Burn More Calories: Spice Up Your Workout with Interval Training

Tired of the same old thing? You feel like you are consistently working out, 45 minutes a day but you haven’t seen any results. This is a common thing for those who need a jump-start to their workout. There are times that it is easy to get into a routine, which means your body will get into a routine as well. If you would like to get better results, consider adding interval training into your workout routine. Adding intervals into your workout will bust you through that plateau and burn more calories. You will also begin to feel stronger and faster.

There are a few different ways to add intervals into your workout. You should not do intervals every day. You also will want to gradually add intervals to your workout routine, doing too much too soon may cause injury. Here are a few ways to add some spice to your workout routine.

Interval Type #1:

During a normal workout you most likely are continuing at the same pace throughout the whole workout. This type of interval will help you learn how to vary your speed and pace. You can do this on a bike, elliptical, walk, run or many other various forms of exercise. Warm up at an easy pace for about 5 minutes. After you have warmed up you will want to increase your pace to about 90% of your capacity in the following way:

1 min at 90%
2 min resting at your warm up pace

Do this approximately 5 times, then cool down for about 5 minutes at the end. This will give you about a 20 minute workout which may make you feel like you are shortchanging yourself. However you need to remember that you were doing much of the workout at a faster pace than usual.

Interval Type #2:

Start your activity with a warm up once again. You will need to warm up for about 5 minutes. Then you will do the following intervals in the following manner:

10 seconds at 90%
20 seconds rest

20 seconds at 90%
40 seconds rest

30 seconds at 90%
60 seconds rest

40 seconds at 90%
80 seconds rest

30 seconds at 90%
60 seconds rest

20 seconds at 90%
40 seconds rest

10 seconds at 90%
20 seconds rest

This is called a ladder because you increase and decrease the amount of time you are doing the interval. Remember to finish with at least a five minute cool down.

Interval Type #3:

In this interval you will start (of course) with a five minute easy warm up. Then you will be doing intervals where you start at an easy pace and increase your speed until you hit 100% and then slow gradually back down.

For example, imagine you’d like to run a 100m dash. You should start easy running the first 10m, gradually increase until you are at 100% of your capacity at 50m, then slow down until you are running easy again at 90m. This might be a bit difficult to get the hang of at first but once you try it a few times you’ll be a pro.

You should be able to do this type of interval as many times as you feel fit. Your last one should be when you feel that you can no longer reach 100%, then you know that you have maxed out. Then be sure you cool down with a nice easy pace for about 3-5 minutes.

Remember always to stay hydrated, stretch often and be aware of aches and pains. Workouts should be approved by a physician or personal trainer if you have health problems. These workouts can be very difficult at times so you will want to make sure you body is ready for it. You will surely find that these intervals will help add variety to your workouts and your exercise routine. You will also find that your speed and endurance will increase as well. You should notice a difference in the quality of your exercise routine, as well as the amount of calories burned.