Interval running Vs Running

[Sarah78]

Hi Everyone,
I have been working out on my treadmill. I could only run for 1min and walk 5min. But i have worked myself up to running 30 min on a hill incline of 2 which i am very proud off. I just got a Women s health and fitness mag and they suggested that you should be doing interval training! so for the last 2 days i have been running at 8km for a min then back down to 5.2!, and i do this for 30 mins as well i do find i get a harder workout and sweat alot more. My question is would i benefit more doing interval training 3 days a week with my regular jogging or just stick to my normal routine which is normally just jogging and weights??

Ta

Sarah

[Linda Wooldridge]

Hi there, I have definitely found that interval training is by far superior for increasing fitness, burning calories and burning fat. If I were you I would even shorten your intervals and do all out sprinting for as long as you can manage and then slowing to a brisk walk, then jog, then sprint again. As you become fitter you will find that you can sprint for longer without getting totally puffed.

I would definitely keep trying to progress by upping the speed rather than lengthening the time of the sprint. Your recovery brisk walk should just be long enough for you to catch your breath again and then you can move into the jog at a steady rate before all out sprinting again.

If you do this sort of intense interval training 3 days a week and do weight training on the other days, you should definitely see some results. You can do this sort of interval training on any cardio equipment. It is advisable to use different equipment if you have access to it. The cross trainer is the most effective, but the bike and stepper are also good. The more variety the more you will re-shape each part of the body and avoid plateauing.
Hope that helps.