Whether you complete interval runs for weight loss or use interval running to improve heart health, interval training is an excellent way to keep fit. Running intervals can improve your mood, circulation, and fitness. It can also help you shed those excess Christmas pounds.
If you’re running for weight loss, interval training is one of the quickest ways to drop a jean size. Alternatively, if you’re running to improve your overall health and wellbeing, an interval running workout can be a fast track to fitness.
In this post, we’ll teach you how to do intervals properly, offering some advice on running interval training for beginners and more experienced runners.
Interval training is an extremely effective form of cardio exercise and can provide benefits much quicker than traditional cardio workouts. A 2011 study revealed that just two weeks of high-intensity interval training could increase your aerobic capacity as much as eight weeks of endurance training.
If you’re looking to lose weight, intervals are much more useful than slow endurance exercises. As you complete intervals, the intense effort that you put in pushes your body hard, so you burn more calories in the hours following your workout than you would after a slow, steady run.
In fact, during the 24 hours that follow high-intensity training, your body can produce as much as 450% more human growth hormone (HGH). HGH can increase caloric burn and slow down the aging process.
Interval running also creates a massive surge of endorphins, the brain’s natural opiates. The short bursts of strenuous activity significantly boost endorphin production, which is why millions of people experience a ‘runner’s high,’ feeling happy and energized after they work out.
If you want to try interval training for running, follow this sample interval running plan:
Fartlek is Swedish for ‘Speed Play’ and is a popular form of interval training for running. To undertake a fartlek workout, introduce short periods of a slightly faster pace into your regular runs. Try to maintain this speedier pace for short intervals of time, such as 30 seconds. You can vary these intervals as you continue your workout. Some people use landmarks such as telephone poles or streetlights to mark off their segments.
Once you’ve completed a faster segment, slow down your pace to your usual running pace until you feel recovered and your breathing has slowed to normal. As the run progresses, try to incorporate slightly faster intervals.
Hill intervals are an excellent form of interval training for running, and they can be performed outdoors or on a machine. Cross trainers and treadmills are great for hill intervals as you can increase or decrease the intensity as you become fitter and more confident.
Hill intervals involve jogging at an average pace and then facing a steady incline, as if running up a hill, followed by a downhill decline. They are a great form of cardio exercise and help build up your stamina, fitness, and leg muscles. They are also an excellent way to burn extra calories and lose weight.
Sprints are one of the best interval training running workouts as they can be performed pretty much anywhere. Sprinting for short distances is a great way to quickly ramp up your heart rate, burn extra calories, and improve your overall fitness.
To complete interval sprints, you must incorporate several fast prints into your regular jogging routine: For example:
Intense interval running sessions help improve your anaerobic and aerobic endurance, improve your running performance, and increase your V02 max. Additionally, the training stimulus on your leg muscles is much higher when you regularly complete interval runs.
One of the most significant benefits of interval training for running is the positive impact that it can have on endurance and speed. However, to increase your overall running speed, you need to experiment with different paces during your interval training.
The more accustomed your body becomes to running at a faster speed, the more likely you’ll be able to run faster for longer. Interval training can stimulate healthy physiological changes in your body, positively affecting your stamina and endurance levels.
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