Some Benefits of Interval Training

So having committed myself to training for an Iron Distance race/workout (140.6 miles), I have been using a lot of interval training during my workouts recently before I get into the really long distance stuff closer to May 25th.  Intervals are simply a brief period of higher intensity segments, followed by a recovery period of low to moderate intensity exercise.  This is repeated over and over for a prescribed period during the workout and presents some pretty significant benefits in terms of increasing fitness.  First of all, intervals allow an athlete to train at much higher intensities for a longer period of time than he or she could maintain if trying to maintain high intensity for the duration of a workout.  Look at it like this, a person would have a really hard time maintaining and above 5k pace for a 10 minute period of time, yet if you break the workout down into intervals, you could do 5 sets of 2 minute above 5k pace running with 5 minute recovery periods in between, and in that manner get a full 10 minutes worth of fast paced training during a workout. 

You may have heard of High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT as it is often referred to, which is a short-and-sweet style of training that incorporates high intensity intervals.  The recovery periods are typically a bit shorter than the high intensity phase, yet the overall workout duration is less than 20 minutes, including a warm-up and cool-down period.   A study that was reported in Shape Magazine presents that HIIT workouts over a period of 2 weeks caused a larger gain in aerobic capacity than 8 weeks of typical moderate intensity aerobic exercise.  In this way, High Intensity Interval Training can truly give you more bang-for-your-buck in terms of seeing more results in less time.  You can make the above workout more of a HIIT style session by simply making the higher intensity periods segments an all-out sprint instead of an above 5k pace run.  Make the recovery periods 20 seconds in duration and you’ve got yourself a hard-hitting HIIT workout that you can do at the soccer field or track!  HIIT workouts can also increase lung capacity, build strength and increase fat-burning and weight loss.  HIIT and lower intensity interval workout alike are a wonderful way to break up the monotony of training programs and I can personally attest to the increased fitness that comes from interval training.  I’ve increased my 100m swim, my 5K running, and 20k bike time-trial times in the past year after adding interval work.  So consider adding some intervals into the mix and I think you’ll enjoy the results you’ll see!

Stay Focused and Happy Training!!!!!