from your interval training exercise, you can either rely on subjective factors (your pulse, your perception of the workout intensity and how you feel after the exercise), or use a heart rate monitor, which can store your data monitoring your progress over time.

A simplistic way of optimizing your interval training workouts is alternating short periods of working out at approx. 90% of your estimated maximum heart rate (MHR = 220 - your age) for the anaerobic, high-intensity bouts and longer recovery intervals at 65% of your MHR for the aerobic, low intensity breaks.

Hopefully, we’ve answered your question, "What is interval training?" and you can move on to learning how to maximize your workout with these interval training tips >>

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