What is Interval Training?

Interval training is an exercise process which focuses upon alternating high and low intensity periods of exercise.  Training alternates between high and low intensity training.   High intensity training inhibits your body’s ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.  Your body begins to eliminate lactic acid and your muscles lose their capability to contract.  When this occurs, interval training calls for a switch to low intensity exercise.  Low intensity training gives the body a chance to recover from the strain, but without the pulse dropping so much as to lose the aerobic benefit.  The alternating between these two forms of intensity throughout an aerobic workout is interval training.

How to Apply Interval Training

You may wonder how you can use interval training in your own exercise regimen.  It’s easy to incorporate this form of training into any exercise.  If you jog, walk, or use a treadmill, this is how you would go about using the technique.  Begin at a walk or your typical warm-up pace.  Once you have warmed up, you can break into a sprint, jog, or whatever your high intensity level is.  Maintain this intensity/speed until your muscles begin to tire and you feel that you cannot go much longer.  Then reduce your speed to a jog or energetic walk.  Do not slow down to the point of losing your aerobic heart rate.  Only slow down to a point where you feel that you could maintain the speed for a longer period.  This is the recovery time for your muscles.  Once your muscle burn goes away and your breathing and heart rate have leveled off, you can repeat the cycle and begin sprinting or jogging again.  Gradually you will be able to increase the length of your high intensity periods.

Achieving Weight Loss

Interval training is a great way to achieve weight loss through an exercise program.  You are strengthening your body’s aerobic and anaerobic systems.  This will cause your body to learn to burn calories faster.  By adding more muscle, you are also upping your metabolism which will cause fat to burn more quickly.  By continuing with an interval training program, you are training your body to burn fat more efficiently.  Weight loss and better health are certain to come.

It’s a Good Thing

Interval training is a great tool for achieving weight loss.  It also has many other perks to encourage its practice.

• Time saving- by incorporating your aerobic and anaerobic exercises into one activity, you will save time in your workout.
• Fun- interval training breaks up the monotony of aerobic exercise by functioning in cycles.
• Results- often with a workout program, people hit a plateau which they cannot break past; interval training is a different option that helps people get through their plateaus.
• Easy- the exercise program will be easy as you do not need to switch machines or learn anything new to receive a full and effective workout.

Give interval training a try for your weight loss goals.  You’ll find that it is a fun and easy way to get the results that you are looking for.