Interval Training: the Specifics

In Interval Training for Superior Fat Loss I compared interval training and long, slow cardio from a fat loss standpoint. The short story was that you should add interval training to your routine, unless you’re a beginner. But how, exactly?

Interval Training: Beginners
Beginners should stick to long, slow cardio for 2 months before trying interval training. They can start with a slow 10 minutes twice per week and progress to a slow 30 minutes 3 times per week. Beginners: at first, cardio should stay easy. Go too fast too soon and you’ll get what you ask for: an injury.

After that, a good way to “break in” interval training is to perform 2 minutes work intervals slightly faster than normal, followed by 4 minutes recovery intervals a tad slower than normal, twice per week. The interval training session should begin with a warm-up and end with a cooldown. For someone usually jogging at 7 miles/h (a slow jog), a 30-minute session might look like:

Interval Training: Intermediate
After 6 weeks of the beginner interval training program take a week off or do only long, cardio for 2 weeks. Then, shorten the work interval while increasing its speed. This is what interval training is all about: short bursts of exhausting work, interspaced by periods of recovery long enough for you to go all out during the next work interval. Although the work interval is shortened, the recovery interval is not, since the work interval is actually harder. For the same trainee described above, a suitable intermediate interval training program is:

Interval Training: Advanced
Before attempting the advanced program again take a week off, or do only long, slow cardio for 2 weeks. Then you should be ready for true high intensity interval training, which is really what interval training should be. Shorten the work interval to 30 seconds of sprinting. Give it all you’ve got: the faster you go, the more benefits you’ll reap, including accelerated fat loss, improved fitness, and heart attack, stroke and cancer protection. The program would look like:

You’ll notice the warm-up now comprises a “warm-up interval” of running to prepare your body for the brutal sprinting session to come.

Miscellaneous tips:

• While I used running as an example here, I recommend beginners do interval training on a stationary bike. The bike removes the technical component of running, which is an issue for untrained runners, especially at higher speeds when fatigue from prior work intervals sets in. In plain English: you risk twisting an ankle if you sprint, but on a bike you don’t.
• World-class runners never do interval training more than twice per week. You shouldn’t neither. Do so at your own risk: injury and overtraining come to my mind.
• Similarly, you should take at least a week off interval training after every block of 4-6 weeks (long, slow cardio is allowed). The length of your break will depend on how exhausted you feel. Look out for these symptoms of overtraining: constant fatigue, bad quality or need for more sleep, overall feeling of weakness, and depressed immune system.

Finally, for a longer, more technical and advanced discussion of interval training, I recommend Lyle McDonald’s two-part article on the topic.

Best of luck.

-CJ

P.S. My 36-Week Fat-Loss Optimized 20 minutes Cardio Routine is based on the principles of interval training outlined in this post. It comes as a bonus with the 36-Week Step-by-Step Abdominal Training Program.

Click here to check it out

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