Interval Training For Athletes AND Non-Athletes

Interval training a popular style of cardio workout (although it’s great to incorporate in your weightlifting workout routines as well), especially amongst athletes.  It became such a popular training protocol for athletes because of its effectiveness in developing cardiovascular conditioning as well as for losing weight.  Many athletes will use some type of interval training during the pre-season to get back into shape and shed that extra layer of body fat off before they start the new season.  Another reason interval training is so popular is because most athletes (excluding endurance athletes), are involved in sports that require them to perform short bursts of high intense activity followed by a period of rest or easy activity.

Think about football, baseball, and even soccer and basketball.  It’s quite evident how this applies in football and baseball—but even for soccer and basketball where the players are constantly moving up and down the court or the field, it’s still interspersed by brief periods of high intensity activity.

However, even if you’re not an athlete and you don’t play any sports, interval training has many great benefits for all of us—especially when it comes to burning calories and fat.  When you think of cardio, does the image of yourself trotting on the treadmill or around your neighborhood for hours on end come to your mind?  Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.  In fact, doing long duration cardio can eat away at your muscles—keeping you flabby.

How Interval Training Burns More Fat & Calories

Since muscle is metabolically active (which means it burns more calories) compared to fat, you’re much better off keeping as much lean muscle mass as possible.  The best way to do that is by doing your cardio in an interval training format.  In fact, studies have shown that doing interval training for cardio burns more calories and fat than doing longer duration cardio.

Better yet, doing high intensity interval training can help you burn fat up to 48 hours after you finish your workout.  This is better known as the “after burn”.  It’s caused by doing interval training at high intensity, which creates a deficit in your metabolic functions.  This deficit causes your body to have to work harder and expend more energy to make for up it, which can take up to 48 hours depending on how big the deficit is.  The great thing is that the energy required is provided by your body fat, so you’re literally burning fat while you sleep!

Here’s a High Intensity Interval Training Workout You Can Try:

When doing high intensity interval training, the effort level put forth during the activity should be close to or at your maximum effort.  The higher the intensity of your workout, the more effective the after burn.

One popular interval training workout routine is one I call Sprint Walk Backs.  This is when you perform all out (100% effort) sprints for 60 - 100 meters and then you walk back.  You can repeat this as many times as you like (just be sure you stop before your hamstrings fatigue too much).  This type of high intensity interval workout routine can be adapted to any type of cardio exercises such as biking, treadmill running, elliptical machine, rowing machine etc.  The intervals can be based on distance or time.  For instance if you’re on a stationary bike, you can sprint at a maximum effort for 20 - 30 seconds followed by 40 - 60 seconds recovery and repeat it as many times as you like.

How To Vary Your Interval Training Workout Routines

Last, but not least, another benefit of interval training workout routines is variety. You can change up your effort levels and interval times for both the activity periods and rest periods.  Not to mention, interval training can be done anywhere, using pretty much anything.  The most common form is running, but if you’re not a runner or you don’t have a place to run, you can do any other type of exercises like squat jumps, jumping rope, box steps ups, stair climbing…  or just make something up (within limits of course) as long as you get your legs moving and get your heart rate up you can do interval training!  Remember, performing interval training at high intensities is the most effective and efficient way to burn fat, get lean, and get fit!